QUOTES - QUOTATIONS AND ANALYSIS

(Continued)

Further, this pessimism about the future of some of Fleming's students actually mirrors the reality that many of them face: the bleak outlook is expressed time and again in the first part of the book, by Cedric and Ballou's teachers as well as Suskind himself. What makes Fleming's statement so incendiary isn't the negative assessment of these students' futures, but the fact that Fleming seems to judge the students before giving them a chance or trying to understand their situation. The lack of hope - "hope in the unseen", as the title goes - is what makes Fleming detestable in this passage.

Barbara Jennings faces her own problems at this time, as she ponders her grave financial situation:

Running through it all again puts her stomach in a knot. Not that the ticking of debt and disaster ever completely leaves her mind - it's always running on some just audible track, continuous play She can ignore it most times, as long as she keeps focused on the day-to-day matters of office politics or squabbles at church or a pair of shoes she's been eyeing. But then there are nights like this, once every couple of weeks, triggered usually by a letter or dunning call, when everything flips and the din of obligations is suddenly deafening. (288)

The "ticking of debt" is a powerful image which signifies not only the passing of time but also the idea of a deadline, of a..........

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