3: The Darkest Child 103-147

"Never in my life had I heard such rage under one roof as I heard that night. Sam wailed like a strong, full-grown man-the worst sound in the world. Grief and anger wrapped around his chest and sputtered and hissed with his every wail. It seemed to suck the air from his lungs and the blood from his heart. My mother enfolded him in her arms, and together they slumped to the kitchen floor. Sam clutched her shoulders and clung to her as though something inside of her could give him relief."
"'They didn't have to kill him, Mama,' Sam cried. 'They didn't have to kill him. I went and seen how they left him hanging from that tree, and they didn't have to do that. Junior never hurt nobody.'"

This passage comes at the end of the 21st chapter on page 146. It takes place after Sam's good friend, Junior is lynched. Sam is overcome with grief and does not hide it, "Sam wailed like a strong, full-grown man." Sam being a "full-grown man" would probably usually keep his emotions to himself but now they are too strong to keep to himself. He uses his mother as an anchor to hold on to and make him feel better. Luckily for once she is there when she is needed most. When someone dies the people close to them have many emotions. They obviously feel grief but also they are angry. Sam cannot understand why Junior was targeted. He is frustrated with the rest of the world, "They didn't have to kill him, Mama,". In many books I have read about death the people affected by it feel like somehow they are cursed and that god or some other higher being is targeting them.

I haven't experienced much death in my life. My family members that have passed away were distant or not a large part of my life. Both of my grandfathers died before I could know them and my grandma was incapable of moving or talking for many years before she died. I'm ashamed to say that the most pain I've felt is when my guinea pig died. I felt guilt, sorrow and anger. I'm also ashamed to say that most of my sorrow about death has been selfish. I usually feel sad because I will never get to see this person/animal again. When my guinea pig died I felt guilty because I felt like I had neglected him when he was close to death. Although I was not fully aware that he was close to death I must have sensed it in some way. I think that even if you don't feel close to the person who has died you will feel some negative emotion.