Green Chapters 1 and 2

Green is a novel that focuses on a white boy names David and grows up in Boston. He faces many hardships with his race and how people view him. David does not want to deal with any racism and go to a private school instead, but he is forced to go to Martin Luther King Jr high school, which is a high school with the majority of students being black. The only white students are David and Kevin but Kevin is half Armenian, leaving David to be the only truly white student at his school. There are many students at his school that pick on him solely because of his skin color. In today’s world, it is often seen how blacks are mistreated but this book flips the situation. That was one thing I really enjoyed so far through reading this book. Throughout my personal years of high school, I felt like there was a big emphasis on racism towards African Americans, but reading a book where the situation is in reverse is interesting. Not only are blacks being oppresses by racism but this book shows how white people could be as well. The book continues by introducing characters like Benno, who is Davis’s quite brother and Marlon who David becomes a bit closer to through chapter 2. David tries his best to make friends and fit in but he truly does not because of his skin color. He makes his mom buy him and basketball suit from an NBA team, but the students at school quickly show him that it was a bad idea. Although there is an obvious difference if the student’s race, I notice that there are subtle things that connect the students such as basketball. Maybe David is not so different from the rest of the students, but they might not be able to understand that.