Grace Paley’s status as a stranger in her memoir “Traveling”, allows her to resist the injustices caused by segregation. She sits on this bus faced with the challenge of helping a woman of color or ignoring her to follow societal pressures. Paley doesn’t know anyone on that bus. She uses that to her advantage to go against societal norms. Without having “strings attached”, or personal connections, to any passengers, Paley can make bold choices without any whiplash. She does not need to worry about how her actions will affect strangers, because she won’t ever see them again. Due to the fact that she was not going to offend someone close to her, Paley was able to resist the ongoing segregation injustices on that bus ride.
