--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: And she got the feeling that Boots…" description: "\"“And she got the feeling that Boots Smith's relationship to this swiftly moving car was no ordinary one. He wasn't just a black man driving a car at a ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/ann-petry-26049_african-americans_and-she-got-the-feeling-that-boots-smith_1789349.jpg" --- # And she got the feeling that Boots Smith's relationship to… ![“And she got the feeling that Boots Smith's relationship to this swiftly moving car was no ordinary one. He wasn't just a black man driving a car at a pell-mell pace. He had lost all sense of time and space as the car plunged forward into the cold, white night. The act of driving the car made him…” quote by Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/ann-petry-26049_african-americans_and-she-got-the-feeling-that-boots-smith_1789349.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/ann-petry-26049_african-americans_and-she-got-the-feeling-that-boots-smith_1789349.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/594/ann-petry-26049_african-americans_and-she-got-the-feeling-that-boots-smith_1789349.jpg) > ““And she got the feeling that Boots Smith's relationship to this swiftly moving car was no ordinary one. He wasn't just a black man driving a car at a pell-mell pace. He had lost all sense of time and space as the car plunged forward into the cold, white night. The act of driving the car made him feel he was a powerful being who could conquer the world. Up over hills, fast down on the other side. It was like playing god and commanding everything within hearing to awaken and listen to him. The people sleeping in the white farmhouses were at the mercy of the sound of his engine roaring past in the night. It brought them half-awake—disturbed, uneasy. The cattle in the barns moved in protest, the chickens stirred on their roosts and before any of them could analyze the sound that had alarmed them, he was gone—on and on into the night. And she knew, too, that this was the reason white people turned scornfully to look at Negroes who swooped past them on the highways. 'Crazy niggers with autos' in the way they looked. Because they sensed that the black men had to roar past them, had for a brief moment to feel equal, feel superior; had to take reckless chances going around curves, passing on hills, so that they would be better able to face a world that took pains to make them feel that they didn't belong, that they were inferior. Because in that one moment of passing a white man in a car they could feel good and the good feeling would last long enough so that they could hold their heads up the next day and the day after that. And the white people in the cars hated it because—and her mind stumbled over the thought and then went on—because possibly they, too, needed to go on feeling superior. Because if they didn't, it upset the delicate balance of the world they moved in when they could see for themselves that a black man in a ratclap car could overtake and pass them on a hill. Because if there was nothing left for them but that business of feeling superior to black people, and that was taken away even for the split second of one car going ahead of another, it left them with nothing.”” [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A Black man's reckless driving becomes a fleeting assertion of power, challenging white supremacy and exposing deep racial tensions. **In simple terms:** Driving offers a brief sense of equality and dominance. Key Takeaway Recognize how symbols of freedom can be both empowering and divisive. Themes race power identity freedom oppression Mood tense defiant Type literary social commentary When to use this quote - urban life - racial conflict - personal empowerment - social protest Key Concepts symbolism social hierarchy psychology Questions to Reflect On - What are healthier ways to claim dignity? - How does society react to marginalized success? A Different Perspective The narrative may romanticize dangerous behavior as empowerment. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [African americans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/african-americans/) [Black people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-people/) [Black-men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/black-men/) [Blacks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blacks/) [Conquer the world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conquer-the-world/) [Delicate Balance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/delicate-balance/) [Driving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/driving/) [Driving A Car](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/driving-a-car/) [Inferiority](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inferiority/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Race relations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race-relations/) [Time and space](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time-and-space/) [White people](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/white-people/) ## Related quotes > [You don't come to see a Greek play and not want blood and gore and depth of feeling from your boots up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-negga/you-don-t-come-to-see-a-greek-play-and-not-want-blood-and-gore-and/) [Ruth Negga](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-negga/) > [“She's scared, he thought. 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Different factors and barriers, including mental ones, get in the way of self-care. Even when armed with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jor-el-caraballo/self-care-is-not-a-perfect-journey-different-factors-and-barriers/) [Jor-El Caraballo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jor-el-caraballo/) > [“Black men are also notorious for posing as cool and above-it-all instead of expressing joy and happiness. 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Wars and atom bombs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-petry/she-supposed-the-young-colored-men-of-link-s-generation-couldn-t-have/) [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) > [All truly great art is propaganda.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-petry/all-truly-great-art-is-propaganda/) [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) > [Folks differs, dearie. They differs a lot. Some can stand things that others can't. There's never no way of knowin' how much they can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-petry/folks-differs-dearie-they-differs-a-lot-some-can-stand-things-that/) [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) > [Everything you ever had, everything you ever lost. It's all there in the trumpet--pain and hate and trouble and peace and quiet and love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-petry/everything-you-ever-had-everything-you-ever-lost-it-s-all-there-in/) [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) > [“The women work because the white folks give them jobs—washing dishes and clothes and floors and windows. The women work because for years now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-petry/the-women-work-because-the-white-folks-give-them-jobs-washing-dishes/) [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) > [“The snow fell softly on the street. It muffled sound. It sent people scurrying homeward, so that the street was soon deserted, empty, quiet.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-petry/the-snow-fell-softly-on-the-street-it-muffled-sound-it-sent-people/) [Ann Petry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-petry/) > [“Streets like the one she lived on were no accident. 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The people sleeping in the white farmhouses were at the mercy of the sound of his engine roaring past in the night. It brought them half-awake—disturbed, uneasy. The cattle in the barns moved in protest, the chickens stirred on their roosts and before any of them could analyze the sound that had alarmed them, he was gone—on and on into the night. And she knew, too, that this was the reason white people turned scornfully to look at Negroes who swooped past them on the highways. 'Crazy niggers with autos' in the way they looked. Because they sensed that the black men had to roar past them, had for a brief moment to feel equal, feel superior; had to take reckless chances going around curves, passing on hills, so that they would be better able to face a world that took pains to make them feel that they didn't belong, that they were inferior. Because in that one moment of passing a white man in a car they could feel good and the good feeling would last long enough so that they could hold their heads up the next day and the day after that. And the white people in the cars hated it because—and her mind stumbled over the thought and then went on—because possibly they, too, needed to go on feeling superior. Because if they didn't, it upset the delicate balance of the world they moved in when they could see for themselves that a black man in a ratclap car could overtake and pass them on a hill. 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