TEMPY!

As the book progresses and Sandy is forced to live with Tempy after Hagar dies, the black/white dynamic changes. It is so interesting how Tempy makes sense of race compared to Harriet. There still seems to be the same dislike of whites undertone, but instead of just hating the opposite race, as Harriet does, Tempy tries to prove them wrong. She takes such an interesting stance on race, because she looks down on African American's "if Negroes wanted any, the quicker they learned to be like the whites, the better. Stop being lazy, stop singing all the time, stop attending revivals and learn to get the dollar - because money buys everything, even the respect of white people" 238-239. Tempy seems almost to be ashamed of her race, and certainly her family. She has a distinct idea on what success means and how one (specifically an African American) goes about doing this. I couldn't believe how closely she was describing her family, but saying that everything they did was wrong. Harriet seems to just hate white people, but does not let that or them affect the way she lives her life, Tempy yearns for the respect of white people but can't quite get that either.
Another quote that just shook me was what her mentor said to her "You're so smart and such a good, clean, quick little worker, Tempy, that it's too bad you aren't white" (237). What I found to be so ironic about this passage is that this is said by a woman who is fighting for equality, yet she can't see that she should be fighting for the rights of ALL women, not just white. This woman knows what it feels like to be told no about something simply because of gender, which one cannot control and doesn't affect one's mind. In my head she said this so sincerely and with great intentions, yet it's so nasty. It is something that I think really affected Tempy, which might be way she is ashamed/shuns what it means to be African American (all the way down to the stereotypes).