Imani All Mine Theme

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Part I, Question #4 In “Imani All Mine”, we see 15-year-old Tasha Dawson having to face the adversity of not only being a teenage mother but also being poor, female, and black. The name Imani is an Arabic name and means belief or faith. The name that Tasha chooses is symbolic for the faith that she has for and in Imani. She has faith that Imani will live a life more fulfilling than her own by prospering in all that she does. In “Imani All Mine”, Tasha Dawson is forced to overcome obstacles that no teenager should have to overcome. She has to raise Imani, while nervously observing her neighbors drug-dealing and trying to keep up with her schoolwork. At times it seems the only thing holding Tasha together is the remembrance of her days before diapers. Further along in the novel, the reader is able to understand the importance and symbolic meaning for Tasha naming her daughter, Imani. Tasha is a child raising a child and has never had proper mothering herself. Tasha needs faith that she can be a better mother than her own has been to her. In Imani All Mine, we see a reoccurrence of events, which reflect the idea of the low self-esteem, and self worth that Tasha has for herself. Tasha blatantly states, “I ain’t think I was going to look like them girls in there, all skinny and all, but I did think I might feel like them” (Imani All Mine 8). She is constantly referring to the negative self-image that she has of herself by comparing her body to other girls in her school and on the cover of her Seventeen magazines. However, Tasha is able to see herself in a positive light when she notices the resemblance between her beautiful baby girl and her own countenance. “Mama say I’m grown now because I got Imani. She say Imani all... ... middle of paper ... ...nd Dahmer”, Jeff Dahmer would go to school noticeably under the influence, yet somehow go by “unnoticed”. If the teachers were aware of Dahmer’s state, they never took any form of action to discipline him, question him, or be worried with his condition at all. Not once throughout the entirety of the graphic novel does a teacher, student, or parent seem remotely concerned with Dahmer’s well-being. Dahmer fought off the urge to kill many times and did it with the help of no one and nothing other than his own twisted mind, so there is reason to believe any type of assistance from an adult could have been detrimental in the process of Dahmer overcoming his violent urges. Unlike Benjie, Dahmer had no one to look up to and admire. Benjie was eventually able to appreciate and respect Butler Craig as a man who cared enough about him to put Benjie’s life above his own.

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