Brown Girl Dreaming By Catherine Woodson Quotes

The book Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is a tale taking place in the jim crow era. The book gave you a good sense of how the North and South felt like two different worlds during the civil rights movement. Although Jacqueline Woodson is now a renowned writer, things weren’t always the best in her life.

The memoir “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, was first published in 1928, and recounts the situation of racial discrimination and prejudice at the time in the United States. The author was born into an all-black community, but was later sent to a boarding school in Jacksonville, where she experienced “race” for the first time. Hurston not only informs the reader how she managed to stay true to herself and her race, but also inspires the reader to abandon any form of racism in their life. Especially by including Humor, Imagery, and Metaphors, the author makes her message very clear: Everyone is equal.

Obviously, this entire poem was a flashback of the authors childhood and what she went through growing up during such a changing time in American history. This flashback occurs during the integration period, where African Americans and whites started to attend school together. Even though laws banned segregation and racism, there was still racial tension that not only affected blacks, but those that were biracial. During this time, if one has at least one drop of black blood in them, they are considered black. In American, being black was a bad thing because blacks are the ones that are oppressed. African Americans were and still are treated like they are less than, based simply on the color of their skin. Tretheway had a valid reason for wanting to disown her black side because she wanted to be treated with the same respect as those who were not black. Tretheway had an opportunity to lie about who she was since she had such light skin, and she took it. But as she reflects back on what she went through, she realizes that she should have accepted who she was, no matter how others would view her. After looking back on her past, she was able to recognize the importance of self-acceptance and how it is more important than getting acceptance from those her. Natasha Tretheway used her writing ability and experiences to share the experiences she went through to let readers know that they are not

In contrast “Sonny’s Blues”, talks about the fear of direct physical harm. Narrator’s mother described that in a moonlit night some dunk white folks killed his uncle in front of his father which is a horrific act of racism. However, mama says, “I ain’t telling you to make you scared of bitter or to make you hate nobody. I’m telling you this because you got a brother. And the world ain’t changed” (346). Comment of the narrator’s mother clearly shows the view point of the African American people of that time to their American dream, and how they were living in fear of physical harm.

Racial identity is an important concept that everyone must deal with in their life. It is an individual’s sense of having their identity be defined by belonging to a race and or ethnic group. How strong the identity is depending on how much the individual has processed and internalized the sociological, political, and other factors within the group. In some instances, people do not identify with their race and they will “pass” as another. Nella Larsen, an African American writer and prominent member of the Harlem Renaissance movement, she explores the consequences of “passing”. Larsen’s Passing is a novel that challenges the concept of ethnicity, race and gender while revolutionizing the idea of what we describe as identity. The novel explores the issue of race through vivid plotting that depicts a mentally touching story of affecting boundaries in the early American society. The novel also explores the effects of racial construction on a person through multiple levels. Through Larsen’s characterization and setting she is able to bring out the social construction of race in an enjoyable and educated format in which race, class distinction and identity themes are intertwined. Larsen herself often struggles with identity, as she grew up being raised by an all-white household after her father, a black West Indian, disappeared from her life. Larsen depicts the theme of racial identity by using two women characters, both of which are attractive, and are “light” enough to be able

In her autobiography , she talks about the struggle of being a black author and poet. She often felt that her words were not heard because of the color of her skin. She felt that in some ways, she was still experiencing slavery.’’ ( poetry analysis.com) .

Poets and poetry surround us in our everyday lives . From Langston hughes to Phyllis Wheatley. One that is commonly known is Gwendolyn Brooks. Brooks is highly recognized in the poetry world especially for being the first black female poet to win the Pulitzer Prize. In regards to Brooks’ poetry it is no disappointment for her words are heart wrenching and thoughtprovoking. (Thesis:Brooks focuses on the struggle of African Americans and sheds light on the poverty and issues they go through.) Themes include black pride, black identity and solidarity, black humanism, and caritas, a maternal vision. Historically, racial discrimination; the civil rights movement of the fifties; black rebellion of the sixties; a concern with complacency in the seventies;

Growing up in Eatonville, Florida, Zora Neale Hurston led a sheltered life from the racism that was rampant in other parts of the country. The town of Eatonville is an important element of the early life that molded her because it was an all-black community. It was run by blacks and was the first all-black town incorporated in the United States (Campbell 1). She saw nothing but successful black people, not suppressed black people. Until she left the town when she was thirteen, she only knew of white people from the ones that were passing through on their way to or from Orlando (Hurston 13). The title of her autobiographical story, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me”, disguises that Hurston’s strength comes from her individuality and inner-self, not her ethnicity.

What is more important, a person 's race or their character? Gwendolyn Brooks wrote poems about African Americans and their everyday struggles. Brooks’s poems “We Real Cool”, “The Mother”, and “Gay Chaps at the Bar” help to demonstrate the racial discrimination that African Americans face in their everyday lives. Gwendolyn Brooks has said that her poetry was written for blacks and about blacks, yet any person or race can relate to the universal themes portrayed in her pieces.

Nothing is more desirable than to be released from an affliction, but nothing is more frightening than to be divested of a crutch. James Baldwin, Nobody Knows My Name Passing, tells the tale of a friendship between two African American women Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry, who are both fair enough to “pass” as white. Irene, with a visibly African American husband and child, does so rarely, while Clare makes her life as a white woman in order to released from the affliction of being Black. Nella Larsen has written two novels, Quicksand and Passing both of which focus on the educated middle class in her writings and there are few among her Harlem contemporaries who could surpass her in the exploration of black female sensibility.

The other Newbery honor award winner was Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson. Jacqueline Woodson was born February 12, 1963 in Columbus Ohio. She was raised in Greenville South Carolina, she used her own personal experiences growing up in South Carolina in her book Brown Girl Dreaming. During this time in the 60s and 70s Jacqueline mentions that she was very aware of segregation and she felt the difference of being African American in the south vs in New York.

Give the seemingly natural qualities of brown girl dreaming Woodson writes in a way that everyone can understand she conveys deep and meaningful internal movements using the same vocabulary and tact as a high schooler. In comparison, Dr. King, writes in a very academic manor conveying tact, caution, and urgency sometimes in just a few sentences. Accomplishing a similar goal with different styles and varying outcomes has been the main take away between the two. Woodson allows herself to constantly be presented as a child in a story that throws a rock in the ocean which leads to a movement however Dr. King is the adult who machined a way to do the exact same thing. In brown girl dreaming Woodson’s style reverberates a simplistic yet complex fashion

This shows that even in the same race there is a standard of life one must attain to be beautiful. Junior however, who doesn’t think like Mrs. Breedlove once longed to play with the other “dirty” black kids. He wanted to get dirty, cuss, and have fun like them. To him, there was no difference in the style of life they lived, and it was because of his childish innocence. Eventually, Junior believed the same ideas his mother did and began to push those dirty blacks out of his life, and turn to his mother’s

The theme of Brown Girl Dreaming is that family will be there for you, no matter what. It has been said that blood is thicker than water. What portrays this theme is when Jacqueline's mother packs up their bags and takes them to New York. This shows the theme because New York was a monumental change for the family, and it wasn’t necessarily easy. Their living condition, such as their apartment, were substantially deteriorated. This was targeting the families health, such as when Roman was hospitalized for lead poisoning. Not only were the true colours of New York disappointing because of how alluring it sounded from afar, there was also the anguish of leaving behind their family down South. Through the hardships they faced, throughout the story the author always included details of how each family member helped each other through their woes.

    The Novel Passing by Nella Larsen, is about a light skinned African American women named Irene who meets her old childhood friend Clare. Clare is also African American, but she passes as white and Irene believes that it is wrong. Clare’s decisions about her race causes a lot of conflicts with her and Irene throughout the novel. Irene struggles with race throughout the novel because she secretly wants to “pass” as white and that is why she is so critical of Clare. In addition, she dislikes the fact that she feels this sense of loyalty to her race because it makes her do things that she does not want to do. What also causes Irene to struggle so much with race is that because of the time she was living in, you had to be very careful with every movement you made or thing you said if you were African American. Living in a time when someone’s race decides who and what a person could be, causes Irene to struggle with race in so many ways and it starts to take over her life. Irene’s constant struggle with race, causes her to obsess over Clare and it makes her realize that her life is not as perfect at she thought it had been.