main characters
RUTHIE:
1. Ruthie comes from an intact family of the middle-class. Her father works as an engineer and her mother is a secretary and both of them are very caring. Ruthie, her parents and her brother are black, but they have lived in a suburb, where mostly whites live. Therefore the parents want more black influence for their children, so that they've moved to Northridge, where black urban professionals live. But the family is not accepted, so that Ruthie dislikes going to the American Methodist church, although the parents are very involved - they teach Sunday School - and seem to attach great importance to that.
2. Ruthie is very ambitious at school, because she wants to graduate and go to Harvard. Due to her achievements at school and her engagement she is very popular with the teachers and especially with the principal Mr. Ferris, for whom she is a role model for black pupils. Furthermore she is student body vice president and also tries to care for pupils who aren't good at school, she helps AJ with his chemistry homework and teaches his little brother Anthony reading (tutoring). Besides she dresses like a business-woman and acts like a white woman. She is emotional, sensitive, friendly and helpful, but confused about her black identity. She doesn’t fight with her fists but with words. Ruthie cares about others, Erika doesn’t; Ruthie wants to discuss problems, Erika wants to fight. Erika is more white and acts black, Ruthie is black and acts as if she is white. AJ loves Ruthie for whom she is, but he cannot do the same with Erika , because she is nothing more than a good-looking girl. Ruthie loves her family and gets along with them. Erika gets a lot of attention while Ruthie is more calm and shy. But Ruthie is brave and Erica isn’t, which you can see when it comes to their big fight.
3. Ruthie is friends with two white pupils, Andrea and Christian, which is the reason why black pupils don't like her.
AJ:
AJ comes from a broken family. His mother is dead because of suicide and his dad doesn't take care of his sons but he pays the bills. So AJ cares about Anthony because his older brother Franco is a drug dealer. This situation is very hard for AJ because on the one hand it is difficult for him to accept that his mother committed suicide and on the other hand his father doesn't support him. Besides AJ is a black, good-looking and athletic boy. He is a talented football-player and thinks that he will become a professional football-player ( He is an “emotional fighter” .) He is not interested in anything except sports, party, alcohol, girls and his friends which are his only hobbies. He never shows his emotions in presence of other people, although he is an emotional and sensitive boy actually. When AJ gets to know Ruthie his metamorphosis starts, he grows up and becomes a totally different person. He realizes that there are more important things than sports, parties or alcohol; instead of that he discovers the meaning of confidence, affection and deep love :D . In addition to this, he wants to be free and he wants Anthony to have a better life than he has. He doesn't care about his grades at school ( he doesn´t go there every day), either, because he is a football star and so he receives a scholarship no matter if he is good at school or not.
AJ uses, like most of the blacks, "Black English", but not as many slang words as Erika. ( I think so ;O) )
The Love from AJ to Ruthie:
I think that AJ falls in love with Ruthie because she shows real interest to him. She doesn't only look at his success, she really wants to get to know him and tries to help him with the problems he has, for example the death of his mother and finding a place to live for his little brother Anthony. At the beginning of the book, he thinks that Ruthie is boring because she studies a lot and he really doesn’t like the way she talks and acts. AJ also hates that Ruthie looks him straight in the eyes, which makes him feel uncomfortable. Soon he finds out that she is a very kind and clever girl. AJ recognizes that Ruthie is really interested in his life. At first he hates it but later, when they come closer, his opinion changes. He notices that Ruthie can be a real help for him and he thinks that he would never be good enough for her. AJ loves Ruthie seriously for what she did for him.
Erika:
At the beginning of the book, Erika loves to fight with black girls of her school and she is a real egoist. Erika doesn't care about her grades at school and she often becomes very jealous. She is the child of a black father (he lives in Phoenix) and a white mother (->her parents are divorced, that’s why Erika’s mother drinks a lot of alcohol and has many boyfriends), so that all her enemies call her "half-breed", which causes her some identity problems. She acts and talks more like a black girl and she has a temper. Erika can sing very well and tries hard to be successful in the choir she is in. She has a boyfriend, who is named AJ, and she is very proud of him.In the end, she learns from her mistakes and becomes a better person.
Erika's language is very special^^. She speaks "Black English", although she has got a white mother. I think that shows that Erika has an identification problem. Because she is light-skinned, she doesn't know where she belongs to: she is too black for the whites and too white for the blacks. God is the only whom she trusts because he is colour-blind .
1. Ruthie comes from an intact family of the middle-class. Her father works as an engineer and her mother is a secretary and both of them are very caring. Ruthie, her parents and her brother are black, but they have lived in a suburb, where mostly whites live. Therefore the parents want more black influence for their children, so that they've moved to Northridge, where black urban professionals live. But the family is not accepted, so that Ruthie dislikes going to the American Methodist church, although the parents are very involved - they teach Sunday School - and seem to attach great importance to that.
2. Ruthie is very ambitious at school, because she wants to graduate and go to Harvard. Due to her achievements at school and her engagement she is very popular with the teachers and especially with the principal Mr. Ferris, for whom she is a role model for black pupils. Furthermore she is student body vice president and also tries to care for pupils who aren't good at school, she helps AJ with his chemistry homework and teaches his little brother Anthony reading (tutoring). Besides she dresses like a business-woman and acts like a white woman. She is emotional, sensitive, friendly and helpful, but confused about her black identity. She doesn’t fight with her fists but with words. Ruthie cares about others, Erika doesn’t; Ruthie wants to discuss problems, Erika wants to fight. Erika is more white and acts black, Ruthie is black and acts as if she is white. AJ loves Ruthie for whom she is, but he cannot do the same with Erika , because she is nothing more than a good-looking girl. Ruthie loves her family and gets along with them. Erika gets a lot of attention while Ruthie is more calm and shy. But Ruthie is brave and Erica isn’t, which you can see when it comes to their big fight.
3. Ruthie is friends with two white pupils, Andrea and Christian, which is the reason why black pupils don't like her.
AJ:
AJ comes from a broken family. His mother is dead because of suicide and his dad doesn't take care of his sons but he pays the bills. So AJ cares about Anthony because his older brother Franco is a drug dealer. This situation is very hard for AJ because on the one hand it is difficult for him to accept that his mother committed suicide and on the other hand his father doesn't support him. Besides AJ is a black, good-looking and athletic boy. He is a talented football-player and thinks that he will become a professional football-player ( He is an “emotional fighter” .) He is not interested in anything except sports, party, alcohol, girls and his friends which are his only hobbies. He never shows his emotions in presence of other people, although he is an emotional and sensitive boy actually. When AJ gets to know Ruthie his metamorphosis starts, he grows up and becomes a totally different person. He realizes that there are more important things than sports, parties or alcohol; instead of that he discovers the meaning of confidence, affection and deep love :D . In addition to this, he wants to be free and he wants Anthony to have a better life than he has. He doesn't care about his grades at school ( he doesn´t go there every day), either, because he is a football star and so he receives a scholarship no matter if he is good at school or not.
AJ uses, like most of the blacks, "Black English", but not as many slang words as Erika. ( I think so ;O) )
The Love from AJ to Ruthie:
I think that AJ falls in love with Ruthie because she shows real interest to him. She doesn't only look at his success, she really wants to get to know him and tries to help him with the problems he has, for example the death of his mother and finding a place to live for his little brother Anthony. At the beginning of the book, he thinks that Ruthie is boring because she studies a lot and he really doesn’t like the way she talks and acts. AJ also hates that Ruthie looks him straight in the eyes, which makes him feel uncomfortable. Soon he finds out that she is a very kind and clever girl. AJ recognizes that Ruthie is really interested in his life. At first he hates it but later, when they come closer, his opinion changes. He notices that Ruthie can be a real help for him and he thinks that he would never be good enough for her. AJ loves Ruthie seriously for what she did for him.
Erika:
At the beginning of the book, Erika loves to fight with black girls of her school and she is a real egoist. Erika doesn't care about her grades at school and she often becomes very jealous. She is the child of a black father (he lives in Phoenix) and a white mother (->her parents are divorced, that’s why Erika’s mother drinks a lot of alcohol and has many boyfriends), so that all her enemies call her "half-breed", which causes her some identity problems. She acts and talks more like a black girl and she has a temper. Erika can sing very well and tries hard to be successful in the choir she is in. She has a boyfriend, who is named AJ, and she is very proud of him.In the end, she learns from her mistakes and becomes a better person.
Erika's language is very special^^. She speaks "Black English", although she has got a white mother. I think that shows that Erika has an identification problem. Because she is light-skinned, she doesn't know where she belongs to: she is too black for the whites and too white for the blacks. God is the only whom she trusts because he is colour-blind .
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