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Identity In Danielle Evans's Short Story Snakes

1578 Words7 Pages

“I don’t know that they all end up OK, but i hope there’s something interesting for the reader in worrying about those outcomes,” Evans shares as she explains her reasoning for concluding most of her stories with cliffhangers (Young). Danielle Evans is an author of a collection of short stories that focus on issues pertaining to race and gender, and the struggles that surround a colored person's life. Evans goal in her writing is to give her characters more of an identity rather than just being identified as "black" (Perkins-Valdez). In her short story "Snakes," Danielle Evans, from the view of 25 year old Tara, shares the story of an interesting summer filled with racism. The story starts with the mixed character Tara, and her summer experience with her racist white grandmother, Lydia. Tara's parents are researchers that are taking a trip to Brazil for a summer, and Tara is able to now meet her mother's mother. …show more content…

In turn, 16 year old Amanda "rebelled" against her family and eventually married a black man. Tara is Amanda's daughter who now has to deal with societal pressures from being mixed. Lydia has her reputation to uphold through her daughter's rebellious actions, but in trying to maintain a good image she changes the way she treats her family and gives in to societal pressures that she faces. On the contrary, Amanda modifies her actions based on her belief of equality and completely rebels against what her society claims is the right thing to believe. Tara experiences the other side of society with her grandmother and gets her first taste of the bitter world that racism is a part of. In her short story “Snakes,” Evans accurately depicts through three of the female roles how racism can affect a person's actions, values, and moods, in a way that can be taken seriously by the

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