Developing students' ability to use multicultural perspectives and knowledge to think about literature, history, and society is emerging as an important part of a pluralistic approach to education. In New York State, an ethnographic study was conducted over 2 school years by a pair of English and social studies teachers with pluralistic goals for curriculum and pedagogy; a case study of one female student was embedded within the study. The interdisciplinary classroom context evolved into a democratic classroom culture where difference became valued. Reading texts from different cultural perspectives, engaging in open-forum discussion and writing, and participating in other dialectical activities fostered student awareness of the multiple, sometimes conflicting languages for understanding texts and social issues. Participation in the class influenced individual students differently in their response or resistance. The female student in the case study moved from a profound silence that she told the class came from being abused as a child, to an anger toward social injustice and apathy, to attempts to understand the causes/effects of injustice, and finally, to recognition of herself as an agent of social change. Her personal engagement-involvement with literature and biographical stories prompted deep emotional awareness which energized her transformation as seen in her discussion and writing--a story which comes out as she engages in the critically reflective dialogues of the class, discovers the power of her own voice, and creates a connected way of knowing. (Contains 38 references.) (NKA)