Causasia By Danza Senn An Analysis

The novel Causasia by Danza Senna is a powerful story that that helps illustrate racism in the 20th century. What I enjoyed about the novel was that it showed the struggles that the lighter skinned daughter (Birdie) had faced. Birdie and Cole are the children of a white mother and a black father. Birdie was the white daughter, while Cole was the darker skin black daughter. I, wrongly, assumed that the main focus of the novel was going to be the struggle of only Cole and how she had to deal with racism due to having a dark skin color, especially in comparison to her white sister. I was pleasantly surprised that Senna wrote about the struggles that Birdie had to face. For example, she felt that her grandmother, on her mother's side, only liked

Even young children were affected by the injustice that racism brought. This was evident right off the bat when the police questioned Birdie while she was with her father and assumed he was harassing and/or hurting her because she was white and he was black. Young Birdie was horrified at what happened. She at a young age witnessed how race played a role in how people will treat you. She knew that would have never happened to her darker skinned sister, Cole. Another major example of the racism in the 20th century was depicted by how they were inside and outside of their home. In their home they were extremely close. Birdie thought of Cole as a role model. They even had a special language. However, because of their difference in skin color separated them outside of their home. Since Birdie was white she went to a white school; and since Cole was black she had to go to a black school. Birdie's mother gave into the racism in society and became apart of it by telling Birdie not to tell people that she is half black. It was heart wrenching that a mother felt the need and told her child to lie about her self so she would not face discrimination and so she can fit in. This not only caused Birdie to lose closeness to her dark skinned sister Cole, but it also made it seem that society was not the one to be blamed for racism but that black people should be