Conflict In Brownies And Car Crash While Hitchhiking

M. Esther Harding’ quote “Conflict is the beginning consciousness describes conflict being the epicentre of stirring consciousness in a person. This theme is explored in the short stories ZZ Packer’ “Brownies” and Denis Johnson’s “Car Crash while Hitchhiking”. In both works, different types of conflicts have been introduced to intrigue the reader and invoke thought and contemplation. ZZ Packer develops a more external and racial conflict by focusing on various characters of different backgrounds and races. On the other hand, Johnson relies on an internal conflict by focusing only on one person, the Hitchhiker. ZZ Packer’s story illustrates a racial conflict to evoke empathy whereas Denis Johnson’s story develops an internal conflict to gain

sympathy.
“Brownies” is a short story that introduces various characters of various races and diverse backgrounds and tries to give most of them an essential part in the conflict. The narrator of the story is one of the members of the African American Brownie troop, Laurel. The story takes place at a summer camp, where the African American Brownie troops of girls are encountered by another brownie troop 909 which is comprised of white girls. The conflict in this story arises due to the prejudicial and stereotypical differences that are present in the society. In the very beginning of the story, the minute the troop of White girls exits the bus, Arnetta from the other group says, “Their complexions of ice cream: strawberry, vanilla but smell like wet Chihuahuas” (3). This shows that without even knowing anything about the other troop Arnetta formed an image which was based on historical and pre-existing racial conflict in the society which exists due to the ancient exploitation of the darker race by the white community. This situation appeals to the reader as it is human nature to form images about a person at one’s first sight which is entirely based upon pre-existing cultural and historical conflicts and can be incredibly misleading. This makes most of the readers feel included and drawn into the conflict as they might have been through the same situation and this causes them to empathize with Arnetta in the situation. This technique used by ZZ Packer evokes empathy in the reader and makes the relate with the character present in the situation.
Moreover, this makes the reader contemplate that to what extent can a stereotypical mind set affect our perception of a person and how we think about them.

At the end of the story, Laurel, the narrator, says that her father made the Mennonites do humiliating work at her house. When Daphne asked whether her father bothered to tell the workers ‘thank you’, she said no. “I could not tell which were the thoughts and which were the trees. “No,” I said, and suddenly I knew there was smoothing mean in the world that I couldn’t stop”. The expression stated above illustrates how when being confronted about the action of her father made her think about the situation with a new perspective which allowed her to broaden her horizon and accept her father’s mistake. This stirs empathy in the reader as its human tendency to form an impression about a person without knowing them and one fails to realise how can that subconsciously affect them. As in Laurel’s case, every person has been a prey to such a situation where subconscious hatred towards someone due to background difference could lead to increasing the differencing by repeating the same thing others had done to you. This makes the reader further question their action and thoughts in such situations which causes them to empathize with Laurel. This shows how ZZ Packer uses racial conflict to make the reader empathise with the

characters.
In “Car Crash While Hitchhiking” the hitchhiker is introduced in the first paragraph and is illustrated to be under the influence of drugs and alcohol. The scene is set to be in a hilly area where the narrator is picked by a family in an Oldsmobile. The hitchhiker sits in the back seat with an infant and a little girl. The man driving the car talked about his mistress with him but he didn’t seem to care. Later the car crashed into a truck. The narrator was thrown against the back of the seat and bounced back and forth and then noticed that he was the only one conscious. He looked around and saw the baby to be absolutely fine with the rest of the family severely injured. The narrator decided to get out of the car and took the baby with him. As he walked near to another car he saw a man and said, “There is a wreck. Go for help” (8). This confuses the reader as instead of helping the injured family himself he took the baby and asked other people to go and help. The reader can see that the narrator suffers from an internal conflict and isn’t sure what he should do. This shows the reader that the narrator is in a vulnerable state and is not sure how to react in different situations which makes the reader sympathize for the hitchhiker.
Furthermore, when the narrator was taken to the hospital he said, “I was relieved and tearful.

I’d thought something was required of me, but I hadn’t wanted to find out what it was” (9). The words “relieved” and “tearful” show a drastic contrast about how the narrator feels and at the same time even after knowing he is required or expected to do something he tries to circumvent it. This shows how he is at a battle with his own thoughts and isn’t able to decide what is needed of him at the moment. This makes the reader feel remorseful for the hitchhiker as they can recognize that he is a dilemma in his own mind. Moreover, when taken to the doctor, even though he had minor injuries when asked about how he was he replied, “There is nothing wrong with me” (11) and later that he was “surprised” that he let those words out. This erratic behaviour of the hitchhiker confounds the reader. Even though he needs help he denies it. This makes the reader sympathize with his situation as the narrator is clearing in a situation where he needs desperate help. This desolating and despairing tone evokes a sentimental mood for the reader and makes them sympathise with the

narrator.
ZZ Packer used a more external and racial conflict whereas Johnson used a deeper and internal conflict to instill different emotions in the reader. While going through Brownies it can be seen that the conflict was more evident and made the readers evaluate the mind set of their own and society’s and how can a preconceived impression of a person or a group of people affect the way one reacts and to what extent does that affect the other person. This made the reader self-evaluate themselves and therefore, made them empathize with the situation as at some point of each one of us has been a part of such sort of conflict. Johnson communicates the story at a more deeper level. The hitchhiker is shown to be a peculiar type of person due to his erratic actions and drastic behaviors. Johnson used a somber and stressful tone to make the reader contemplate about the actions of the narrator. This makes a sentimental mood for the reader and causes them to sympathize with him. This shows how both the writers used different types of conflicts to evoke different emotions in a reader.