A black graduate student at Brown, Stephan Wheelock teaches Cedric’s seminar on Richard Wright. One afternoon, Cedric overhears Wheelock talking to a friend about how difficult it can be to compete with other Brown students who have had academic and social opportunities that he—a black man from a poor area of Mississippi—did not. This helps Cedric see that he is not the only one who struggles in this atmosphere, but it also gives him hope that he can succeed, just as Wheelock has done.
Stephan Wheelock Quotes in A Hope in the Unseen
The A Hope in the Unseen quotes below are all either spoken by Stephan Wheelock or refer to Stephan Wheelock. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 8
Quotes
“I am constantly having to play catch-up with guys who’ve spent the past five years speaking three languages, visiting Europe, and reading all the right books. Here, at Brown, they say ‘Don’t worry, you’re all equal, starting on the same footing. Ready, set, go!’ They just don’t get it. Where I come from, people don’t go to France to study. A trip to France is a big deal. I haven’t been reading all the right books since I was twelve and then have some Rhodes Scholar Daddy tell me the rest. I didn’t have that kind of access, access that could empower me.”
Related Characters:
Stephan Wheelock (speaker), Cedric Jennings
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Stephan Wheelock Character Timeline in A Hope in the Unseen
The timeline below shows where the character Stephan Wheelock appears in A Hope in the Unseen. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 7: Goodbye to Yesterday
...about his Richard Wright seminar, and likes his instructor, an African American graduate student named Stephan Wheelock . Rob is excited about his Marine Biology course, because he is hoping to major...
(full context)
Chapter 8: Fierce Intimacies
When Cedric leaves the restaurant, he passes his Richard Wright professor, Stephan Wheelock , who is engaged in a deep conversation with a friend. Cedric overhears him—a black...
(full context)
