If you were in Cussy's shoes, would you sacrifice your health for a chance at "normalcy"? If there weren't any side effects, do you think Cussy would have continued to take the medication? Would you?

When Cussy receives the cure for her blueness from Doc, she realizes there's a price to pay for her white skin, and the side effects soon become too much to handle. If you were in Cussy's shoes, would you sacrifice your health for a chance at "normalcy"? If there weren't any side effects, do you think Cussy would have continued to take the medication? Would you?

It’s so hard to walk in someone else’s shoes. Understandable that Cussy wanted to be “normal” and I think she would have continued to take the medication if there weren’t any side effects. Eventually, however, I think she would have realized that she was already a person of value and the folks who were worth knowing already knew that and accepted her as she was. We all have to find our own self worth.

I am sure I would have attempted the “cure,” but once the side effects affected my ability to function, I would have found it necessary to give it up. I couldn’t sacrifice I my health for the “whiteness,” especially since the prejudice remained.

I think Cussy was wise in figuring out that her health was more important.i question whether a community already so prejudiced against “coloreds” would have accepted her as white.

I think, that like Cussy, I would not have risked my life for the sake of “normalcy”. The people still perceived her as an outcast. Those who knew Cussy valued her for the person that she was and those who did not would always perceive her as “blue”. Wouldn't’ It be awesome if there was a cure for prejudice …

It is hard to say what someone would do, without having experienced the hatred she was feeling. I believe most people would try the medication. The desire to be accepted is so strong in most people. The side effects of this medication were really life threatening and I think she realized she would no longer be able to continue her beloved job as a book woman. She also realized that the people who really counted in her life, loved her just the way she was, and the others would never change no matter what her color she was.

I would really like to be normal, but the neighbors were never going to consider her normal. I am not very brave and I feel like Cussy that the side effects would be more than I could handle.

I think Cussy made wise decisions about her health. Hard to say what I would do. We all want to be normal.

I think she would have done it for a time at least if there were no side effects. It would have been a great temptation to be normal.

Cussy did not want to continue experiencing the prejudice she and her father had experienced all their lives, which is why she decided to take the “magic potion” to begin with. If it hadn’t made her so sick, I think she would have continued to take it, even if it didn’t make her immediately accepted by her community. Cussy, after all, continued to have hope for herself and for everyone around her. Overall, she was an optimistic person in a pessimistic situation. The physical pain caused by the medication was just as bad as the social pain of prejudice, though, so it’s no wonder she decided not to continue taking it. Health is a holistic state, and the medicine threatened her equilibrium as much as the anti-blue prejudice did.

I would at least consider sacrificing my health for a chance at "normalcy" if part of "normalcy" meant personal safety (as it did for Cussy).

It seems both taking and not taking the medication could have been literally life-threatening for Cussy. If there were no side effects, I think she might have seen the futility of using the medication to escape prejudice in Troublesome, but considered taking it while starting a new life somewhere else.

If there weren’t any side effects, I think she would have continued taking the medication. Her desire to be accepted was very strong, as it is in most people. If the townspeople had continued to shun her regardless of her whiteness, I think she would have eventually stopped taking it since it wasn’t getting her what she wanted. It is interesting to think about whether she would have taken it again when she moved to another state with Jackson and Honey, assuming no side effects.

Cussy was selfless, always caring for others. She truly wanted to look and feel and feel "normal". I have not finished the novel, so I'm not sure if she will suffer any ill effects. The fact that the food the doctor would give her would be passed along to the children, was so heartwarming.

I'm sure I would have jumped at the chance to fit in and not be shunned. Who wouldn't want to be "normal?" I think Cussy would have eventually stopped the medication, even without the side effects. She still wasn't accepted and I think she had enough set-awareness to understand the value of being herself, especially when he found love an acceptance from Jackson.

I would not take the risk of the medicine to change my appearance if I were Cussy. The dangers are too great. The ads I see on TV and in print for various medications today are scary enough with all the possible side-effects mentioned. Cussy was healthy, so I can't see taking the medication to change her skin color when it could be far more damaging.

Cussy lived the best life she could, but giving her the opportunity to normalcy was something she couldn't pass up. Although it was temporary and the side effects of the drugs were horrible, she needed to experience this in her life.
Personally, if I felt desperate for a better life, I think I might have tried this myself, but once I experienced the side effects in a negative way, that would be the end for me. I would be led to believe that the illness would not change the way I feel inside.

Until I read this book, I might have sacrificed my health to appear normal and hope for acceptance. I admired Cussy for walking through that process and finding that sacrificing her health and succumbing to social pressure was not what would make her happy. I was happy to walk with her to learn that.

The vicious prejudice that Cussy and the blues experienced was so awful that I think just about any person would have been willing to try to the cure. When people are hopeless they are usually willing to try about anything to improve their lot. Unfortunately, Cussy was young and didn't realize that many humans, sad to say, always need somebody to feel superior to in order to feel good about themselves. Even if she took away the blue color of her skin, she was still going to be treated badly simply because she was a Blue. Harriet was the perfect example of this in the book; that woman was the perfect illustration of "banality of evil" (Hannah Arendt).