th them or have her children go anywhere near them. She felt so strongly about the situation, that with the support of her friends, she had Emily and Clarence expelled from school. Mrs. Stevens explained to the teacher that if she did not comply with her request, she would shut down the school, so Miss Jordan had no choice but to accede. Mr. Garie was also a racist. He may not have been a flagrant racist because he did in fact marry a black woman, but he did own slaves. Because he happened to fall in love with one, that doesn't mean that his previous way of thinking had changed. People who owned slaves were racist and prejudice regardless of the fact that they were kind because the act of enslaving anyone is severe enough to place them in that category.Charlie Ellis was an example of someone who was subjected to racism. Charlie was an intelligent, eager, hardworking young man who only wanted to work so that he may help provide for his family. But whenever he tried to find a job, he was denied a position because he was black.Another example would be Clarence not being able to marry his one true love, Birdie. When Birdie and her father were informed of the fact that Clarence was actually black, the engagement was called off. Although Birdie loved him, she couldn't get passed it until it was to late. Clarence eventually dies of a broken heart and loneliness. "Clarence, cast a tear upon thy tomb-poor victim of prejudice to thy color!"In the novel, The House Behind the Cedars, "racism" and "prejudice" are also main themes. Prime examples of this would be Miss Molly thinking she was upscale because she was a fairer shade of black, Rena also dying of a broken heart.Miss Molly was lighter in complexion than most of the black people in her community. Because of her mulatto like skin color and the fact that she married a white man, she felt that she was better than a majority of the people that she came across. She raised her chi...
