August Wilson

When I first saw that we were reading the play “Fences”, I thought I had read it before. I soon realized that I had read this in an English class I took last year. I really enjoyed reading this play because I feel like it shows the struggles that many black people had to face in those days. I felt really bed for Troy because he wanted to do something so bad that would change things for the black people. He worked as a garbage collector, but he wanted to do so much more. He wanted to drive the truck instead of just stand on it and get the trash. Troy once had a dream of becoming a great baseball player, but he was quickly turned down. He blames the color of his skin for this. He is so bitter that things did not work out for him when he wanted to play sports that he ruins any chance his son, Cory, may have at playing football and going to college. I felt really bad for Rose throughout the entire play. It seemed to me like Troy was always rude to her and she just put up with it like it was nothing. It turns out she did this because she loved Troy and could look past his flaws. Rose was also always stuck in the middle of any argument that went on around the house. Anything from Lyons, Troy’s son from a previous relationship, wanting money to Cory wanting to play football, Rose was stuck in the middle. I felt the worst for Rose when Troy admitted to her that he had cheated and was having a baby with another woman. How Rose could look past this and let troy continue to live with her and then let him bring the baby into the house is beyond me. She had to have been an extraordinarily strong woman to allow this. I felt like Troy felt guilty about his brother and using his money to buy a house. His brother was disabled and had no way of really knowing what was going on. I feel that Troy took advantage of him and I think that he felt the same way, otherwise he would not have reacted the way he did when Cory brought it up during their last fight. I was shocked to read that Cory did not come back for seven years. I was even more shocked to read that he was not going to his father’s funeral. I understand that there was no way he could have respected the man that ruined his and his mother’s lives, but he still should have been willing to go to the funeral. The last part of this play has always confused me. I never fully understood if Gabriel was imagining things or if all of this was actually happening. Either way, this probably would have been a magnificent moment to see!

Walker, Tan, Mason, and Kincaid

Alice Walker

The short story “Everyday Use” is about a mother and her two daughters. Her oldest daughter, Dee, seems to think that everyone in the world owes her something just because she is alive. She is rude and does not care for anyone but herself. The youngest daughter, Maggie, is really timid and does not like to be the center of attention. The story starts out with the mother waiting for her daughter, Dee, to come home. Dee has always been ashamed of the places she and her family have lived and she did everything she could to get away for a while. She never wanted to bring anyone home with her and it seemed to me like she never actually came home. Maggie joins her mother to wait for Dee and she finally arrives with a man. His name is Asalamalakim but he told everyone to call him Hakim-a-barber. Dee comes in and tells her mother, who had given her the name she did for a reason, that she wanted to be called Wangero. I found this to be very disrespectful, not only to the mother but also to her ancestors after whom she had been named. It seemed like all Wangero (Dee) wanted to come home for was to take many things that her mother had that interested her. She wanted some hand-made pieces that had been given to her mother. She took a churn top and dash then she went looking for more things. She went and found some old quilts her mother had made with her aunt. She wanted these quilts so bad but, unfortunately, they had already been promised to Maggie. Wangero (Dee) tried to talk her mother out of her decision saying that Maggie would use them instead of appreciate them and not use them. Maggie told her mother it was fine for Wangero (Dee) to have the quilts but her mother did not like that. I think maybe she was seeing that all Wangero (Dee) came home for was to take anything she could get her hands on that had any meaning for anyone else. The story ends with Dee leaving upset because, for once, she did not get what she wanted. Maggie, on the other hand, was very pleased with what had happened!

Amy Tan

I really enjoyed reading the story “Half and Half”. It was very interesting. I felt extremely bad for the girl who narrated this story. She had been through a lot in her life. I thought it was horrible how Ted’s mother did not really give her a chance before she judged her. She did not want them to be happy together and I was glad that ted and the girl went against her wishes and got married. I was a little disturbed when I read that Ted made all of the decisions for them, but then I read that she always told him too. I can understand how this could have been a little frustrating for Ted. I know that I hate it when I have to make decisions. I thought it was awful that he just snapped and went off on her for practically nothing. He knew she did not like to make decisions and he lived with it for so long. Why was it at that moment that he chose to get upset? I understand that he had gotten into some trouble for a bad decision, but that was not the girl’s fault. As the story progressed, it got sad. I do not fully understand why this one girl had to look after four boys. Why could her sisters not help her? Why could her mother not help her? I think that had she only had to look after one, things would have ended differently. It was heartbreaking what the mother did the day after her son drowned. I know that she wanted him back, but it was his time to go. I felt bad that she went back to the beach hoping to come home with good news and ended up leaved more upset than she was when she arrived. I think that the narrator and Ted’s marriage is a lot like the story of her brother. As much as someone would like to believe that there is something still there and they will come back with good news, everyone is just going to be more disappointed and upset in the end.

Bobbie Ann Mason

“Shiloh” ended differently than I thought it was going to. Leroy and Norma Jean seemed to be so happy. Leroy had been a truck driver for a while but he was finally home so he could spend his time with his wife. I think that Leroy loved Norma Jean so much and he would have done anything he could to make her happy. All she seemed to be interested in was getting buff. Norma Jean’s mother, Mabel, seemed to have a way of butting in without it seeming like she was actually butting in. She always offered her opinion and tried to tell the couple things they should do. I think when Norma Jean started back to school, she realized how different things were in the world. She probably was once happy with her husband and the life they had together, but it grew old for her. I also think that the fact that their child had died so young played a huge part in the fact that they could no longer be happy. I did not understand why they never had another child but maybe this was Norma Jean’s way of distancing herself from her husband. The couple finally went to Shiloh, where Norma Jean’s mother had gotten married. Neither one really wanted to be there, but they went anyways. I was shocked when Norma Jean said that she wanted to leave Leroy. He had tried so hard in the last few months to make her happy and give her what she wanted. I honestly think that Norma Jean was just tired of listening to Leroy’s ideas. She did want a house, but not a log cabin. Leroy was dead set on a log cabin and he did not realize until it was too late that she did not want this. I think that Norma Jean was happier when her husband was out on the road. She had time for herself and she was not used to having Leroy around all the time. When he got injured, this all changed. Leroy was there 24/7 and I honestly believe that this is ultimately what led to Norma Jean wanting to leave Leroy.

Jamaica Kincaid

To me, the story “Girl” is just list of things that a girl was expected to do. They were supposed to cook, clean, shop, be polite, and do everything the right way which was the way their mother showed them. Most importantly, a girl was never to be known as a slut. This probably has to be the worst thing a girl could be called. I viewed this list as something a mother would be telling her daughter. If this is how it really was written then there is something wrong. All of the directions and rules are perfectly fine but some things are not. I feel so bad for the girl who had to sit and listen to this. Her mother obviously thinks that all she will become in life is a slut. She mentions this at least three or four times. I know her mother is probably just trying to help, but I do not think the girl’s feelings were taken into consideration. Had I had to sit and listen to this list, I would have probably began to cry. I honestly think the only thing worse than a guy calling a girl a slut is for her own mother, or father, or any other family member, to call her a slut. This would have had to have killed her confidence and left her wondering why everyone thought this about her; especially if she had not done anything to make them speak of her in such a way.

O'Connor, Olson, and Giovanni Blog

Flannery O’Connor

I remember reading some of Flannery O’Connor’s work before, but I had never read this story. I found “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” to be very dark and depressing. I think the one thing that makes this story so bad is that the grandmother knew they were going to run into the Misfit and she wanted to change the plans for the trip. Her son, Bailey, was too stubborn to change his plans and the grandchildren were too rude to think of going anywhere else for vacation. The mother was not about to say anything to her husband about making different plans because she did not want to start a fight. John Wesley had a good idea when he told his grandmother to stay at home, but everyone knew she would never do this. She tried so hard to get everyone to go to Tennessee instead of Florida, but she never got her way. I felt a little bad for her when she realized that the place she was telling the family about was not in the state that they were in. She had to feel so guilty when the car rolled and they had no way to get anywhere. She also must have felt pretty guilty when she realized that they had run into the Misfit and were probably not going to make it. I thought it was very brave of the grandmother to try to talk the killer out of killing her family. She tried to let him know that he really was not a bad guy but I think that all of her talking hurt the family more than it helped. I was surprised by how long the Misfit let the grandmother live. I guess he wanted her to feel guilty for talking so much and let her know that she was, more than likely, the cause of everyone’s death. I definitely did not see this story going where it did and I was really surprised when everyone was killed.

Tillie Olson

To me, the story “I Stand Here Ironing” is really sad. Emily’s mother is speaking to someone about Emily and she goes on and on about how she never showed Emily the love that she deserved. Her mother was young when she had her and her father left. Emily’s mother had to get many different jobs to make ends meet and she did not get to spend very much time with her daughter for quite a few years. She even had to send Emily to stay with her father’s family and had a really hard time getting her back. When her mother had another baby, Emily was sent away to, what seemed to me, a private school. She could only see her mother when the school would allow it. I felt bad for Emily that she had to stay in such a horrible place. They would not even let her keep the letters her family sent her for some kind of comfort. Someone is talking to Emily’s mother throughout the story and this person seems to want to take Emily with them. Her mother talks about her other children and about how Emily’s sister seemed to have everything Emily wanted. Finally, Emily made something of herself. I felt bad for Emily that she was never truly shown the kind of love that most mothers have for their children. Since her mother was a single parent, I think that she thought that she had no time to show Emily that love. I also think that there is time to show a child love, you just have to either find the time or make it.

Nikki Giovanni

Nikki-Rosa has to be a poem about Nikki Giovanni’s life. She talks about all of the struggles she and her family faced as she grew up. She mentions not having a toilet or a bathtub. She also mentions her family having to sell everything just so she and her sister could “have happy birthdays and very good Christmases.” I like how she ends the poem by saying that nobody would understand but she was happy. I’m Not Lonely is talking about not being lonely after someone important has left you. I think that she is lonely but she does not want to admit it and let the other person be right. She just wants to talk about how happy she is now that this person is gone. I find Poem for Black Boys to be very sad. Giovanni is talking about a lot of the events that many black people had to go through in their life. But she is not talking about them in an informative way. She is telling these things to boys like they are new games that these boys should try to play. I think that this poem show how hard it was for the black people to get all of the other people to take what they were doing seriously. I find it appalling that all of their struggles and pain can just be seen as fun and games.

The Help Kathryn Stockett

I cannot say that I truly had just one favorite character. The three main women, Minny, Aibileen, and Miss Skeeter, were all favorites of mine. I liked Minny because she reminds me a lot of my grandmothers. She is storng and tries to be strong for everyone, but you can tell she is just trying to hide the fear she has deep inside. She wants to make sure everyone is alright and she takes care of herself last. She let Skeeter put the story in the book about the pie so she could protect the rest of the maids who had put their stories in the book. She also takes extremely good care of not only her own family, but also the people she works for. She will put up with a lot but you know when she has had enough. Both of my grandmothers are exactly like this. They are strong and very caring. They always put themselves after their families and they are both very protective. I liked Aibileen because she was like a mother figure to everyone. She cared about the people that she should probably not care a lot about to begin with. I loved how she would tell Mae Mobley everyday that she was kind, smart, and important. This was something she would have never heard from her own mother and I think that is just downright sad. I liked Skeeter because she was so brave. She stood up for what she thought was right and she would not let anyone change her mind. I liked how she took the risk of writing the book knowing she could be in a lot of trouble if it came out she was the author. She did not even care; she just did not want the people who had helped her to get into any trouble. All of these women were brave, kind, and strong and that is what ultimately made them my favorites.

I think that Skeeter’s mother is a little more sympathetic near the end of the novel than she was in the beginning. All she could do in the beginning was criticize Skeeter and tell her what she needed to fix instead of what made her beautiful. I do not think I could have ever lived with that woman because it seems to me like nothing I did would ever be good enough. Towards the end of the story, when she started criticizing Hilly, I thought she was a little more sympathetic toward Skeeter. For once she was not commenting on something Skeeter was wearing or the way her hair was fixed, she was doing to someone else instead. She also did not seem to criticize her as much when she was with Stuart.

It bothered me a lot that Skeeter was willing to overlook Stuart’s faults so she could get married. I do not think she was truly in love with him; she just wanted to marry him to make her mother happy. All her mother could talk about was her meeting a guy and getting married. I could not believe the way Stuart treated her on their first date. I understand that he was not ready to date yet, but I think the way he acted was foolish. I know if a guy were to treat me like that on a date, I would never go out with him again. I also did not think it was fair that she had to overlook the way he treated her, but he could not overlook the book. She was open and honest with him, and the truth about the book would probably have never gotten out in town because Hilly did not want it to.

I think that Mae Mobley would not have grown up to be racist had Aibileen stayed. Aibileen was teaching her that black and white people were the same and I believe that Mae mobley understood that. She was young when she was taught that, but I have always been told that you should teach children when they are young. She loved Aibileen, and I think she would have known it would hurt Aibileen if she turned out like her mother. I liked how Mae Mobley also tried to teach her brother the thing Aibileen taught her. I also thought it was very brave of Mae Mobley to cover for Aibileen and blame it on her teacher. This showed how much love Mae Mobley had for Aibileen.

I thought that what Minny did to Hilly’s pie was hilarious. I t was nasty but I laughed when I read that. I think the thing that made it funniest for me was the fact that Minny practically warned Hilly the day before. I also thought it was funny that Hilly’s mother won the pie for Hilly at the Benefit. I know that I would have never gone as far a Minny did though. I would have never been brave enough to do anything like that. I was shocked that she even did that. She was already known around town for stealing. If this pie incident happened to get out, she would have never been able to get another job anywhere.

When I first saw this book and how long it was, I thought I would hate having to read this book. Reading is definitely not one of my favorite things to do unless I find a book I like. The Help has now officially been added to my list of books I enjoy reading. I was dreading reading this novel, but once I started reading; I did not want to stop. The ending was a little disappointing to me though. I am really hoping that Kathryn Stockett decides to write another book telling what happens to everyone after this book ended. I want to know if Minny got back at her husband and finally moved on, or if Skeeter did well in New York, or if Aibileen got another job or just retired!

A Raisin in the Sun

I truly enjoyed watching Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun”. When I saw how long the movie was, I was happy we did not have to read this story. It would have taken me FOREVER to read that much. I like how this movie portrays a typical family from this time period. Everyone lives together whether it is in a huge mansion, or in a small apartment.

This story was about Walter Lee, his wife Ruth, his mother Lena, his sister Beneatha, his son Travis, and an insurance check. This family worked very hard for everything they had. They did not really complain about the way their lives were. Walter had a normal job for a colored person at the time as a chauffeur. His mother and wife did odd jobs for people like housework and laundry. Beneatha was a college student looking to become a doctor. They needed money more than anything, and when Lena’s husband died, they got the money they needed.

Walter had a wild dream about owning a liquor store some day with two of his friends. That was all he could ever talk about. I thought it was great that he was so passionate about dream and he never let it go. All he had to do was convince his mother to give him some money. That was going to be hard for him to do though, because his sister needed money for school and it was no secret the family needed a bigger place to live. Ruth had just found out she was expecting another child and there was no way six people could live comfortably in the small place they were living in. Ultimately it was Lena’s decision what to do with the money.

The check finally came and so did Walter’s begging. He wanted a liquor store so bad he could taste it. Lena did with the money what she thought was fair. She had bought a house that was large enough for the whole family. When she told the family her decision, Walter got mad and ran away. He was upset because he had not gotten his way. Lena found him and told him she had only spent $3500 of the $10000 on the house. $3000 of the remaining money was for Beneatha’s school and the rest was for Walter to spend as he saw fit. Personally I think she made the right decision in buying the house but she should not have left Walter to put the rest of the money in the bank.

Walter put all of the remaining $6500 into his liquor store dream and the man that was supposed to make everything happen for him bailed and took all of the money he and his friend Bobo had put into it. I felt so bad for him but I was also a little upset. How could he have been so selfish as to take all of the money for himself? He knew how important being a doctor was for Beneatha and without tuition money; her dream could not come true. He was extremely upset when he found out, but not as upset as his family. Beneatha still had to go to school. The only logical explanation anyone could find was to sell the house but Walter had other plans. He had to find some way for their dream of living in their new house to come true and let Beneatha still go to school.

The house Lena had bought was really nice. It was large and had a great backyard. The only problem was that it was located in a neighborhood where only white people lived at the time. They went to check out the house and were so excited about getting to move. As they were getting things ready to go, a man from the neighborhood came by to tell them that the people already living there did not want their family to move in and they were willing to buy the house back from them. Walter was going to take the deal and then he realized everything was not all about him and getting money fast. He knew how much the family wanted to live in the house and he told the man who was going to buy it back that it was not going to happen. The family was going to move into the house whether the neighbors liked it or not! I was so happy that Walter stood up for the family and not just himself. I really enjoyed watching this movie and I was so happy the family got to live in the house after all!

Steinbeck, Welty, and Wright

John Steinbeck

As I read Steinbeck’s introduction and bio, I was amazed. I thought it was really cool that most of the stories he wrote were set in the place he was born. I also thought it was great that he could sympathize with migrant workers. I found it sad, though, that he had to do so many different jobs but I guess those jobs just gave him more experience and more to write about. I thought Steinbeck’s story “Flight” was really good and I definitely enjoyed reading it. I think this story was a great way to show how there are some decisions that people have to make that can change them from a child to an adult. Pepe was lazy and never really seemed to do anything, but it seemed as if his mother loved him the most of all of her children. Pepe just wanted to fool around and play all day. His mother gave him a simple task and told him exactly what to do. Of course Pepe is like almost every other child in the world and decides to do what he wants. He got into a fight with another man at a family friend’s house and the way I took it, Pepe killed the other man with his father’s knife. He had come home to tell his mother and get her help so he could run from the people who had seen him kill this man. His mother helped him and sent him off to the mountains. Pepe was doing well for a while it seemed. He had managed to hide from people and then everything took a turn for the worst. Pepe’s horse was shot and could no longer take him anywhere so Pepe had to leave th horse on the trail and go alone with his gun. He got shot in the hand and it ended up getting infected. He was so weak and could not go very far before he had to rest. He was finally found and killed. I felt a little ad for Pepe. He was just a boy running and errand for his mother and one bad decision led to a mistake that forced him to become a man really fast. He was only trying to defend himself from the other man who was provoking him. He could not just stand there and take it. In the end, Pepe was suffering from many different things. He was wounded, tired, and dehydrated. I think it was awful how the story ended, but Pepe was suffering and I think death was his only way to escape the suffering.

Eudora Welty

I found the story “Powerhouse” to be a little confusing. I was not sure if Powerhouse was singing or telling a story. I am guessing he was telling a story as he and his and were playing music. I found his story to be quite interesting though. I liked how Eudora Welty described every possible thing she could. I could imagine all of the sounds and the setting of this story. I could imagine the way that powerhouse looked and acted while he was performing. She was very descriptive and that is the only way I can read and comprehend stories. Powerhouse was playing for these people and taking their requests. They were playing a waltz and he started telling a story. He was talking about his wife who had killed herself. He had received the news in a telegram from a man named Uranus Knockwood. He went on and on with this story telling how his wife had jumped put the window at a hotel. She thought Powerhouse was coming to her and he never showed up so she killed herself. Uranus Knockwood found her and took her away. The band and all of the people watching them had taken an intermission and went to a local bar where he began telling the story to people there. He met with a real town hero who had saved quite a few people. He also had a waitress listening to his story. The way I took it she felt bad for him. Powerhouse must not like to think about this story because once they returned from the bar they started playing something completely different and the story never came back up. I felt bad that Powerhouse lost his wife while he was touring and playing for people but he did not seem very upset about it. I guess this shows that different people have different ways of dealing with things.

Richard Wright

I enjoyed reading “Native Son” very much. It was an intriguing story and I was surprised how it ended. Bigger was only going to get a job so he could help his family. This was what many people had to do back then. They would quit school and get jobs or help out around their house. Bigger was so worried about what the white people who lived near the Dalton’s would think of him. He was also afraid of what the family would think of him. He wanted the job so bad and he was so nervous. He thought of himself as a fool because he had not come completely prepared with the paper already out and ready to hand to Mr. Dalton. He was happy when he got the job and then he thought he had lost it because of the Dalton’s daughter. He was relieved to know that he got to keep his job. He had to take the daughter to “the university” the first night he was on the job. She led him to a completely different place and I do not think Bigger was very comfortable about taking her to a different place. They got her boyfriend and went out for a good time. Bigger was not at all thrilled about taking them to a black restaurant and he definitely did not want to go in with them. He did anyways and his girlfriend just laughed in his face. The two talked to Bigger about helping him and his people because that was what they wanted to do. After they left the restaurant, they drove around for a while and Mary and Jan got drunk. Bigger dropped off Jan and took Mary home. Mary was too drunk to get herself up to her room so Bigger had to help her. When they got to her room, she was practically asleep, so Bigger was going to take advantage of her. Of course, Mary did kiss him first, but she was drunk and did not know what she was doing. Bigger was buzzed and knew exactly what he was doing. He did not want to get caught by Mary’s mother, so he suffocated her. He did not do it on purpose, but he should have known that she could not breathe under the pillow. By the time he realized what he had done, it was too late. Mary was dead and the only thing Bigger could do now was run for his life.

Hemingway, Faulkner, and Hughes

Ernest Hemingway

I enjoyed reading “The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber” by Ernest Hemingway but I was confused. The story began in the middle of an event and I had no clue what the characters were talking about. When they all started talking about the lion, I was lost. As I read on, I gathered that Macomber had been hunting lions, he found one, and he ran from it. I also gathered that Macomber and his wife were on a safari with a man who loved to hunt animals. Macomber seemed excited to get to go hunt for a different animal the next day. He just wanted his wife to know that he could kill an animal. I guess he wanted to seem strong and not like a coward. He had another chance to kill a lion the next day. He blew that. He shot at it and got it down, but when he had to get close and shoot it to make sure it was dead, he panicked and ran. His wife showed him on the way back to camp that she wanted a brave man who would stand in the face of terror and not run away with his tail between his legs. She showed him even more so that night that the hunter was the type of guy she wanted. The next day Macomber was so upset and I think this had something to do with him doing so well hunting that day. He killed two of the three buffalo and was on his way to kill the last one when his wife shot him. The way I took the end of the story, Macomber’s wife and Mr. Wilson had planned to kill Macomber the night before. I think she saw this as her only way to get away from him with his money. I kind of felt bad for Macomber because he was shot from behind. He had no way of knowing what was coming and he could not protect himself from the deadly shot.

William Faulkner

I found “That Evening Sun” to be a very confusing and quite frightening story. I was confused because I did not understand why Nancy though Jesus was going to kill her. I know she had slept with some other man while I am guessing she was with Jesus, but he left which shows me that he tried to move on. I will have to admit that while I was reading this story I was a little scared. The narrator was talking about Nancy making weird noises and they seemed to do everything in the dark. I thought it was a little weird when Nancy wanted the children to go back to her house with her. I know she was scared, but she had other people who offered to let her stay with them and she refused. I found the ditch to be a little sketchy. I know I would have hated to have had to cross through a ditch in the dark. I kind of feel a little bad for Nancy though. She had let the thought of Jesus being so mad at her take over her whole life. All she could think about day and night was him coming back to kill her. I think she was losing her mind. I was confused by how the story ended. One minute they were talking about Nancy and the next minute the two youngest children were fighting with each other. They seemed to fight a lot throughout the story now that I think about it. Caddy seemed a little nosey to me. She always asked questions. I think the mom was a little jealous that the father was walking Nancy to her house at night. He just wanted to make sure she was alright because she was one of their workers. If they lost her they would have to find someone else to do the work that she did. I think the mom took into consideration what all Nancy had done in her life, and she really did not want her close to her family.

Langston Hughes

I enjoyed reading Langston Hughes’ poetry. He found a way to make his poetry not only personal to him, but also to whomever may read it. I think my favorite out of all of these poems would have to be “Young Gal’s Blues”. I think he is talking about how some people see getting old as worse than dying. There are some people who cannot stand the fact that they will someday grow old and gray. This poem is also talking about love which is something a person wants all throughout their life. Even when there is no more love to be given, everyone wants more. I also liked “Theme For English B”. I felt that Hughes had made this poem into something more personal for himself. He talked about his life in a way that it related to the professor. I liked how he said that he may be learning from the professor, but the professor is also learning for him and they are a part of each other. As much as people do not want to admit it, everyone leaves a lasting impression on the people they meet. Everyone also learns new things from different people as they teach new things to those people. I enjoyed reading “On the Road” as well. This story is very good. I felt bad for Sargeant because all he wanted was a place to sleep. I am pretty sure a jail cell was not what he had in mind though. I thought that everything he was thinking had actually happened. That he was actually strong enough to bring down the church and then have Christ walking with him. I thought he was just imagining the last part. I thought it was sad that he thought he was stronger than he actually was. I am pretty sure he did not like the cops beating him not once but twice. That had to be just a little embarrassing to him. Another thing that shocked me was the fact that the Reverend just blatantly said NO!