The Rock and The River

As the novel opens, Sam is somewhat naïve to the complications surrounding his race and the conflicts of factions within and without the Civil Rights Movement. We see his naivety in the initial instances of racism he faces in the novel: first, when the nurse makes Stick wait despite the severity of his injuries following the white man’s attack with a glass bottle, and second, when the cashier at the hospital gift shop accuses Sam of stealing. Sam is shocked by the nurse and the cashier’s treatment, and he must collect himself and take stock of the situation. These incidents mark the beginning of his development, as he starts to understand the severe consequences of racism when he ventures outside of his own neighborhood: “I’d forgotten what happens when you go someplace new. How careful you had to be. Why I wasn’t allowed to go into the white neighborhoods without Father or Mama” (16).

The next incident that impacts Sam’s development is when he and Maxie witness police officers beating and arresting Bucky. Sam describes Bucky as an innocent, cheerful fellow, emphasizing the injustice of the officers’ actions: “Bucky always bounced back; that was his life” (242) and “Even with all the things he had going on, Bucky was never anything but cheerful.