Ignorance In ZZ Packer's Short Story 'Brownies'

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Flatness Relating to Ignorance In ZZ Packer’s short story titled “Brownies,” Laurel, also known as Snot, tells the story about her African-American Brownie troop attempting to fight a Caucasian Brownie troop, Troop 909. Arnetta, a fellow Brownie in Snot’s troop, overhears one of the girls from Troop 909 call another member a racial slur and plans to get revenge on all the girls. Snot, being a shy person, keeps quiet through the entire process of her troop planning their attack on Troop 909. Snot is a flat character; moreover, her characterization supports the theme of ignorance prevailing due to silence. First, Snot is a flat character. Throughout the short story, Snot does not change. She relatively stays in the background and tries to avoid being in the altercation between the Brownies and Troop 909. Whenever the girls talk about Troop 909, Snot stays behind her …show more content…

At the beginning of the story, Snot says “the girls in [her] Brownie troop had decided to [fight] each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909. Troop 909 was doomed from the first day of camp” (134-35). Therefore, Snot knows that the rest of her troop is going to fight the White girls and does not try to stop it, which further develops the main theme of the story. Moreover, after the Brownies passed Troop 909’s bus, Arnetta describes the White girls as “Caucasian Chihuahuas” (136). However, Snot remains quiet although she knows that none of the girls know what Caucasian means. Consequently, her remaining stagnant helps give rise to the theme. Furthermore, while both troops are at a stream, Snot sees – “Arnetta eye[ing] the Troop 909 girls, scrutinizing their movements to glean inspiration for battle” (139). Instead of confronting Arnetta, she stays quiet; therefore, she does not stop Arnetta from being ignorant. Snot’s flat characterization supports the theme of the story: silence causes ignorance to

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