I believe that Lucy stops hating white people gradually.
When freedom first comes, and she and Sarny are on the road, they come upon a battle
between Union and Confederate soldiers. Lucy waits, and "her eyes (are) shining" with
anticipation. She says,
"They're all white, ain't they? I hope they all
kill each other. Wouldn't bother me if every damn one of them
died."
Lucy mood is quickly
subdued, however, first when Sarny points out the the soldiers dressed in blue are
fighting to make her free, and second, when she sees the brutality of the battle and its
aftermath. As she looks upon the torn and shattered bodies, her smile is gone, and she
says,
"Freedom
sure costs a heap, don't
it?"
As she and Sarny walk
on, Lucy's eyes are filled with tears. She has just come to consider the possibility
that all white people are not bad like the overseer Waller back at the
plantation.
Soon after this incident, Lucy and Sarny come
upon the mutilated remains of a white family, and a whimpering little white boy they
name Tyler Two. Lucy is reluctant to take the child at first because he is white, but
Sarny sees no other recourse for the little boy. It is not long before Lucy becomes
attached to Tyler Two, understanding instinctively that he is mute because he has seen
what has happened to his mother. She says about the brutally murdered white woman, "that
poor girl."
Later, Lucy and Sarny come upon the aftermath
of yet another battle. Medics are taking away the wounded who can be saved, but leave
those with gut wounds behind, because they are bound to die. Four young white
soldiers are left dying on the ground, and it is Lucy this time who, with compassion and
human decency for the men despite their color, asserts to Sarny, "We'll stay." Lucy and
Sarny stay with the men for two days, doing what little they can to ease their
dying.
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