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LEAVING ATLANTA Tayari Jones’ Leaving Atlanta describes how, in the wake of the 1979 “Atlanta Child Murders,” Oglethorpe Elementary School classmates Tasha Baxter, Rodney Green, and Octavia Harrison try to survive the social pressures of fifth grade. Outcasts for different reasons and coming from different lifestyles, these three are linked together through fear and rejection. Although Tasha herself feels rejected by classmates, ironically, she shuns Rodney and Octavia. Tasha and Rodney are bused from more affluent sections of town than where Oglethorpe Elementary is located while Octavia walks from her apartment located across the street from but not, as her mother declares, “ . . . in the projects. . .” (146). Tasha sees Rodney as “. . . the weirdest kid in her class . . . ” and says little to him (44). She is desperate to be friends with popular girls, Monica and Forsythia, but instead is taunted by the two who pretend to like her one day and ridicule her the next day. She only talks to Octavia when rejected by Monica and her friends and when she is invited to eat at Octavia’s table. Octavia points out that Tasha “ . . . will never ask me to sit at the big table . . . ” (175). The other girls never pretend to like Octavia and will certainly rebuff Tasha if she attempts to include her. Rejection from the popular girls ties Tasha to Octavia.
Approximate Word count = 948
Approximate Pages = 3.8
(250 words per page double spaced)
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