40 pages • 1 hour read
We Are Not Like Them
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Chapter 9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Riley”
Riley flies to Alabama to bury Gigi in the family plot. She makes a quick stop at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum, where jars of dirt symbolize the places people have been lynched. The funeral is small, and the family stays up drinking after the service. Riley’s mother encourages Riley to make up with Jenny. Her mother doesn’t want her to regret not saying what Riley needs to, which is how her mother feels now that her own mother is gone. Riley then takes a jar of her own and collects dirt to keep in honor of Jimmy.
Chapter 9 Analysis
In Alabama, Riley can confront her grief in a way she hasn’t before, not only by laying Gigi to rest where she requested, back in the family’s plot, but also by visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum, where her history feels shared. She finds solace in a stranger who knows her pain. This is a prime example of how she can open up but refuses to with her white friends. Even later that night, after Gigi’s service, she can open up to her mother about Jenny.
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