The Measure of a Man (41-100)

Summary
Sidney's family moved to Miami. In that part of America racism existed a lot and Sidney witnessed a lot of it. His family was terrified because they did not want to endanger their lives but Sidney did not stand there to take in watever the racist was telling him. He would respond by saying he does not care about the different colors of their skin and he told people point blank that he would not take any nonsense about racism becuase he did not see the need or the cause to be racist to a fellow human being. After some time he could not take the pressure of racism anymore so he got a job and used his money to buy a bus ticket so that he could leave Miami for New York. When he arrived in New York he wanted to find Harlem because people in Nassau kept on taking about how nice the place was. Someone directed him to the subway station. Sidney became overwhemled when he say the trains. He started to wonder how the train travels under New York City. He thought that Harlem was a popular place because th trains could take you there.
Quotation
"Being new and from a different culture, I was wide-eyed with curiosity, mostly at my family's reaction. I just couldn't get used to this strange place and this strange way of behaving."
Reaction
I understand when Sidney says in the book that he wondered why his family was scared then he responded with the quote above. When your brought up differently in another country and your a teen or a kid and then you leave for another country, you do not usually agree with some of the rules because you are mostly arrogant and alwayswant things to go your way.

The Measure of a Man (21-40)

Summary
In the second section of this autobiography, Sidney and his family have to move to Nassau because they were struggling to meet ends meet on Cat Island. Sidney was so over taken by Nassau because it was so modern compared to Cat Island. He had never seen cars before and he was so consumed by the technology he saw. On his island Sidney has only seen two white people but one day on his way to school in Nassau he saw a white boy and they started talking. The boy told Sidney straight up that he could not have the same opportunities as him and that he was better than him because of his color. In another part of book Sidney was hit by a white biker. He tried to chase the biker but he escaped. Sidney and his family was still suffering. He even had to wear sowed flour sacks to school.
Quotation
"He wasn't at all shy about letting me know that he was better off than I was, on the basis of his color. According to the gospel as he had learned it, I would never have the same opportunities, the same circumstance in life that he would."
Reaction
After reading this section of the autobiography I began to see that Sidney was going to endure more racism in te book. Afte reading what the boy had told Sidney I thought that parents of that time started to make young racist among children. I also thought that the biker did not need to hit Sidney for nothing. I wish Sidney had gotten back at him,

The Measure Of A Man(1-20)

Summary

The book starts off with the narrator in his home flipping through some channels and he becomes frustrated with technology. He then starts to remember a time when he had no technology around him to irritate him. He starts to recall when he lived on Cat Island with his sister, mother and father. There was no technology to distract anyone from nature. There were no refrigerators or freezers son his mother would preserve the fish traditionally and they would not use the fish for about two months but when they finally did use it, it tasted as fresh as ever. There was another scene where the narrator went into a ditch which was one hundred feet long and six feet deep was dug from the sea to a salt pond. A door was blocking the sea from the ditch when he tried to push it opened. He couldn’t get it opened so he got out of the ditch and looked over the see the level of the water and if he had got the door open, he would have drowned because of the current and the level of the water. When he was fifteen he left for Florida. There he starred in a movie called No Way Out. He went back to Cat Island to show the people of the Island. His family enjoyed it and that moment he saw how much his mother really cared for him. She was happy and very proud of him. At first he thought his mother was just a mother but now he understands that his mother is a mother.

Quote

“The water was up to my neck, and I was scared shitless” (Poitier 11).

Reaction

When I began reading this story I instantly related his view on television to mine. Sometimes I could search through all one thousand channels and still not find anything suitable to watch. I enjoyed this book so far because there are a lot of funny as well as some emotional moments in this book. The author uses some minimum profane language which adds to the humor in this book. When the narrator wanted to go into the ditch, I found that funny as well because it was filled with water. He was a very daring boy at such a young age. I would recommend this book to anyone.