Review of “Guardian,” by Julius Lester

“Guardian,” by Julius Lester is a moving short novel about a young white boy who witnesses a shocking lynching that tears apart his family and his trust.

Fourteen-year-old Ansel Anderson lives in Davis, a small town deep in the Southern United States. In 1946 racism and hatred still run strong, but Ansel himself doesn’t understand why his Dad and other grownups seem to hate black people. Ansel and his young black friend Willie are like brothers and enjoy going fishing in the afternoons when Ansel’s Dad lets them off from working at the family store. But Ansel’s father Bert doesn’t approve of his son’s friendship in the least:

“But if Bert had known Ansel and the nigger would take to each other like the brother neither one of them had, he would not have hired him. He kept looking for an excuse to fire him, but the boy never gave him one.

It was all right to have a nigger as a friend when you were little, but at fourteen it was time for Ansel to understand what it meant to be white, and past time for Willie to understand what it meant to be a nigger. Next summer there wouldn’t be any work at the store for Willie…”

Author Julius Lester wrote “Guardian” using a striking present tense voice that is omnipresent, revealing the thoughts and feelings of every character, from Ansel and Willie to Ansel’s racist dad. This strong, masterful voice guides us through the plot to the story’s climax. A young white girl that Ansel loves is found raped and dead in a church. Although everyone in the community, including Ansel, knows that an angry young white bully did it they choose to blame the crime on Willie’s dad. Ansel and his father are forced to decide whether they should stand up for what they know is right, or go along with the crowd. But then Ansel’s father refuses to support the innocence of Willie’s father, even supplying the rope for a lynching. For Ansel this forever destroys his love for his father.

“Guardian” is a decidedly shocking book. Although I knew about lynching prior to reading this book, Julius Lester shows more about how people felt at a lynching. For example, the following passage, where a group of people are talking about the upcoming lynching completely filled me with disgust:

“My papa told me about a lynching he went to once. Said wasn’t nothing quite like it. I wish he were here ’cause I wonder if this one is better than the one he went to.

My grandpappy told me that once every few years you had to lynch a nigger, whether one had done something or not. He said there was nothing like a lynching to keep niggers in their place, and nothing like a lynching to remind a white man who he is.”

In addition to the story of Ansel, Julius Lester includes supplemental information about lynchings, describing the festive air that often accompanied them, with white people traveling from miles around to witness the event and party, even taking pictures with the dead victim for use as postcards. This barbaric but historical truth is something that even today is a blot in American history. “Guardian” does a good job of describing lynching and the feelings involved, even though the book deliberately avoids describing the most violent aspects. Still the sentiments described and words used are very harsh. As the two quoted passages shows Julius Lester makes active use of the word “nigger.” This, in addition, to other aspects of “Guardian” cause me to avoid recommending it to young audiences.

“Guardian” is a book for mature adults to ponder, not just entertainment for the general audience. Although it is not a book that I would recommend for children, I think that adults and mature young adults would find it instructive history and a further emphasis of why slavery was done away with.

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