Currently on pg. 270, chapter 28
Shad's family believe that he is a simpleton that he can not learn to read. He makes a deal with a young black girl about his age. He will teach sewing at the black school and they will teach him to read. He badly wants to learn to read but has been unable to learn due to a learning disability. His family are members of the Klu Klux Klan. He has been taught the beliefs of the Klan. This book is about Shad's struggle, the struggle between what he is discovering on his own and what his family and the Klan have taught and are teaching him.
Page 233 has an example of the inter-conflict that Shad is experiencing. It shows the negative voice of the Klan that rings in his ears.
"Then he thought about what he was doing, and the thought made him dizzy. What he was doing was wrong. It was exactly what the Klan feared. He was teaching skills to coloreds. If Kitty learned to gather, and if he taught her collars and cuffs and buttonholes, her skills would be in demand. Some highfalutin lady might even hire Kitty-why, she'd only pay Kitty half what she'd pay Weaver's Fine Tailoring (his grandfather's business) for a dress."
Earlier in the book Shad's brother, Jeremiah, is complaining about how he can't get any work because the foreman always hired the colored people because they will work for less. Shad then thinks of how the foreman would pick the colored men over his brother because they work hard and they are respectful. Those are two things Jeremiah is not, hard-working and respectful.
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