Black Brother Black Brother Empathy Quotes

Black Brother, Black Brother The novel Black Brother, Black Brother, by Jewell Parker Rhodes, tells the story of Donte Ellison and his brother Trey battling racism from Alan, captain of the fencing team. Then, Donte starts learning how to fence and has to confront his bullies, racism, and corrupt systems of power once and for all. Jewell Parker Rhodes uses description to stir empathy in the reader, introduce the characters, and show the characters’ motivations. Firstly, the author stirs empathy in the reader with description. For example, after Donte fell in the hallway because Alan tripped him, he thinks, “Why can’t the world make sense like numbers?... If I were a number, I’d be seven… Not ‘Black Brother,’ just seven”(Rhodes 88). The author used description here to stir empathy in the reader for Donte because no one likes him at school. Everyone thinks he is an outcast when in reality, he is kind and would never harm someone. Donte is at a low point in his life, and the author can capture the scene vividly. Another example of empathy

In particular, when Donte is in Juvenile Court, he thinks, ”I see now…It’s like a match. Like Coach said. This courtroom is another field”(Rhodes 141). He puts everything in fencing terms because it is his favorite sport and is where he truly embraces himself as a person and does not care about anything else when he fences. He discovers his motivation for fencing when he is in court. Moreover, after Donte played in a fencing tournament and lost, he thought, “For a few minutes, the field was my world. Nothing else mattered except how my mind moved my body and foil”(Rhodes 168). Donte’s motivation for fencing was unlike any other because even though he had lost, he felt he had learned a lot as his opponent was fair. Donte wants to achieve greatness and train hard. He does not care about beating Alan anymore. He just wants to improve and be the best he can