Line #11 Literature/PinkAndSay


1	[[quoteright:238:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pinkandsay.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:238:[[ArcWords The hand that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln.]]]]
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4	->''"When Sheldon Russell Curtis told this story to his daughter, Rosa, she kept every word in her heart and was to retell it many times over in her long lifetime. . . I will tell it in Sheldon's own words as nearly as I can."''
5	-->--'''Creator/PatriciaPolacco'''
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7	''Pink and Say'' is a 1994 picture book written and illustrated by Creator/PatriciaPolacco, based on a family story that was passed down to her by her father.
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9	During the [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar Civil War]], 15-year-old Sheldon "Say" Curtis, a white Union Army soldier, is shot in the leg and lies on the battlefield, delirious with fever, for two days. He is rescued by Pinkus "Pink" Aylee, a former slave who is now in the Union Army. Pink takes Say home to Georgia where his mother, Moe Moe Bay, nurses him back to health.
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11	The two become friends. Pink teaches Say to read. As Say gets closer to Pink and Moe Moe he realizes why Pink is passionate about fighting against slavery. But Pink wants to go back to fight the good fight. Their peace cannot last forever.
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13	''Pink and Say'' is a powerful book about the Civil War, slavery, and [[HumansAreBastards humanity's capacity for both good and evil]]. [[AnimationAgeGhetto Make no mistake]]: it may be a picture book, but it will stay with you--always.
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16	!!This book provides examples of:
17	* BasedOnATrueStory: The book is based on the life story of Patrica Polacco's great-great grandfather (Say), which her father told her.
18	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Pink and Say set out to rejoin the Union army after Moe Moe Bay is killed by marauders, only to be captured by the Confederate army and sent to Andersonville prison camp, where Pink is hanged. But Say survives and lives a long life, and the story of his time with Pink is passed down to each new generation of his family, ensuring that his friend will never be forgotten.]]
19	* ChildSoldier: Pink and Say are both around 15. When Say tells Moe Moe [[spoiler:that he is a coward and a deserter because he was running away when he was shot,]] she says "You ain't nothin' of the kind. You're a child. . . a child!"
20	* ContrivedCoincidence: Pink happens to wind up separated from his unit while he's just a few days' hike from the abandoned plantation where his mother lives, giving him a convenient safe place to take Say to recuperate. Nobody treats this as unusually convenient.
21	* TheGhost: Pink's father Kaylo, who is said to have also joined the Union Army, never appears in the story. Neither the characters nor the audience ever learn whether he survived the war.
22	* HopeSpot: Pink and Say manage to escape the Confederate marauders who killed [[spoiler:Moe Moe Bay]], and set out to rejoin the soldiers of the 48th. For one hot second, it looks like things are going to work out for them. [[spoiler:Then they realize that they're being followed by Confederate soldiers...]]
23	* ItsPersonal: Pink's attitude toward the Civil War in a nutshell: a former slave himself, he views the war as a deeply personal crusade to rid America of the "sickness" of slavery.
24	* MeaningfulEcho: In the middle of the story, Say tells Pink "Now you can say you touched the hand that shook the hand of UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln." At the end of the story,
25	--->'''Patricia''': "When my father finished this story, he put out his hand and said 'This is the hand, that has touched the hand, that has touched the hand, that shook the hand of Abraham Lincoln.'"
26	* NeverLearnedToRead: Say is illiterate. Pink's former master taught him to read, so he offers to teach Say to read some day after the war. [[spoiler:He never gets the chance.]]
27	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: PlayedForDrama: [[spoiler:Say eventually admits to Moe Moe Bay that he was wounded while attempting to desert his unit, which [[MyGreatestFailure he deeply regrets]]]]. His friendship with Pink--whose connection to the war is [[ItsPersonal all too personal]]--renews his will to fight.
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Context Literature / PinkAndSay