Shirley Fitzgerald Character Analysis in All American Boys

Shirley Fitzgerald is an elderly black widow who volunteers at the gift shop in the hospital where Rashad is recovering from his wounds. She is kind to Rashad, and they strike up a friendship. She tells him about her memories of the Civil Rights movement, admitting Rashad that at the time she was too scared to join in with the action, and that she regrets it now.

Shirley Fitzgerald Quotes in All American Boys

The All American Boys quotes below are all either spoken by Shirley Fitzgerald or refer to Shirley Fitzgerald . 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:

Racism, Stereotyping, and Police Brutality Theme Icon

). Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Atheneum edition of All American Boys published in 2015.

My brother took the bus trip down to Selma. He begged me to go. Begged me. But I told him it didn't matter. I told him that he was going to get himself killed, and that that wasn’t bravery, it was stupidity. So he went without

me. I watched the clips on the news. I saw him being beaten with everyone else, and realized that my brother, in fact, was the most courageous man I knew, because Selma had nothing to do with him. Well, one could argue that it did, a little bit. But he was doing it for us. All of us.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 245

Explanation and Analysis:

Shirley Fitzgerald Character Timeline in All American Boys

The timeline below shows where the character Shirley Fitzgerald appears in All American Boys. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...tells him to relax, because she knows he is not stealing. She introduces herself as Shirley Fitzgerald , and the two get into a conversation, during which Rashad lies and pretends to... (full context)

Maturity, Discipline, and Responsibility Theme Icon

...a lap around the hospital floor. He returns to find two women in his room: Mrs. Fitzgerald and a white woman who introduces herself as Katie Lansing, the woman who was in... (full context)

American Culture, Values, and Patriotism Theme Icon

Mrs. Fitzgerald reminds Rashad that he told her he’d been in a car accident. She then admits... (full context)

Mrs. Fitzgerald says that she’s not telling him what to do, but she wanted to share her... (full context)

Rashad is sad not to see Mrs. Fitzgerald again before leaving the hospital, but he is also desperate to leave. As Rashad and... (full context)