The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy

Amy   

memoir

The Water is Wide is a memoir by Pat Conroy of his time as a teacher on a small island off the coast of South Carolina in 1969.  In the novel, he calls the island Yamacraw Island even though its real name is Daufuskie Island.  Even though he named himself and his family by their real names, I assume several of the characters’ names were fictionalized.  The residents of the island, which was only reachable by boat, were mostly African Americans living in poverty.  The school had two classrooms, one for the younger children and one for the older children.  Conroy was given the older children and his co-worker/Principal taught the younger class.

I really enjoyed this story about a young, idealistic young man trying to improve the world. His heart was in the right place even if the school administrators did not see it that way. His approach to giving these children an education was not conventional and any pre-planning before his arrival was thrown out the window as soon as he realized the poor educational foundation these children had. But he did his best and earned my admiration as well as the admiration of the islanders.  The characters and their philosophies throughout the book rang true. The inherent racism was quite painful, especially since racism still exists in America 50 years later. The island’s residents hardly ever left the island and were completely unaware of the rest of the world. Conroy attempted to broaden the students’ horizons and prepare them to make the most of their potential.  I wish that he had shared the fate of the 3 students living with him at the end of the novel. Otherwise, I thought he gave a full picture of the setting, the situations, the people, the culture, the struggles, and the successes. It was a heartwarming and heartbreaking tale.