The Guardian

What makes people do certain things? What makes people believe what other people want to feel? All of these unanswered questions are expressed throughout "The Guardian." Ansel, a white boy, works at a shop that his father owns and one summer they hired Willie who was black. Ansel got along fine with him but the rest of the town did not respect Negros. The only reason Ansel's father hired him was because his mom had been a friend of theirs for a while. since they hired him, Ansel and his dad were not being treated right either and people would show there disgrace. this had never bothered Ansel's opinion. He had a great friend, a good family and even a girl that he liked named Mary-Susan. Everything would have stayed fine to him until one day when Willie and him were going to the church, they found a boy named Zeph beating Mary-Susan until she died. Zeph was always jealous that Mary-Susan did not like him and that Ansel was the one she liked. Ansel, Willie and even his father saw that Zeph was the one who killed her only when the town came to see, Zeph told everyone it was Willie who killed her. He went on about how all Negros were always causing trouble and they believed him. Ansel spoke up and told them Zeph was the one who did it but know one believed him and just called him a negro lover. When Ansel told his dad to speak up, he wouldn't do it. He knew it wasn't true but he didn't want to be laughed at. Ansel got very mad and i wouldn't blame him. He knew what the truth was and had the chance to speak up but didn't to save his pride. Only a coward would keep something like that inside and because of that, Willie was hung for a crime he didn't commit. Ansel had made a decision that day. He said he would "rather be a negro lover than a white." He saw what terrible people they were and what awful things they did to his friend. He did not want to hate like them; he would rather be hated. That night when he went home a lot of people came over to tell them that they couldn't go certain places anymore since they hired Willie. Ansel's mother only wanted what was best for him so she sent him away and she stayed to handle his dads wrath. She wanted him to be able to lead a good life while that night when he left, she took her own. Ansel's father lost his family that night but it was a choice he made. It was his actions that led him to a life like this but by then it didn't matter to him anymore. Ansel and his dad never saw each other again. Ansel went back to the old town once and saw that nothing had changed. Ansel was better off where he was so he could make a new start and protect the innocent from the pain none of them should ever feel.