SuitabookInfinite Hope
Ashley Bryan
- Reading
- Read alongside time to pause over the artwork and historical terms. Discuss the difference between Bryan’s treatment by institutions and the support he received from individuals, without rushing past the difficult passages.
- Themes
- Racial injustice in military and education: Bryan encounters discrimination in the army and is refused admission to an art school despite strong work. The examples expose discriminatory treatment and its consequences rather than presenting it as acceptable.
- Art, friendship and hope: Drawings and other artwork connect Bryan with soldiers, children and people outside the army, while helping him through wartime hardship. Art and supportive relationships are presented as important sustaining forces in Bryan’s life.
- Remembering war through memoir: Bryan keeps his wartime experiences private for decades before telling the story through narrative, images, letters and diary entries. The memoir offers a personal account of remembering and communicating wartime experience.
- Worth knowing
- Expect references to war, death, burial duties, danger at D-Day and racial prejudice.