Jessy Ring
10-23-2018
Pearsall, S. (2012). Jump into the sky. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Your job is to choose a paragraph, quote or passage from the book to discuss with your group. Your purpose is to help other students by spotlighting something interesting, powerful, funny, puzzling, or important from the text. You can read parts aloud yourself or ask another group member to read them. Include the page number and reason for choosing the passages.
“Tell you the truth, that cake was probably as good a picture of love as any. For most folks – except maybe Archie’s parents, who still held hands when they were walking around together – it seemed as if love always started out looking sweet and perfect at first. But the longer you carried it around with you, the worse it became. And finally it got so bad, the whole thing crumbled into little bitty pieces, and you had to leave those dried-up crumbs behind for other people to clean up.”
This passage introduces Levi’s feelings about love. It really reflects some of the experiences he has faced in his first 13 years, including being abandoned in a car by his mother. Levi uses the discarded cake he was given as a metaphor for love. I chose this passage because it shows where Levi is in the beginning of the story as his character is still developing. It also provides a picture of how Levi is feeling at the time.
“As I crouched in the field on my hands and knees, sick as a dog, ants crawling up my legs, flies buzzing around my face, hot sun beating down, that’s the thought that kept pounding inside my head. He woulda killed me for nothing. That’s the honest truth. Just for coming into his store and being the color I was.”
This is Levi’s first experience with the violence towards African Americans in the South. This passage reflects the confusion and pain the experience caused him. It is another stepping stone in Levi’s character development. This passage also explains his later reaction when he goes back into town.
“That’s when the reason came crystal clear to me. Fear – that’s what was eating me up. Like I said, fear isn’t something I’m used to feeling too often. But it had grabbed hold of me now and was shaking me hard. I was afraid. Gut-bellied afraid. Afraid of going back to the town where I’d nearly been killed over nothing. Afraid of seeing the store. The storekeeper.”
I chose this passage for a couple of reasons. First, it ties back to the second passage I chose because Levi is facing going back to the train station, not far from the shop were the man threatened to shoot him. Another reason I chose this passage is the strong sense of emotion conveyed. Facing this fear and learning from the previous experience provide further character development. Facing this fear, in particular, is paramount in helping Levi become the young man he is at the end of the book.
“Watching those little bitty pieces fly away got me thinking about how nice it would be if your color was something you could take off whenever you felt like it. What if you could crack open your skin like a peanut shell and toss it away whenever you needed to be free of it? Order whatever soda you wanted at the store. Ride in the nice comfortable train cars with upholstered seats. Then put your brown shell back on again. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to be white. Just thought it would be nice to have the chance to be free of who I was every once in a while.”
This passage was very thought provoking for me. I tried to imagine myself in Levi’s position. The things that he would do after “cracking open” his skin are normal everyday activities. For someone as young as Levi to feel this way makes me incredibly sad. It also makes me think about the racial tensions that are still problematic today. Levi’s character faces these problems in 1945, however, here we are 73 years later, and there are still young African American children who feel the way Levi feels. It’s not okay.
“Then, on August 6, the biggest bomb in history was dropped on Japan. And that news woke us all up.”
Reason for choosing this passage:
This brief passage was a major moment in our history. The biggest bomb in history killed so many people, and those that didn’t immediately die were left dying from other causes. Even though this is not a major focus for the book, I feel like it needed to be mentioned.
“I think all the air had gotten sucked out of the car by then, because I sure couldn’t find any to breathe. I was convinced the conductor was gonna take us out of this world. Instead, he turned toward me. Even though me and my daddy looked alike, I don’t think the conductor realized we were father and son. Most army officers didn’t travel around the country with their half-grown children.
The conductor pointed his finger at where I was sitting, next to the window. “You, boy, get up and follow me to the front right now. You know better than to be here in this car. Let’s go.” His face was hard.
This was the point when I realized that deciding not to leave somebody – and deciding to stay with them – are two entirely different things. Deciding not to leave my daddy was the easy part because all I had to do was follow him. Choosing to stay with him meant accepting the consequences of whatever happened to us – good or bad – together.
“I think I’m gonna stay where I am,” I replied, my voice not sounding too certain.
The conductor acted like he hadn’t heard me. Or didn’t believe me. Hard to tell.
“What did you say, boy?”
This time I found another voice. “I’m staying here with my father.””
This passage, and the surrounding text, was very powerful. I got chills when reading it. This is the point in the book where Levi’s character development has fully matured. Even though he is terrified, he chooses to stay by his father’s side and face the consequences. Which could have been lethal for both Levi and his father. It is this point in the story when I stopped thinking of Levi as a child and started to think of him as a young man.
Porsha Linder
Pearsall, S. (2012). Jump into the sky. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Your job is to develop a list of questions that your group might want to discuss about this part of the book. Don’t worry about the small details; your talk is to help people talk over the big ideas in the reading and share their reactions. Usually the best discussion questions come from your own thoughts, feelings, and concerns as you read. You can list them below during or after your reading. You may also use some of the general questions below to develop topics to your group.
1. What does Levi learn about the South’s expectations for “colored” people? How is this a culture shock for him?
2. How has Levi’s past experiences impacted the way he feels about the people around him?
3. What can you infer about the struggles Americans faced during WWII? How were struggles different based on race?
4. How would you feel if you were Levi when he learned about the balloon bombs?
5. How does Levi show his bravery throughout the story?
WWII
Racism
Bravery
Compassion
Porsha Linder
Pearsall, S. (2012). Jump into the sky. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.
Your job is to prepare a brief summary of your reading. Your group discussion will start with your 1-2 minute statement that covers the key points, main highlights, and central ideas of the reading. Your opinions do not belong in an objective summary. Also, be sure not to include minor details.
1. The book setting in 1945 reflect the prejudices from that time.
2. WWII had many effects on the U.S. Economy and its people.
3. Life in America was different for people during 1945 depending on a person’s race & skin color.
4. People are not defined by their appearance.
5. Bravery ignites changes that are needed in the world.