How does Paley’s status as a stranger enable her to resist the injustices of segregation?
When Grace Paley travels to Miami, she doesn’t know anyone on the bus and isn’t familiar with the laws of segregation in the South. Because she doesn’t know the rules or any of the people there, she doesn’t feel any pressure to conform. She is free to react to the situation in a way that comes naturally – by offering her seat to a mother and small child. Like her mother, Paley is a strong person, with a definite sense of right and wrong. Being a stranger on the bus, makes it easy for her to do the right thing, and to ignore a bully when he confronts her.
