The Lions Of Little Rock

“You see, to me, people are like things you drink. Some are like a pot of black coffee, no cream, no sugar. They make me so nervous I start to tremble. Others calm me down enough that I can sort through the words in my head and find something to say.” 

Marlee makes a whimsical comparison between the people in her life and drinks. This quote also reveals her general state of mind. Her chronic anxiety at the thought of speaking causes her to seek out a source of calm. 

“‘I thought you needed a friend.’ She was right. I did. ‘I needed a friend too,’ said Liz. And I suddenly knew what Liz was—a cup of warm milk with a dash of cinnamon.”

This quote is a follow-up to the preceding comment. For several chapters, Marlee can’t quite define Liz’s drink until this moment. The declaration of friendship calms Marlee, and she assigns a soothing drink to Liz’s identity. 

“And for the first time, I understood what Judy was saying about finding someone who shared interests with you. Someone you can sit quietly with. For the first time, I thought I might understand what it was like to have a real friend.”

Marlee’s silence has isolated her. She’s willing to accept Sally’s toxic friendship because she can’t communicate with anyone else. When she establishes genuine rapport with Liz, the contrast between real friends and false ones becomes apparent to her for the first time.

“I was careful not to glance in the mirror and see my brown hair and brown eyes that looked so much like Liz’s. Could it be true? Can a girl be white one day and colored the next?” 

Marlee is pointing out the ridiculous basis for racism. She and Liz have virtually identical coloring. Why is Liz considered colored while Marlee is not? Racial identity becomes an arbitrary designation under these conditions.

“Parents were not supposed to cry. They weren’t supposed to fight, either. And sisters weren’t supposed to be sent away. And if your friend was white, she should stay white, and not suddenly turn out to be a Negro.” 

Marlee is unconsciously pointing out the ridiculousness of stereotypes. People’s behavior can’t be pigeonholed conveniently based on the roles they occupy in life. Skin color as a basis for definition is even more irrational than assigned roles. 

“I decided it was a magic square after all, because it was going to bring my friend and me back together.”

Liz has just filled in a magic square that includes her phone number. It doesn’t add up as magic squares are supposed to do. However, Marlee is quick to perceive that magic isn’t confined to math puzzles. True friendship is the greatest magic of all. 

“Then she read a quote from 1 Peter 3:14 that caught my attention: But even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.” 

Marlee has taken Miss Winthrop’s Sunday school lesson to heart. This quote will appear a few more times in later sections of the book. It is an admonition to do the right thing despite the fear of negative consequences. 

“Maybe Mother wasn’t selfish or uncaring. Maybe she was scared. Maybe she masked it like David did, not with a grin, but with a frown.” 

Marlee has always interpreted her mother’s stand on segregation in a negative light. Her parents frequently argue about the issue. By changing her perspective, Marlee understands not only her mother but also all the other people in Little Rock who remain silent in the face of racism.

“‘Is Mrs. Brewer right? If she invited Negroes to join the WEC, would the group really fall apart?’ ‘I don’t know,’ said Miss Winthrop. ‘Probably. But that doesn’t make it right.’ I thought about that. Doing the right thing was harder than I’d expected it to be. And more confusing too.” 

As Marlee ventures farther into the integration protest, questions of right and wrong become blurred. As a child, she still attempts to process the world in terms of black and white. This quote indicates that she’s becoming aware of shades of gray. 

“He’d said that things could be different in Little Rock, if only the right people could find their voice. I wanted to be one of those people.” 

At this point in the story, Marlee’s struggle to speak parallels the struggle of an entire town. The integrationists in Little Rock have found their voices suppressed by racists and the government. Marlee transcends her tiny problem of shyness around classmates and joins a larger cause to allow the average citizen to speak out about integration. 

“I went back to my room and brought out the box of flyers Miss Winthrop and I had been folding. I handed one to Mother. It said: Saying what you think is as important as thinking it! Speak out for public schools!”

Marlee’s personal problem with expressing herself is now being transferred to her mother. Mrs. Nisbett has kept quiet about the school closings even though she’s disturbed by the situation. Like her daughter, she needs to find her voice to articulate her concerns.

“What you say with your friends is one thing […] How you really feel, that’s another.”

In confiding this information to Marlee, Sally is revealing her own unethical code of conduct. She is superficially friendly but rarely reveals her true feelings. This is the opposite of Marlee’s communication with Liz and helps Marlee understand the difference between true and false friends. 

“While I was eating the sweet cake, I noticed the quote on the walls again: The more you skate, the more you learn. The more you learn, the more you skate. It made sense this time. It was about practice.” 

Up to this point in the book, Marlee has always viewed herself as deficient because she finds talking to people so difficult. It has never occurred to her that conversation is a skill. All skills can be improved with practice. 

“I’d been waiting for it to feel natural for me to talk to my mother, waiting for just the right moment. But maybe that was the wrong approach. Maybe I had to talk to her first, and then, after I did, maybe it would start to feel natural.” 

Although Marlee has no trouble talking to her father or her siblings, she’s lost the ability to communicate in any meaningful way with her mother. That strained relationship becomes a vicious cycle in which Marlee’s awareness of the problem keeps her from finding the obvious solution. Just start talking. 

“Now, with the firings of seven principals, three secretaries and thirty-four teachers, including my own husband, I realize it is no longer enough for me to think these things. I need to say them"

Mrs. Nisbett speaks these words during her PTA speech. She foregrounds the real problem in Little Rock. The cause of their school problem isn’t the intimidating behavior of racists. It is the fact that average well-meaning citizens remain silent in the face of it. 

“For months now, I’ve carried around this quotation. But no matter which way I look at it, I can come to only one conclusion. If my own daughter realizes that we must speak out, how can I do any less?”

Mrs. Nisbett makes this statement while addressing the PTA. Marlee had long ago assumed that her mother failed to understand the quotation she’d slipped into the latter’s purse. Not only did she get the message, but she felt chastened that it had been understood by a twelve-year-old long before she, herself, got the point.

“Brave and perceptive and smart. My mother thought I was brave and perceptive and smart. That’s all I could think of. It was a funny feeling. I didn’t remember hearing her say that before, but it was really nice.” 

Marlee is basking in her mother’s praise. If she, herself, hadn’t been brave enough to start expressing her feelings to her mother, the latter would never have had any reason to speak her own feelings. Marlee has learned that communication skills aren’t innate. They simply take practice. 

“The Little Rock Nine. They were in danger. But they didn’t run away. They were brave. They kept going to school, even though it was scary. Even though their parents must have been worried about them. They kept going, because they believed in something. Believed they had a responsibility to make things better.” 

By making this statement, Marlee has transcended her own struggle to communicate. She is now willing to speak up for the sake of making things better for others. Her friendship with a colored girl has expanded her awareness of the needs of the rest of her community.

“You had just turned four. It was our first night in the house, and the lions started roaring. Judy, David and I were terrified. But you went right over to look out the window. You weren’t scared of getting eaten; you wanted to see them.” 

Marlee’s mother offers this comment about her daughter’s bravery. Now that the two are communicating again, Marlee is learning how she is perceived by others. It isn’t nearly as negative an opinion as she expected. 

“We pretend the world is straightforward, simple, easy. You do this, you get that. You’re a good person and try your best, and nothing bad will happen. But the truth is, the world is much more like an algebraic equation. With variables and changes, complicated and messy. Sometimes there’s more than one answer, and sometimes there is none. Sometimes we don’t even know how to solve the problem.”

Marlee’s math teacher consoles her when she realizes that all the town’s racist issues don’t magically disappear once the schools are integrated. Marlee’s love of math makes her want simple answers that can be quantified. Mr. Harding points out that life isn’t like simple addition—it’s like algebra. 

“Liz was too afraid to be friends with me anymore. There had to be a part of that problem I could solve. Some way to give her back the courage she’d given me. Some way to…Red. He was only one part of the equation, but he was a large part. If I could deal with him, maybe it would help, at least a little.” 

Marlee is using her favorite method to deal with difficult life situations. She resorts to math for solutions. Although prime numbers won’t solve the problem of Red, algebra might. 

“‘Marlee,’ said Daddy, ‘taking the dynamite from Red was reckless and impulsive.’ I nodded. ‘But it was awfully brave too.’ He almost sounded proud of me. ‘Marlee listens to lions,’ said Mother, and Daddy didn’t even ask what she meant. I guess somehow he knew.” 

When Mrs. Nisbett makes this comment, she’s pointing out the difference between Marlee and the rest of the family. As an earlier quote mentioned, Marlee is the only one who isn’t afraid to hear the lions roar. Like the lions themselves, she is courageous when it counts. 

“I think a friend is someone who helps you change for the better. And whether you see them once a day or once a year, if it’s a true friend, it doesn’t matter.”

This quote sums up everything Marlee has learned over the course of the story. Initially, she was threatened by loss of contact with Liz, and also threatened by Liz’s relationship with Curtis. Her expanding circle of friends makes her less dependent on Liz while still maintaining a long-term connection to her.