In the short story “Brownies,” author ZZ Packer uses the narrator, Laurel, to explore the tensions that exist between belonging to a community and maintaining individuality. While away at camp with her brownie troop, she finds herself torn between achieving group inclusion and sustaining her own individualism. Although the events of the short story occur at Camp Crescendo, Packer is able to expand (and parallel) this struggle for identity beyond the camp’s walls and into the racially segregated society that both the girls and their families come from. Packer is exploring how an individual’s inherent need for group inclusion consequently fuels segregation and prejudice against those outside the group across various social and societal stratums.
Although unaware of the catalytic events that have occurred until much later in the story, Packer explicitly makes us aware from the first paragraph that Laurel and her troop not only share a cohesive group identity but that part of this unity is based around their obvious racial difference from the all-white group, Troop 909. The aggressive tone in this passage illustrates that there does not need to be any outright confrontation between the two groups; the conflict is already there as Troop 909 is “doomed from day one” (Packer, 185). Even before their arrival at camp, the group dynamics are inherently formed around race which subsequently leads to segregation, something that has only been reinforced throughout their lives in Atlanta’s suburbs. Because their total separation from the white community most likely stems from socioeconomic factors, it becomes clear that Laurel’s troop and community is on the “have not’s” side of the spectrum, fueling their prejudice and ignorance toward Troop...
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...op and within her black community to explore how racism and hate can be transferred. Although Laurel is aware that the name calling probably did not occur, she still decides to go along with her troop to attack Troop 909, reaffirming her inclusion to the group but not agreeing with the justification. After reflecting on her father’s experience with the Mennonites’, she begins to understand that her troop’s justifications have the same roots as her father’s. While none of the girls in Laurel’s troop have been harmed in any way by Troop 909 nor directly discriminated against by any other white person, they still perceive that there is a racially motivated interpersonal and cultural conflict. Bewildered by the realization of this self-perpetuating cycle of racism and segregation, Laurel realizes that “there was something mean in the world that I could not stop” (194).
Post-emancipation life was just as bad for the people of “mixed blood” because they were more black than white, but not accepted by whites. In the story those with mixed blood often grouped together in societies, in hopes to raise their social standards so that there were more opportunities for...
“Ethnic Hash,” a personal narrative by Patricia Williams, explains how being African-American affects the way others view the author and the authors culture. Patricia Williams was a quite person who did not speak one’s mind or stick
The transition of being a black man in a time just after slavery was a hard one. A black man had to prove himself at the same time had to come to terms with the fact that he would never amount to much in a white dominated country. Some young black men did actually make it but it was a long and bitter road. Most young men fell into the same trappings as the narrator’s brother. Times were hard and most young boys growing up in Harlem were swept off their feet by the onslaught of change. For American blacks in the middle of the twentieth century, racism is another of the dark forces of destruction and meaninglessness which must be endured. Beauty, joy, triumph, security, suffering, and sorrow are all creations of community, especially of family and family-like groups. They are temporary havens from the world''s trouble, and they are also the meanings of human life.
In a social setting the feeling of belongingness to a group is very important. If one is different and does not belong to a group that person is outcasted. The first story, “The Box” written by Riel Nason is about a character named Jeff who goes to a long time friends wedding and faces a number of obstacles. The second story is called “One, Two, Three Little Indians” written by Hugh Garner and focuses on the obstacles a native-canadian faces. Characters Jeff and Big Tom experience alienation and the difference in values which restrict them from achieving belongingness. Ultimately, it is seen that acceptance to the environment is the key to either success into integrating or failure to do so in certain circumstances.
Packer has vividly portrayed racism and many negative aspects of the society through his characters. Arnetta, who is one of the major characters of the story, is depicted as racially intolerant child because of the way she is brought up. She uses abusive language and has a very harsh tone, in author’s words, “Her tone had an upholstered confidence that was both regal and vulgar at once” (8). Arnetta’s meanness and hatred towards the white troop are obvious the way she talks about the white girls, “they smell like Chihuahuas, wet Chihuahuas” (2). Hence, she plays the part of the mean girl who is seen to bully nearly everyone. Moreover, she deliberately provokes her fellows to take revenge on the white troop...
When a group of children known as the Little Rock Nine stepped onto the campus of Central High School of Arkansas on September 4th, 1957, they changed history forever. By being the first black students to attend a traditionally white high school, the nine students helped move America toward a more fair and constitutional attitude toward colored people. To Kill a Mockingbird was written during this time period and deals with many of the same cultural issues even though it’s story takes place a few decades earlier. If this were not the case and the novel’s characters had grown up during the same time as the Little Rock Nine, there is no doubt that Scout, Atticus, Bob Ewell, and many other characters would have had strong opinions about and may have even taken action for or against the Little Rock Nine or the Civil Rights movement as a whole.
Janie’s first discovery about herself comes when she is a child. She is around the age of six when she realizes that she is colored. Janie’s confusion about her race is based on the reasoning that all her peers and the kids she grows up with are white. Janie and her Nanny live in the backyard of the white people that her Nanny works for. When Janie does not recognize herself on the picture that is taken by a photographer, the others find it funny and laughs, leaving Janie feeling humiliated. This racial discovery is not “social prejudice or personal meanness but affection” (Cooke 140). Janie is often teased at school because she lives with the white people and dresses better than the other colored kids. Even though the kids that tease her were all colored, this begins Janie’s experience to racial discrimination.
This brings us to the Toni Morrison short story “Recitatif”. This short story encourages an African American or ethnically minded style of understanding. The driving force for the thoughts and actions of both Twyla, Roberta, and the other characters is race and race relations. Those two events may seem like nothing, but it shows how even at the early age of 8, children are taught to spot the differences in race instead of judging people by their character.
Tayo faced a struggle of recognizing his essence: the true definition of himself outside and most especially inside. Being a half Native American and half-Caucasian in an environment of a Native American tribe in Laguna, he was constantly reminded of being an outcast. Externally, whenever he would try to fit in any of his race, both sides would reject him with ridicules. As Emo stated against Tayo, “There he is. He thinks he’s something all right. Because he’s part white. Don’t you, half-breed?” It presented hatred from a full-blooded Native American because, “the only reason for this hate was that Tayo was part white.” In fact the shame of being a “half-breed” continued down to his relatives. Auntie’s, “shame for what his mother (Tayo’s) had done, and Auntie’s shame for him (Tayo),” was surprising even though she was one of the closest blood relative of Tayo. On his Caucasian side, encounters were similar with the Native Americans. He was not truthfully acknowledged by the Caucasians he encountered under the shadows of his military uniform, which symbolizes “his service and loyalty” for the United States because, “they had the uniform and they didn’t look different no more. They got respect” . He was automatically disregarded as “the different o...
People go through many obstacles when they face their social identity. Some can overcome their differences, but others may not have they change to even face them due to the treatment that they get from society. Social identity is the one of many controversial and complex problems that many individuals deal with. Because, sometimes it used to be misunderstood making reference to racism and/or others complex matters. “On Being a Cripple” and “How It Feels to Be Colored” are two essays in which both characters suffer from some kind of discrimination. Indeed, in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston and “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs, each author shows different attitude, endures challenges, and change toward social identity.
Although Aibileen has her doubts about going up against the racial superiority belief, she decides to aid Skeeter in writing Help. Aibileen says, “‘And my cousin Shinelle in Cauter County? They burn up her car cause she went down to the voting station’” (Stockett 120). In the 1960s, violence against African Americans was common and frequent. By helping write Help, Aibileen is putting herself at risk to be a target of one of these violent outbursts. The threat of violence is worth it in Aibileen’s mind because she is finally able to call attention upon the unfair conditions she is put through everyday, in hopes that this will cause people to think
A main theme in this novel is the influence of family relationships in the quest for individual identity. Our family or lack thereof, as children, ultimately influences the way we feel as adults, about ourselves and about others. The effects on us mold our personalities and as a result influence our identities. This story shows us the efforts of struggling black families who transmit patterns and problems that have a negative impact on their family relationships. These patterns continue to go unresolved and are eventually inherited by their children who will also accept this way of life as this vicious circle continues.
Location and time accentuate the ideals individuals have towards biracial communities and the lack of acceptance from one race to another. Pride and prejudice play an important role on this story where the author manages to portray the White race as prejudicial and discriminatory while the Black race is depicted as proud and indifferent to White people’s problems “I think they are all a buncha idiots... Let ‘em knock eachother’s brains out, for all I care” (Norris
Racism is similar to the iceberg metaphor. On the surface, one may be perceived to believe they know everything about another based on the history of their race, but forget about what is beneath the surface of the water. “Brownies,” a short story written by Z.Z. Packer, takes place at Camp Crescendo, and it follows a young African American girl named Laurel (aka Snot) and her troop in their plan to ambush the white girls in Troop 909. The idea of the ambush, started from one of the girls’s in Snot’s troop hearing a girl in Troop 909 call one of their own the n-word. Throughout “Brownies," Packer uses Snot’s perspective of her troop and her father to reveal the recurring spread of dehumanization between whites and African Americans being cycled
Although Miriam and the Thompson girls love Odessa, not everyone in their family thinks as progressively as they do. Odessa unknowingly walks into a black-bashing Christmas dinner conversation. Miriam and Norman’s mothers exhibit disgusted behaviors toward the black community and do not show an ounce of remorse when they realize Odessa overhears. This scene is a bit mortifying, total explicit prejudice. This conversation