Identity In Brown Girl Dreaming By Jacqueline Woodson

People all around the world are all unique and different in their own ways. Whether they have different traits, or even if they have the ability to do things others can't. Everyone has different identities, its being who or what a person is depending on what they have been through and have grown up with. By being around these people for a certain amount of time can allow people to pick up traits or actions that influence there identity. Identity is portrayed in many places, such as everyday life, and the things people have been around; it's even portrayed in books. Identity is portrayed in a memoir called “Brown Girl Dreaming” written by Jacqueline Woodson, was a book revolved specifically around herself when she was a young girl, growing

Her mother wanted Jackie and her sister to move to the south, her father disagreed, but it didn't end in his favor. Her mother took her and her siblings away from their father. It shaped her identity by leaving an empty space where something should be filled, where something once was. For Jacqueline, it's as if she has lost something that she can no longer get back, since she was away from her father for so long she started to forget what he was like she says, “...forgotten our fathers voice, the slow drawl of his words, the way he and his brother David, made jokes that werent funny and laughed as though they were.” (Woodson 181). Jacqueline is very close with her family, having to grow up and hang out with the same people her entire life. But now she's lost something, lost a piece of what made her family whole. By her mother leaving her father, Jacqueline is forced to grow up without a father figure in life. By leaving there father, she also has to experience what it's like to not have the other family members from her fathers side. She's losing more and more from one coincidence. This affects her identity by allowing her to be more independent, she can no longer rely on what her father does for her and now only has her mother. It also provides a dull and empty feeling for

Grandpa Gunnar was sick and was on his death bed when Jacqueline and her siblings arrived. They barely got to say there goodbyes before he died. His death impacted Jackie and her grandmother heavily. When Jacqueline was having a conversation with her grandmother they both talked about grandpa, they said, “I remember how he laughed, I tell my grandmother and she smiles and says, because you laugh just like him. Two peas in a pod, you were. Two peas in a pod we were.” (Woodson 288-289). Jackie and her Grandpa were really close. Jacqueline and her siblings had to stay and live with there grandparents for years, building that strong bond between the two. Grandpa Gunnar was more of a father figure to Jackie, after they left there father she didn't have anyone, but he was there. His death impacted her identity by providing her with a sadness yet an urge to stay strong and determined. She has to live through all these bad occasions and to do that she needs to stay