Throughout the story we learn that she is attending Jefferson Highschool in Virginia during the 1950's. During this time segregation laws were barely being lifted and mixed schools were being approved. Sarah being a black female student has to rise up against the fact that her gender and race were harshly treated during that time. The students (white) around her call her slurs and other insults weakening her state of mind. They tease and poke pencils at her in order to gain some sort of reaction to which she prevails. Her faith in God and knowing she has to be a stepping stone for her people helps her stay strong. Her sister and friends motivate her to continue onward despite the immense hate she gets. Teachers ignore the bullying and racism making Sarah's situation even more unbearable. Not only this, but they put her in remedial classes despite her knowledge being way ahead of the curriculum in each class.

The story takes place in Virginia, 1959 when Jim Crow laws were still in place. Since the group of teens are the only black students in an all-white High school they were bound to get discriminated against. Sarah has to stand up for not only herself but she has to stand up for her friends and her sister while facing the challenges of being black at Jefferson High. When students found out that black students would be joining them for the new school year, they were furious. Even before walking into school, they were getting harassed by students and parents. Sarah and her group have been called multiple slurs, spit on, stabbed with a pencil, and pushed by white students because they believe that black students shouldn't go to their school. When she got her classes, Sarah noticed that she had been put into remedial classes. She was upset at this because she wanted to graduate and go to college.

During her time at school she faced many hardships such as discrimination and racism. Due to segregation laws just recently being lifted in this time period many people are still against it and treat her unfairly. The white students bully her relentlessly because of her race and they believe that black people should be separated from white people and they don't want her at their school. Everywhere she goes people stare and whisper about her calling her racial slurs, saying she stinks and either spitting on her or blowing spitballs at her. Regardless of all of this happening she stands her ground and pays no attention to the bullies in order to ensure that the white teacher has no reason to get her in trouble and send her to detention. Sarah has met one nice teacher so far at her new school but despite that the other teachers are not as friendly. Even though the teachers can see Sarah struggling, they say nothing and let the students say and do whatever they want to her. Sarah is also forced to take remedial classes at her new school because she is black regardless of the fact that she used to be in college prep classes at her old school; this could affect her in the future when it comes to college.

A conflict that I can already see arising is either one of the white kids actually getting physical with one of them or something even more than just name calling happening. To give context about the book, it is in the Southern States in the year 1959 so of course there is going to be some racial comments but the fact that basically all the people/students including the teachers are rude is not too surprising but surprising that the teachers are also not being very inviting except for only one who was really nice. I think all the pain, struggle, name calling, everything that she has had to go through already was expected that she is going to an all-white school being black at this time. I think that yes the time frame and place does affect the actions of others because today yes we may still struggle with racism but it is not as intense as it used to be for many people of color back then. And I wanted to also include a part that stood out to me. And that was when they were receiving their classes and were put in remedial classes. All of these challenges that they have to face are hurtful but most likely be a lesson about life sometime later in the future.

The main protagonist, Sarah, comes from a very religious household. She goes to church, prays a lot and even is a part of her church's choir. It’s very telling that she is religious since in the first chapter (pg. 13) she and her friends recite a verse from the bible while walking towards the school. Later in a few chapters, Sarah's mom tells her, “Remember what to do when it gets hard. Take your worries to the lord. Have faith. He’s watching over all of you.” (pg. 84) This advice is given to not only Sarah but also to spread her message to her friends. This advice is not just religious but also a way of giving hope to the students. She wants them to have faith that even though it seems hard, things will eventually get better, no matter how long it may take. I think that this advice plays a big role because there might be some challenges that the characters face and with this advice, they will continue because they know that the lord is watching over them.

With everything going on in Sarah's life, she finds her strength and courage to continue forward in god. After her horrid first day of school she goes home in a clear despondent state. Her mother reminds her, "Take your worries to the Lord. Have faith. He's watching over all of you" (pg.84). This makes Sarah feel hope, but unclear why her prayers aren't being answered and why she has to face this treatment. With these words of wisdom we see Sarah think and it makes us question her full faith in the Lord. We see her have doubts, but despite this her mentality is to persevere no matter how tough it may be. Sarah knows her situation will take time to overcome and with a little reminder that the Lord will be there every step of the way to guide them, she's ready.

As I have read "Lies We Tell Ourselves" I have noticed when Sarah was given advice by an older and wiser person which was by her mother. On page 84 her mom says that when life seems to get hard, to always have faith and put her worries to the Lord. And most of the time she is worried about herself or her sister Ruth. And she continues to talk about how even if she does put her worries up to the Lord he seems so far away. One other part where I noticed that she received advice from an older person was on the page before that on page 83 it was something small but her mom was telling her to be careful. and that even with the new rule of if you fight you get expelled, to still keep a watch out.

Sarah receives advice from her parents, specifically her mother, about how to survive the integration of Jefferson High School. Sarah's mother tells her to not let the hateful words of the white students get to her, reminding her of the larger purpose behind them switching schools. Sarah' s mother's advice urges Sarah to be resilient in the face of adversity. Her mother's words are intended to protect Sarah and emphasize the importance of enduring hardship with dignity and preparing her to confront the hostile environment she will face.

Another big idea we see is jealousy. We see jealousy mainly within Linda. In the pages we read, we saw that Linda was jealous of not only Judy but Sarah. In the book, Linda seemed jealous when Judy and Sarah would laugh and smile around each other but when Linda was around Sarah would stop. "I don't want her to look like that.Not when she's alone with Judy. I want her to look at me." (pg. 157) tells us that she hates the fact that Judy and Sarah have bonded when it seems like Sarah hates Linda. We also see Linda showing signs of jealousy when she is arguing with Sarah. She is jealous that Sarah is good at debating when people would never want to debate Linda in the first place. She was jealous that Sarah knew a lot and seemed very educated.

The next word that I decided for my Big Idea was the word strength. Judy explains Sarah as a strong person because she explained that he works hard, is a brave person, always keeps her head up high, and just looks mesmerizing. She works hard from the way she does her work at lunch solving questions really fast. She wishes she could be as brave as her and be able to stand up for herself the way Sarah does. Wishing she could be able to filter all the bad things out and still keep her head up high even with all the criticisms she receives. Still waking with her head up like nothing.

In addition to that big idea, we see the big idea of realization present throughout the story. As Linda and Sarah spend more time together, they begin to realize that their company is pleasant to each other. Linda finds herself thinking of Sarah in every aspect possible and realizes that she needs Sarah in her life to feel some type of warmth. Linda slowly comes to realize that she's attracted to Sarah in the way she's supposed to be attracted to men. Linda states, "But I can't keep lying to myself. I want Sarah the way I'm supposed to want Jack." This reveals the underlying truth of Linda's sexuality and her feelings towards Sarah, which are romantic. This realization breaks her, but keeps her wanting more of Sarah's attention and time. As the story goes on, we switch back to Sarah's pov and she's having the same thoughts. Sarah insists on praying to God to "fix" her though, however she knows she yearns for Linda as well.

As well as desperation being a huge theme throughout the book, perspective is a continuous idea as we are shown Sarah's point of view as well as Linda's. Through Linda's point of view, we are able to see into Linda's mind and how her thought process is different from Sarah's due to their different upbringings in a deeply segregated society, where she has been taught to believe in white supremacy. Linda's interactions with Sarah Dunbar makes her perspective start to shift as she is torn between the beliefs she has been raised with the growing awareness that those beliefs are wrong. Her perspective seems as though it will gradually evolve throughout the story as she breaks away from the oppressive ideology she was raised with.

After they were assigned the group project together they would meet in private at Judy’s work. Sarah started getting more comfortable and started worrying just a little bit less. She enjoyed hanging out with Judy and even arguing with Linda.Sarah also found herself liking Linda romantically and even kissed her before they worked on their project. Another thing that has happened was Linda and Judy told Sarah that she should join choir which made her standout more since she was the only black girl singing. It seems as though Sarah is slowly getting used to the new school but is also starting to realize that she “Isn't normal” Because she likes Linda, and we begin to see her perseverance slowly change into some type of fear. On the other hand, we saw that Linda started to tolerate the integration and came to terms that she doesn't wanna see herself with Jack forever. She also slowly realizes that she likes Sarah way more than she should have. She knows it's wrong especially since Sarah is a black girl and that she would get in trouble just being seen with her. It seems as though both characters are noticing their differences and going through different things that can seem very challenging which makes us wonder, how will the story end?

Meanwhile, Sarah goes from a timid, soft-spoken character to a strong headed, persistent character. She's not afraid to talk back to a white person or her superiors when facing unjustifiable situations. Sarah has underlying thoughts and tensions that she releases to Linda as time goes on, but with this she also begins to realize her feelings for Linda. This realization sends Sarah in a spiral which revolves around her faith in God and needing to be saved by him for being a "sinner". She's at war with herself and forces herself on dates with Ennis to hopefully convince herself that she's straight. When this doesn't work she avoids Linda at all costs, but ends up finding herself talking to Linda. Her leadership and persistent attitude continues throughout the story. She's in a more confused place than ever, but she's slowly finding her way to self-love and knowing what she truly stands for.

Now when we see the way Sarah acts in the book, you would have never believed its the same girl. I decide to use change as one of the three of my Big ideas because she changed a lot. The way she changed was now lets say if someone says something to her for example if Linda (one of the other characters says something to her) she will immediately have something back to say. She's really good at arguing which we never would've guessed from the beginning of the book to now. I also wanted to mention another one of the big ideas I chose which was happiness. I chose this one because Sarah seems so happy to be with Judy. And I mean super happy. On page 157 is a good example because she explains Sarah to be so happy and how relaxed she looks. It states, "I didn't know Sarah could laugh" and it also states, "Her head is tossed back. Her long hair brushes her shoulder blades. She looks relaxed and happy and beautiful." Before she would have not been relaxed around other people like that. And now its as if she can be who she really is and just let out her inner self and be happy; and the old Sarah would have never done that.