Home training
"Her [Sapphire] danger lies within her words and only home training constrains her violence...Home training, is about being well mannered in public, being a lady, and being middle class or working toward that class status" (Springer 177).
This quote perfectly embodies Stony for me. Stony spends much of the film trying to attain middle class status; she seems to always be wavering on the brink of reaching this goal. She is non-violent when she celebrates her brother’s graduation, she is poised to step into the middle class world, she hosts a party and is a happy and pleasant host/friend. When her brother dies and she looses her ticket to the middle class she is plunged into a world of violence.
When she meets Keith, Stony is presented with a new vehicle to the middle class world. While she is with him, her hard street talking manner drops, she becomes calm, beautiful and much more passive than the aggressive strong Stony we see arguing with her friends and robbing banks. Keith, for me, represents the home training perfectly. He asks Stony to stay with him and ride alone his success; he makes her over to be appropriate for his upper class world. He presents a different, well mannered lady-like Stony to his business associates and it seems once again, the Sapphire is being pushed back down by this middle class dream just within reach. Her violent acts subside; she no longer wants to rob banks. The strong Stony who stands up to her friends and the authorities is squashed along with her anger and violence by the home training provided by Keith and the dream of a middle class life.