Girl Scouts are usually associated with boxed cookies, sweet smiling faces, and iron-on badges but the troop led by Arentta has their own reputation. They have a never ending feud with troop 909 and their own misguided minds. Arnetta hold the reigns in the group with her over the top personality and stubborn opinions. She establishes dominance and aggressiveness in order to compensate for her own internal weaknesses with confidence and self-esteem. Arnetta uses her over bearing personality to establish her place within the group. She applies actions, words, and stares to imply her dominance amongst the troop. The girls are left intimidated after Arnetta opens her mouth. “Usually people were quiet after Arnetta spoke (Packer 8)”. Her words …show more content…
She leads her troop through negativity and rude words. She picks on girls like Daphne and Laurel because they are easy targets and help build up Arnetta’s inner self. Those girls are independent leaders and have no urge to have a following with their choices. Arnetta sees this and she has envy. She does not have that type of inner strength to just ditch her clan and do what Arentta thinks is right. We see this when she claims she heard the troop call Daphne a racial slur. “Daphne? Didn’t you hear them call you a nigger? . . . Giving Daphne a nudge (Packer 7)” She needed reassurance, she couldn’t just go off her own instincts. When it comes to confronting troop 909, she has to drag her entire troop in behind her. Arnetta alone, is not enough. Arnetta uses her appearance, words, and behavior to establish dominance amongst her peers so she can achieve control and gain a sense temporary confidence. She dresses the part in her full uniform, uses cruel language to stun the girls into following her lead, and making them feel bad if they don’t because without that line of girls behind her, she is nothing. She lacks the confidence to even say she heard the slur without Daphne’s forced back up. Arnetta is trying to find her place in this world and right now the only place she feels big enough, is leading her