111 pages • 3 hours read
Sharon M. DraperFire from the Rock
Fiction | Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary: “Tuesday, January 22, 1957”
Sylvia and DJ look at magazines and get ready for bed. DJ asks if she will also have to attend school with white students because she doesn’t want to and she worries that the grown-ups will make a mess of everything when they make that happen. Sylvia reassures her that lawmakers take forever to change laws and so she is likely fine for a while. While looking at a magazine, DJ comments on how her father could never be president of the United States because he is “colored.” Sylvia says that white people will never let a Black woman be crowned Miss America, either. DJ tells Sylvia she is pretty, and Sylvia is shocked at the compliment. Gary joins them and declares that Sylvia is the perfect person to integrate Central High. He says that if it were him, he would only “burn the place down” (83).
When Sylvia writes in her diary, she wonders what real beauty is and reflects on how all the images around her depict beauty as also being white and light. She remembers one of her favorite childhood toys as being a white baby doll because “they don’t make Negro dolls” (85).
Chapter 11 Summary: “Wednesday January 30, 1957”
Sylvia talks with Reggie on the phone as she does almost every night. He tells her how he wants to teach her how to throw a snowball by putting his arms around her. Sylvia says she might just let him do that. Reggie asks Sylvia if she has heard about the bombing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s house and what she thinks about that. He says that white people are hateful and dangerous. Sylvia says not all white people are this way because her friend Rachel is nice. Reggie asks if Rachel’s parents would welcome the idea of her marrying their son one day. Reggie also asks if her father plans to do anything about the bombing of King’s house and the tension in Little Rock. Reggie says that their parents’ generation just waits around for things to get better instead of going out and doing something about it. He also tells Sylvia that he does not want her to go to Central in the fall. He says he just wants her to be a normal high school student and his girlfriend and not a “hero.” Sylvia writes in her journal about the Montgomery bus boycott, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks. She also writes that she knows if she goes to Central she will lose her current friends, her opportunity to be a cheerleader, and her boyfriend.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Monday, February 4, 1957”
Miss Washington asks Sylvia why she chose to write her report on Africa. Sylvia says she read an article in her encyclopedia about “Negroes” and it made her mad, so she wrote about Africa so she would have something to be proud of. Miss Washington remarks that few “Negroes” feel pride in their African roots, and she is glad Sylvia chose this topic. While Miss Washington is walking around and collecting projects from each student, Candy and Reggie are flirting with each other over chewing gum. Sylvia gets so upset she asks to go to the restroom, where she cries. When she sits with Lou Ann at lunch, she sees Reggie come into the cafeteria with Candy. Sylvia is having second thoughts about going to Central as Lou Ann tells her that integration isn’t worth losing Reggie or any of the opportunities high school has to offer.
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
These chapters provide insight into why Sylvia has such a hard time believing that she is pretty or that she is capable of doing anything beyond household chores. Everywhere she looks she sees that beauty and success are defined by whiteness. She remarks that even the models in Ebony magazine are very light-skinned and look more white than Black. Ebony is a real magazine, and many Black women have critiqued its narrow definitions of beauty over the years. Sylvia enters an ongoing controversial conversation when she wonders what real beauty is and why she can’t find herself reflected back in the images of what girls are supposed to look like and be like. When she and DJ discuss Eisenhower, they also call attention to the racist limitations of what Black people are supposed to grow up to be. With so many messages reinforcing what she is not and will never be, it is good that Sylvia has her family to remind her of her potential. The image of a strong Black family is a powerful one in this story, and it serves to counteract the persistent messages of a white racist society.
These chapters also demonstrate the mounting tension and controversy over racial integration in the schools. Sylvia begins to realize what she will have to sacrifice for the greater cause of integration. This is a huge personal sacrifice to make, and Draper shows the reader just how someone like Sylvia will have to give up her own safety, happiness, friends, popularity, and comfort for this cause.
Sylvia is beginning to struggle with just how much school integration is likely to cost her. While she seems to know it is the right thing to do, Lou Ann serves as a reminder of what Sylvia will be leaving behind, including her boyfriend, Reggie. As Lou Ann points out, who is likely to remember the first kids who integrate Central High anyway? The irony in this statement is the argument of the whole book: Everyone needs to remember what happened at Central High.
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