Answer: Cassie learns , looking at a fig tree, that no matter how hard they try, black people can never get to the top.
It was often impossible to get on a bus because some seats were reserved for the White people. There was always the possibility that the KuKlux Klan would attack the home of a Black family with rocks thrown through windows and a burning cross in the yard. . Black children would be whipped.
I think the author established anger as the mood in the excerpt. It is noticeable how the character is furious (for whatever reason) and shows her emotions by tearing that thin handkerchief into ribbons.
