This story is set in the South during the civil rights movement, when people were trying to eliminate poverty and racism from the society in which they lived. There are four important characters in this story, and the main two are Julian and his mother. Julian is a recent college graduate who lives with his mother but knows that “one day [he will] start making money” (May 448). Julian sees the world as constantly changing during the civil rights movement and neither likes nor condones racism. Even if this is true, he subconsciously has a petty and petty mentality, just like his mother. Her mother often makes racist comments and will not find herself sitting next to a black African American adult. He often raised the topic of running to Julian “every few days like a train on open tracks” (May 449). She also makes her son ride the bus with her to go to the YMCA because of the new changes due to the civil rights movement and it kind of drives Julian crazy. As they begin to board the bus, Julian and his mother argue but quickly get on. Shortly thereafter, a black woman and her son named Carver came aboard. Carver sits next to Julian's mother, she doesn't care, and Carver's mother sits next to Julian. Carver's mother is an impatient woman who ironically wears the same hat as Julian's mother. The hat in many ways is an ever-evolving symbol of the South during the civil rights movement. It symbolizes social equality between