W*O*R*D*S

Below is a poem entitled Incident; it was written by Countee Cullen, one of America's best African American poets. Read the poem and then respond to the question below  
 Incident by Countee Cullen

Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.

Now I was eight and very small,
And he was no whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue, and called me, "Nigger."

I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December;
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.

In A Lesson Before Dying, the first 4 chapters focus on the power of just one word as this poem does. Using only the first 4 chapters of the novel to support your claims, explain the power of the one word in the novel and how it is used as a catalyst for this novel. Who do you think is most affected by the word? Why? Give a quote to support your claim .  Your quote must be from Chapters 1-4.  (The deadline to post a response to this question is midnight July 5,2014.)