Maniac Magee Group

Question:

yellie92
yellie92
Student
High School - 11th Grade

In "Maniac Magee", why did McNab's group stop at Hector Street?

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Posted by yellie92 on Wednesday January 7, 2009 at 8:11 PM and tagged with characters, hector street, maniac magee, racial divide, racism, themes.

Answers:

  1. slchanmo1885
    slchanmo1885 Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    Hector Street is the racial divide in the town, where the neighborhood on one side is inhabited by white people and the neighborhood on the other side is inhabited by black people. Maniac Magee is the only child who crosses these invisible barriers-- he is not deterred by race. However, the McNabs have been brought up in a racist environment and see the blacks as enemies, even playing games in which they build forts and battle the black people. Therefor, when they reach Hector Street, they do not cross it, despite all their bravado. Hector Street is important in the novel as this invisible racial divide, even Amanda Beale knows she's not supposed to go over to the white side. However Maniac crosses those lines, and eventually brings the two sides together. His actions teach the lesson that people, regardless of race, are more alike than people think. At the core of every human there is love and good.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/maniac-magee-qn/

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    Posted by slchanmo1885 on Thursday January 8, 2009 at 10:58 AM

  2. cad18
    cad18 Teacher
    Elementary / Primary

    In Maniac Magee the Mcnabs stopped at Hector street because that where the east end and the west end are seperated

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    Posted by cad18 on Wednesday June 3, 2009 at 10:14 AM

  3. larapepe
    larapepe Teacher
    Middle School

    McNab's group stoped at Hector Street because that is where the town is divided.  On the west side is the white neighborhood and on the east side is the black neighborhood.  Maniac doesn't mind to cross Hector to either side, because he doesn't see anything with the racism that goes on.  McNab's group is racist and they laugh at Maniac when he crosses, because he is on the "wrong side" now.  The group thinks Maniac will get beat up for being a different race.

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    Posted by larapepe on Monday August 17, 2009 at 1:06 PM