ipl-logo

Brownies By Zz Packer Summary

883 Words4 Pages

In America, most people believe that racism was abolished along with the act of slavery. However, prejudiceness is still prominent as it is expressed in a less violent manner throughout the modern world. As history progresses, countless authors continue to write stories based on both personal and non-personal experiences regarding this topic. From a stereotypical standpoint, the short story, Brownies, by ZZ Packer challenges the concept of racism through the younger generation. The story starts off with two racially segregated Brownie troops on the second day of Camp Crescendo. From the information given, it is inferred that each troop at this camp is either black or white. Upon their arrival, the girls in Laurel’s group decide to physically …show more content…

On Daphne’s behalf, Arnetta takes offense and persuades the other girls in the troop (excluding Laurel) to aid her in ambushing Troop 909 for their alleged actions. Prior to this, she is also the same girl who compares the other troop to smelling like both wet and “caucasian” chihuahuas. From Laurel’s perspective, Arnetta will associate a person as caucasian for a multitude of reasons: “One day at school, about a month before the Brownie camping trip, Arnetta turned to a boy with impossibly high-ankled flood water jeans and said, ‘What are you? Caucasian?‘ The word took off from there, and soon everything was Caucasian. If you ate too fast you ate like a Caucasian, if you ate too slow you ate like a Caucasian” (Packer …show more content…

The impact of this in regards to the black girls’ knowledge of whites are said to “not come from direct experience but through the distorting, homogenizing lens of mass culture” (SSFS 6). They are all residents of racially segregated environments. At the elementary school the girls in this troop attend, there is only one caucasian student. Based on a study conducted by the Fiscal Research Center in 1994, “17.7 percent of students attended predominately black elementary schools” (SSFS 8). This kind of segregation is normal for both troops to experience during the time that this story takes

Show More
Related

Race And Culture In William Melvin Kelley's Article, Breeds Of America

378 Words | 2 Pages

In the article, “Breeds of America: Coming of Age, Coming of Race,” which was first published in the Harper’s magazine, William Melvin Kelley recalls his “confusing” childhood of being a colored citizen in the United States. He begins his memoir by portraying a simple skin comparison with his friends. An Italy kid was blushed because he had a same brown skin color as Kelly does under the sun. Kelly raised a question about that blush: why would brown skin make the Italy kid embarrassing? Then Kelly introduces the unfair collision of race and culture.

Read More

Review Of Melba Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

1729 Words | 7 Pages

Melba Pattillo Beals’ novel, Warriors Don’t Cry, takes on an amazing first-hand account of the integration of Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. Melba’s work is formed as she recounts many of the stunning events that she and the other eight students were forced to go through that challenged them and pushed them beyond their limits. Because of the discrimination, taunting, and other racial injustices these students had to go through, the nine students were indeed Warriors because Warriors themselves must face great hardships in times of battle. And though this battle was a tough one, Melba found confidence in continuing with the war for integration in herself and her grandmother.

Read More

Warriors Don T Cry Book Analysis

1449 Words | 6 Pages

Imagine getting up everyday before high school and preparing for war. For Melba Pattillo Beals this fear was a scary reality. In the beginning of “Warriors Don 't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock 's Central High” by Melba Pattillo Beals, she begins talking about what it’s like to come back to the haunted racist halls of Little Rock Central High School. This was a time when civil rights was a major issue and the color separation between white and black was about to be broken. Melba and nine other students entered Central High School becoming the first African American students to go to an all white school.

Read More

Review Of Melba Pattillo Beals 'Warriors Don' T Cry

1959 Words | 8 Pages

She includes many details from a first-hand account of her experiences with thousands of people hurling insults and lunging to harm her, a feeling that many readers have not had any experience with. In particular, it was hard but important to read many instances when adults looked at Beals, a fifteen-year-old girl, and made it very apparent that they wanted her dead. I have never been in any circumstance in which someone has looked into my eyes and told me they wanted to inflict harm on me on the basis of my race. Even less, I have never felt discriminated against because of my race. Beals evokes emotions in her readers as they are provided a lens to feel what it was like to live the reality for African Americans in the era of segregation and Jim Crow.

Read More

Tatum's Theories Of Racism

846 Words | 4 Pages

The major thesis in this book, are broken down into two components. The first is how we define racism, and the impact that definition has on how we see and understand racism. Dr. Beverly Tatum chooses to use the definition given by “David Wellman that defines racism as a system of advantages based on race” (1470). This definition of racism helps to establish Dr. Tatum’s theories of racial injustice and the advantages either willingly or unwillingly that white privilege plays in our society today. The second major thesis in this book is the significant role that a racial identity has in our society.

Read More

Summary Of Brownies By Zz Packer

618 Words | 3 Pages

Juxtapositions are often used in this story and they serve as a form of the black girls’ expression of racism. The black girls in the story live in the world

Read More

Reflection Precis 3: The Invisibility Of Racism

778 Words | 4 Pages

Reflection Precis 3, The Invisibility of Racism (February 27-March 1, 2018) 108788 Part I: In these two lecture sessions, Dr. Jendian talked about the invisibility of racism in the United States and how we have not been trained to recognize racism. To give an example of this, Dr. Jendian showed us a few minutes of the movie Dumbo. Although this movie seems to be innocent, it shows racism against black people.

Read More

Octavia Butler And Racism

149 Words | 1 Pages

This article first talks about how people were not willing to talk about race, but would eat other ethnic foods, wear their clothes, and even sing songs created by people of different ethnic background. Octavia Butlers’ books and shorts story’s, which is in the science fiction category, boldly talks about race, and how the conversation about it has shifted. However in the parable series, it is said that Butler is not so concerned with the workings of race, as related to her previous works. In the story she does highlight race under late capitalism. Butler wants her audience to see how race would function with the demise of the United States government.

Read More

Analyzing The Short Story 'Brownies'

366 Words | 2 Pages

2 Questions of “Brownies” 1. In the short story, “Brownies,” I would describe the narrator, whose name is Laurel, as a shy and timid girl, questioning the way people act. Most of the girls in her group do not take a liking to her, for she says, “[They] already decided their course of action, me being the only impediment” (Packer 847). Moreover, the narrator is very smart because she is skeptical, for she is the only one who questions the girls if they, in fact, heard troop 909 call one of the girls a nigger.

Read More

Brownies By Zz Packer Analysis

620 Words | 3 Pages

The plot of the short story, “Brownies”, by ZZ Packer, is of a troop of young girl scouts who are of African American descent. The story depicts them attempting to brawl with another group due to the “brownie” troop assuming another called them a particular insult. Whether the other troop, Troop 909, in called the others a racial slur is left to ambiguity, although it is strongly suggested that they did not in fact refer to them in an invective manner. When the other troop is confronted about it, it is discovered that Troop 909 simply consisted of mentally disabled girls all in one group. Due to this, it is only fitting that the theme of the story was to indicate individuals with disadvantages in life should rejoice and unify rather than combat

Read More

Racism In Staple's Just Walk On By Brent Staples

1069 Words | 5 Pages

Racism isn't born, it is taught! This essay "Just walk on by Brent Staples" is written in the mid 70's when racism was at its peak. Racism is not only common today it's been a part of American history. Staples works as a journalist in a predominantly white society. This essay deals with racism, stereotypes, and prejudice.

Read More

Summary Of The New Jim Crow By Michelle Alexander

1381 Words | 6 Pages

Race is one the most sensitive and controversial topics of our time. As kids, we were taught that racism has gotten better as times has passed. However, the author, Michelle Alexander, of The New Jim Crow proposes the argument that racism has not gotten better, but the form of racism that we known in textbooks is not the racism we experience today. Michelle Alexander has countless amounts of plausible arguments, but she has failed to be a credible author, since she doesn’t give enough citations or evidence for her argument to convince people who may not have prior agreement with her agreement.. Alexander’s biggest mistake when it came to being a credible author was starting off the book with a countless number of claims without any evidence in her Introduction.

Read More

Similarities Between Brownies And Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

1054 Words | 5 Pages

In this short story the Brownie troops at the summer camp appear either all black or all white, no mixed troop is present. This displays the constant segregation occurring and the influence it has on young children who are vulnerable to a racially segregated environment causing them to portray themselves a certain way. The black girls have little knowledge of people different than them, “When you lived in the south suburbs of Atlanta, it was easy to forget about whites. Whites were like those baby pigeons: real and existing, but rarely seen or thought about” (pg. 5), because of these girls have little contact with one another and the black girls are extremely conscious of the differences they posses. The feeling of differences comes from the world around them, what they hear and see affect their opinions tremendously.

Read More

Summary Of The Book 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

566 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine living in a world where the color of your skin determined solely how people treated you... STOP… you already know what that feels like because sadly racism is still a big problem. I am reading the book “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This book takes place in the 1930s. The setting of the book is in Atlanta and is narrated by Scout.

Read More

Theme Of Racism In Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry

726 Words | 3 Pages

In the story Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor The setting in the timeline are very important in the plot of the story. In the story takes place in the early 1900s or segregation and racism are still a problem. Cassie is the main character along with her three siblings, her mother, her father, and her grandmother. Cassie is a honest little girl that is trying to find her way in life but segregation and racism make it hard for Cassie to deal with everyday things.

Read More

More about Brownies By Zz Packer Summary

Related Topics

Open Document