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Amira Fuller
Dr. Abrahams
Critical Pedagogy II
8 March 2015
The Water is Wide
Pat Conroys world in the early 1970s in South Carolina is very different from my
upbringing in St. Louis, Missouri in the 2000s. I was not raised in a world of such
extreme and blatant racism, so reading a book that so clearly demonstrates it is very
eye opening. It is easy after so many years of attending school with students of all
ethnicities and backgrounds to forget how strongly people fought for equality which is so
common place in todays society. I am of course not naive enough to believe that racism
is totally extinct in society, but it puts things in perspective when you read a first hand
account of the racism that took place only forty years prior. All this taken into
consideration I felt as thought the hegemony that presented itself in The Water is Wide
was that much more shocking to me, because of drastically different the education
system that was presented in the book was from what I was used to and because of
how much racism was related to hegemony in the book. The Water is Wide was able to
give me an insight into an entirely different world, allowing me to better understand the

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history of our education system, hegemony, and be better prepared to teach students in
the future.
The Water is Wide is a good book for showing the presence of hegemony within
the education system, especially in the 1970s. Hegemony is when one group of people
holds dominion over another group of people (Wink 68). The submissive group does not
challenge the dominant groups, thus making the situation legitimate. This book is also
a great example of hegemony because there are several instances where hegemony is
present, fought against, but often survives despite the attempts made against by Pat
Conroy. In The Water is Wide one of the best things about Pat Conroy is that he
challenges the people in power that are often not challenged by the people that they
have power over. There are several examples of hegemony in The Water is Wide and
whenever Pat Conroy comes across them he often tries to oppose them as best he can.
The first and most blatant example of hegemony is the displays of power demonstrated
by the Caucasian men of the education board, Mr. Bennington, Mr. Sedgwick, and Dr.
Piedmont. One scene where this occurs is when Mr. Bennington and Mr. Sedgwick are
attacking Conroy on his use of gas for the boat and instead of allowing them to boss him
around he fights back. Conroy demands that he gets what he believes he deserves, to
have them cover the gas bill, and the right to talk to Dr. Piedmont about it. Conroy is
bold and ready to fight for what he wants to get done, Im going to have to talk to

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Piedmont if Im going to get anything solved... Eventually Piedmont and I are going to
have to fight it out anyway... You dont really have any power to compromise at all
(Conroy 201). Conroy wins this battle against his superiors and has the gas paid for by
the school, but once the school year ends Dr. Piedmont says they will no longer pay the
bill. Eventually Piedmont gets the last word when he fires Conroy, ensuring that the
hegemony that had been present prior to Conroys arrival would be reinstated to its
original state for the next teacher they hired. These men were the people in power and
most definitely the dominant group, in charge of both Caucasian as well as African
American teachers in the school district. Mrs. Brown, who is an African American
teacher that Conroy works with, is blatantly the minority and accepts that Mr.
Bennington, Mr. Sedgwick, and Dr. Piedmont have all the power. Mrs. Brown doesnt
teach to teach the students, but rather to get through the texts books and follow the
rules and mandates set by her supervisors. This is not beneficial to the students
because they arent learning anything and Mrs. Brown is aware of this. However she
does nothing to go against these decisions but submits to it happily working only to fit
their standards, allowing the hegemony to dictate how she teaches the children. Pat
Conroy however goes against Mrs. Browns submission to Mr. Bennington, Mr.
Sedgwick, and Dr. Piedmont, which is a lot easier for him to do because he too is a
white man and is viewed as more of an equal to them. In instances where Mrs. Brown

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wouldnt question Mr. Bennington, Mr. Sedgwick, and Dr. Piedmont Conroy jumps at the
opportunity. Conroy disregards Mrs. Brown directions which she has received from
higher up, and finds a way to make what he had envisioned happen. One instance of
this is when Conroy wants to forgo the use of the textbooks and instead create a new
curriculum that would be beneficial to the students. Mrs. Brown, however, refuses to do
anything other than the rules, insisting we must abide by the rule of the state that rules
are rules, Mr. Conroy. The state makes the rules (Conroy 111). Conroy then goes on to
teach his own curriculum and ignore the chain of hegemony that has been so present
for so long. This is another instance where Conroy took on the hegemony that existed in
his school and attempted to break it. Though he did not use the text books Conroy was
only able to alter their education for a single year, he was then fired which meant the line
of hegemony would most likely be reinstated. We can assume Dr. Piedmont would be
more hesitant when hiring to be sure he would find someone who would follow his rules,
allowing the hegemony to return. Though Conroy worked very hard during his time as a
teacher on Yamacraw to break the trend of hegemony that Dr. Piedmont, Mr.
Bennington, and Mr. Sedgwick had worked so hard to implement he was only able to
suspend it for a year before being removed from the position of teacher in that district.
After Conroy suspended the hegemony it is likely that Piedmont would be more
thorough when interviewing perspective teachers to make sure that he wouldnt be

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challenged again and that the hegemony would return to being accepted. Throughout
The Water is Wide we see hegemony and how Conroy tries to fight it, but also know that
while it was less present during his time there it was still something that would continue
to effect the people of Yamacraw and their education after Conroy left.
Hegemony is also seen in the The Water is Wide in the parents of the children of
Yamacraw and the lack of insistence on their part for the betterment of their childrens
education. Before Pat Conroy came to the island the parents of all the children disliked
the way Mrs. Brown treated and taught their children, and yet did not to stop or alter it.
One parent even called Mrs. Brown the devil saying, that damn colored women at the
school house. She the debil herself (Conroy 136). This is hegemony, allowing
something to go on unchallenged and ultimately legitimizing it by not fighting against it.
The parents and guardians of the island left Mrs. Brown alone and did not confront her
on any aspect of what she was teaching their children. Though this was a very
hegemonic relationship Pat Conroy was the final force that allowed the parents and
family of the children stand up for themselves. Conroy was determined to take the
children on the Halloween trip and so decided to sway the parents and guardians by
talking to Edna, who was the guardian of four of the children and held the power to sway
the other parents, Lawd, Lawd. Well, mebbe I let the oldest go. Frank and Charles
(Conroy 136). He encouraged and pushed them to allow him to take the children on trips

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that would help their growth as students and people, and he also helped encourage the
students to appreciate themselves and all they had to offer. By doing this he helped the
parents make choices that benefitted their children and helped the children grow and
understand their importance. Conroy was able to encourage the parents and families
that they had the right to stand up to Mrs. Brown and the education system that was
letting their children down so terribly, though ultimately they succumbed to the system.
The families decided that there was only one thing to do. We gonna strike the school.
Aint no chillun gonna go to that schoolhouse door (Conroy 279). Though Conroy is
what finally gives them the courage to fight back against the hegemony that had ruled
on the island for so long, eventually the families had to back down because the
government had too much control over them. The government threatened to stop giving
aid to the families on the island who needed it as well as threatening the parents with jail
time if they proceeded to strike. These threats ultimately became too much for the
families to stand up against and they have to send their children back to school. Though
the families retreated from their strike they now had the knowledge that they could do
something for their children eventually, even if they were still powerless to the influence
of hegemony on their lives at that moment in time.
The Water is Wide is a fantastic book for teachers, both for aspiring teachers as
well as ones who have been teaching for many years, to read because it teaches so

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many lessons and shows a very honest representation of what teaching can be. This
book is also a great example of how much a teacher learns from their students. In Joan
Winks book Critical Pedagogy: Notes from the Real World she talks about the
relationship between teachers and their students and the influences they have on each
other. The Water is Wide is a good example for Winks definition of pedagogy, that it is
the process of teaching and learning together (Wink 73) as teachers and students.
Conroys entire story is about how he grew because of his relationship with the students
and how they caused him to think about his teaching method and focusing on what he
finds to be important to education. Conroy also exposes the hegemony that is present in
the educational system. In the story Pat Conroy talks in great detail about the difficulty
he faces with working with his supervisors, Mr. Bennington, Mr. Sedgwick, Dr. Piedmont,
and Mrs. Brown, and trying to convince them that his ideas for the children could help
them learn better than the environment they were currently in. The book also covers the
issue of dealing with literacy within the Yamacraw community. Conroy understands that
literacy is best taught though social construct[s]... [that it is] not develop[ed] in isolation
(Wink 70) and he works to encourage the students to learn together and as a class
instead of individuals. Conroy has to teach literacy in a situation where a large portion of
the children have issues reading, writing, and even counting up to ten are. After having
to start at ground zero Conroy had to make the choice of what things were more

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important for the children to learn over what his supervisors wanted him to teach. He
had to balance what the students needed to know and what they were expected to
know, that included having to teach them how to be literate when they should have been
at middle school reading and writing level. This book is a prime example of how
teaching is a large responsibility and it has an impact on childrens lives. All of these
things are incredibly important for teachers to understand and be prepared to deal with
and work with, because that is their job. The way Conroy describes his year at
Yamacraw in The Water is Wide is done in a way that he gives a very accurate depiction
of his time spent there and also a gives excellent examples of what Wink talks about in
her book.
This book helped me see a different time and part of the country that served as
an example of the intense amount of racism and hegemony that is and was present in
our country. The Water is Wide was an eye opening experience for me to read about
and have a better understanding of the struggles of teaching and gave more examples
of how literacy, pedagogy, and hegemony occurs throughout schools around that nation
at all points in history. Pat Conroys The Water is Wide is an example of what the
education system was and sometimes still is in our country and the struggles that
teachers have to deal with, both then and now.

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Conroy,Pat.TheWaterIsWide.Boston:HoughtonMifflin,1972.Print.
Wink,Joan.CriticalPedagogy:NotesfromtheRealWorld.NewYork:Longman,
2000.Print.