sugar by jewell parker rhodes chapter summary

She wants to be a kid, to play and explore and pretend, but she had to work and that part of her story was hard to read. Narrated in the first person by Sugar, she is a sweet, engaging, funny, intelligent, spunky girl who has trouble obeying orders and has a curiosity as big as the world. Times are indeed changing and when the Overseer takes his revenge, the result brings changes for everyone though not what might be expected. Wills exchange some heated words and the Overseer is fired. And when his mother brings out lemonade and ham stuffed biscuits, the Overseer gets angry because Billy is slowing down production. Will's hope that his son will on day take over the plantation and so Billy decides to work in the fields to start learning about sugar cane production. Although forbidden to go near them by Mister and Missus Beale, her unofficial grandparents, Sugar can't resist and pretty soon has managed to bring Chinese and African Americans together. Sugar is excited when the Chinese workers arrive and is immediately drawn to the youngest of the group (who, although his age isn't given, thought thought was in his teens) who teaches right off the bat her to say hello in Chinese. Even though he swears her to secrecy, word gets our and the older former slaves that Sugar lives with are afraid they will be out of a job and their homes, ramshackle shacks though they are. Sugar is secretly friends with his son, Billy, who tells her that his father has now hired some Chinese men to come and work on the plantation.

It is 1870 and reconstruction is in full swing and things are changing, or so says Mr. She has lived on the River Road plantation where they grow sugar cane in Louisiana her whole life, but she really just wants to go north and see what the world is about. Sugar is 10, an orphan and although she is not longer a slave, she sure doesn't feel free.

Sugar by jewell parker rhodes chapter summary