Grace Paley’s “traveling” is a recollection about when she, as a stranger, encountered segregation for the first time. Paley, being a stranger uses this as an advantage to help out another woman. Seemingly unaware of the way things happened, she offers her seat to the colored lady- who refuses. Despite the stares from the white men, Paley offers to hold the child as an act of rebellion and when asked to return the child back to his mother, she tightens her grip around the boy.
Being a stranger sometimes gives one a “get out of jail- free pass” in the event she/he does something wrong. Paley used this to make a point that had not only short term, but rather more long term effects.
