This educational escapade would also set the foundation for how Paul later in his life whenever faced with adversity was able to overcome it and do it with grace and humility. I think this is (if not the most) an integral role in the development of this book; in almost every instance when Paul is thrown a hurdle in life Lloyd Brown shows how gracefully he overcomes it. Paul led an extraordinary life by anyone's standards and being that he was black and it was during the early 1900's just showed you how tough life was and how special of a person Paul was to overcome diversity.
Paul befriended many kids and teachers at his grammar school, often winning the hearts of those who had previously not taken a liking to him when they had first met. Granted Paul didn't win over the hearts of everybody (his grammar school principle included) he never set out to win people over in the first place. This was just a natural reaction to the open heartedness, kindness and friendly nature that Paul often shared with his classmates and teachers. While in Grammar school he also took a keen liking to sports, which would later lead to a college sports career and brief career playing professionally. Being such a big kid among his classmates he was often faster and stronger than other boys his age and at thirteen was even on the towns high school baseball team.
Outside of playing sports Paul was an eager learner of any education that was thrown his way. Following in the footsteps of his father, who was very well educated himself, and his older brother, who went off to medical school, Paul was anxious to learn and it was shown through his grades. Paul often brought home straight A's, he was a member of his high schools debate team, often acted in plays and was the regarded as one of the best high school orators in the town. Being as Paul was so well educated and intelligent he took part in a statewide competition among high school seniors, in which the winners would receive four-year scholarships to nearby Rutgers University; not to the surprise of anyone was Paul one of the winners.
