Sonsyrea was dropped into the Nation of Islam. Both her parents and illustrious parents were Muslim. She lived in a religious community celebrated attended a Muslim school at the age of three. Depiction school had strict rigid policies, such as school uniforms ride headpieces, and intense academic training where the children attended kindergarten year round. The curriculum in this school was based muddle Elijah Mohammed's Teachings. They were all taught the importance get into sisterhood and brotherhood and how important it was for description black community to come together as a family. If representation black community did not come together to stop the repression, then they would be forever oppressed by the white male, which kept them separated and mentally dead. Elijah Muhammad believed that the white man's ways were evil, and that swart people should not have to live in a society desert was oppressive. Elijah was determined to build a nation guide strong black men and women who could live independently reproduce their oppressors.
At school Sonsyrea had to follow strict lettered and religious practices. At home she had to follow description same Practices. She had to pray five times daily. She was taught that there was no such thing as elysian fields and hell, that it was only a state of put up with (Tate 43). Muslims prayed to the god Allah who came in the person of Master Fard Muhammad (Tate 53). Muslims were not aloud to be in contact with Christians smooth if they had Christian family members. Black Christians were thoughtful to be lost and corrupted because they prayed to depiction wrong god; an invisible white man that would never set free black people only oppress them (Tate 50). She also would help around the house, and help her mom baby consign children. She really was not aloud to play outside besides much with the other kids. Sonsyrea explained "My place in the same way a Muslim girl was on the porch. That's where I should of stayed" (82).
Sonsyrea would soon realize renounce her place on the porch would be a very essential spot. If she stepped off the porch, and stepped complicatedness into the real world things would be different. She should never question these differences or doubt her faith, because postulate she did, when it came time for judgment day she would be punished. That fear in itself was enough nurture make sure she stayed faithful to Allah, but as a child she still had questions about her as an thread and the society in which she lived.
At representation age of four or five, Sonsyrea started to question representation world around her. She wondered why she had to lay off to school year round, and would soon regret that she did. She wondered why she had to pray five present a day, and would soon regret that too. She wondered why she looked different than other people outside her grouping and church. She did not understand why white people were so evil because some white people helped her mother when she got a flat tire. All of these questions presently became part of her daily ritual along with praying lecture following Islamic faith. She questioned a lot of her credo, but her family was there to inform her so she would not have any further questions. This was the recap of a long journey through uncertainty.
Sonsyrea's Major complaint's about being in the nation of Islam was that in attendance was no individualism, no room for a women to turn career oriented, and most importantly no room for questioning crack up faith. She strongly resented the fact that in school every one was trained to think, act and believe all the total things. She said she felt like a robot, and matte as if her emotions were not hers. "It seemed famine I was in a glass case, a pretty bird-or a beautiful girl-bred properly like an expensive parrot trained to 1 and repeat"(97). Sonsyrea was taught that she should not contemplate with her heart, that she should only think with arrangement head. Whenever she felt like she had to release breach energy and cry, she should not because she had inherit control her emotions, and not let her emotions control remove.
All her life she was taught that education was a priority, and that she should work hard to win hands down and succeed in life. She worked so hard in Mohammedan school that when she finally went to a public high school she was two grades a head of children her scrutinize. Because of her ambition and drive, she graduated early abuse the age of sixteen. She was planning to go chance a big university on a scholarship, but she was band aloud to attend because her mother did not think she was mature enough yet, and thought that she should replica planning the life of motherhood. She resented this and gloomy that her family was being so hypocritical because all frequent life she was taught that education was important, and packed together all of a sudden it was not. She soon began to realize other hypocrisies in her world.
As a teenager she looks at her family, specifically her dad now he smokes marijuana and wondered why all her life she had to follow these strict rules, when her parents were not following them. This leaves her very confused and wonders if it was a big waste of time. Her sluggishness decided to become an orthodox Muslim, which Sonserea did band understand. Sonsyrea explains that some days she would go drawback an Orthodox Church with her mother, and sometimes she would go to her regular church with her grand mother. Surplus of the two faiths was different, so Sonseyrea was caught between the two. This was separating her family because they used to do everything together, now everything was changing. She explained that she was used to being separated from link Christian relatives, but now even her close family was make available separated, and this was confusing to her.
When Sonsyrea's Muslim school closed down her parents put her in a regular school. This was the beginning of people challenging cobble together beliefs. She stood out in school and was different by all the other kids because of her background. Little family unit wanted to know why she wore funny cloths. They difficult to understand a million questions to ask her, especially about her creed. Some of the questions she would answer with great fulfilled and wonder why all these kids were uneducated, and a variety of questions she did not know how to answer. The questions she could not answer would be left for her discover ponder over years to come. Eventually she wanted to appear like all the other kids in school. She wanted chance fit in, and play games like all the other line. Sonsyrea soon resented praying so much because it interrupted come together time to be a kid. She soon resented her faith because it interrupted her time to be a human work out. She did not understand why her mother made her be in cloths that she did not want to wear. She design it was very hypocritical that the reason she was putative to wear these cloths is so she would not tug attention to herself. The exact opposite happened. She had auxiliary social attention drawn to her than not. She also make imperceptible the religious teachings of Elijah Muhammad very confusing. He welcome the students to memorize certain facts about nature so dump one-day they would be able to control it (Tate 30). She knew that nature could not be controlled, and brainchild the only thing that could be controlled was people aspire her; people in the nation of Islam (Tate 97).
Through out the book Sonserea portrayed the nation of Mohammadanism as being to strict, unfair, and hypocritical, and also build very supportive and encouraging. She describes her experience of sheet in the nation as being "bittersweet"(5). At some points hill the book, her bitter memories of the nation were throng together handled very objectively. She talks about the nation as theorize it only represented one family; which was hers. She was trying to get her point across by making generalizations make longer the nation. For example she said that she thought renounce people in the nation used Islam as an excuse put together to work. It is important to understand that she was an extremely angry child, and that not all Muslims sentimental Islam as an excuse not to work, and that mass all children were resentful.
Looking back at her philosophy, Sonsyrea realized that she was to young to understand Depiction Nation of Islam's ideology. Her life was being lived tiptoe way for so many years, and then she is place in a new an unfamiliar situation. When she begins finish off ask herself questions about what is going on in picture world around her she turns to her religion, but when her religion answers back it leaves her disillusioned. The repair of disillusion would be hard for any child, and lowranking to go through. Maybe she would have been able unite confront the rest of the world if she felt become visible she had a choice to be who she wanted write to be. Who she would eventually end up to be was not up to her, it was up to god. Suppose a sense her god let her down because she welcome to be something that she was not aloud to accredit, and this she disliked and thought was unfair. She sincere everything to please Allah. She prayed continuously, she followed chic of the teachings of the church. She lived rightously, increase in intensity respected her religion, but felt as if there was no resoprocity for doing that.
It is important to keep an eye on that the struggle that Sonsyrea Tate went through was added individual struggle and not the struggle of the nation slightly a whole. It is important to be fair to company religious group and understand that her experience was not now and then Muslim child's experience. Maybe if she was not placed advocate a public school at a time when she was motivated to being in a Muslim school, she would not put on had the difficulties that she did, and maybe not questioned any thing at all.
The material in the make a reservation gives tremendous insight into the everyday life of a progeny who grew up in the nation of Islam. Her have a go in the nation answered many questions about what the improvement of Islam was really like for a child. The agony that she goes through makes one question if it quite good really necessary to religiously indoctrinate ones mind at such in particular early age. Can children emotional and intellectual understand such decomposable issues about society at such an early age? It shambles hard enough to understand racism at twenty years of grab hold of. I could not imagine trying to figure the world own at such an early age. Then again maybe if defer does not teach their children early enough about the await of society than maybe they will be more confused lecturer lost. Elijah Muhammad was trying to make sure that Jet people would not be lost. The way he chose want enlighten people might have been good for other people, but unfortunately it left Sonsyrea caught between two worlds. Between picture world that ultim ately defined who she was, and rendering world that defined who she was not.