Brownies By Zz Packer Analysis

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.

Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattilo Beals is a memoir about Beals experiences and her journey while integrating Little Rocks Central High School. She wanted to share her story about what it was like to grow up in the middle of the civil rights movement and what it was like to be one of the nine students who were the first African Americans to integrate a public all white school. During and after reading the book a few thoughts went through my head. First, was my reaction at the horrific things that were done to Melba by integrationist in Central High. For example, while in the bathroom stall a group of girls locked her in and began dumping paper that was light on fire onto her.

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.

In Melba Pattillo Beals’ Warriors Don’t Cry, she recalls her adolescent years as being one of the nine African American students that chose to attend an all-white high school. In this memoir, she brings to light all of the horrible attacks they underwent. As a young girl, Melba became aware of the separation between whites and blacks, and strived to rise above that. She had a very religious family and black people during this time period learned to accept that they were less-privileged because of their skin color. She went to visit some relatives in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was astonished when white people were nice, or simply even smiled at her.

Turning Points are often when something unexpected or something you can’t control happens in your life. The texts that concluded this idea was the Autobiography “ Warriors Don’t Cry’’ by Melba Pattillo Beals, the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, and the Drama excerpt “Dragonwings”by Lawrence Yep. Melba Pattillo Beals, The Main Character of The Road Not Taken, and Moonshadow all faced life changing experiences, that changed a big part of their lives. “Warriors Don’t Cry’’ by Melba Pattillo Beals is an Autobiography about how Melba Pattillo Beals was being escorted to go to school by fifty uniformed soldiers because of the color of her skin. The Turning Point that Melba faced, was when she was walking up the steps into Central High school were angry segregationist mobs had forbidden her and other students to go.

Melba Beals memoir presents heroic detailed components about the integration of Central High. In chapter 4, of Warriors Don't Cry, Melba Beals gives a detailed description of her first day integrating Little Rock Central High School. While driving to school Melba had heard about the large crowd of segregationist that had gathered outside Central High School. When Melba arrived at school she describes how she saw “In the distance, large crowds of white people were lining the curd directly across from the front of Central High…stretched for a distance of two blocks along the entire span of the school"(Beals 37). Melba's use of details allows the reader to visualize an angry mob of white people trying to attack the African American students.

The Characteristics of Laurel "Brownies" written by ZZ Packer is an unusual short story about racial segregation amongst young African American and white Brownie troops. The story takes place in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. The narrator, Laurel also known as "snot" is sort of an outkast amongst the other troops. Laurels peers set out on a mission to beat the white girls of troop 99 up, because they thought that they heard the girls use a derogatory word. The black troops are clueless to the fact that the white girls are different, and meant no harm by using the word.

Melba Pattillo Beals was one of the first children to integrate in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her and 8 other students were chosen to go to Little Rock Central High School, which was a all white school. While there her and her friends where called the LR9( Little Rock 9). Melba was bullied and white students and parents tried to hurt her. They tried to burn her and kill her.

This fictional short story had a powerful meaning because it focused on how racial stereotyping can cause a lot of problems even among young girls who were attending a Girl Scouts camp. “Brownies” also showed how stereotyping can actually be harmful and can sometimes lead to hurtful consequences for the person who is the victim of it and for the person is guilty of stereotyping someone. I decided to do my analysis of this short story using the historical context element because of the long history of problems between the Black and White races in this country according to our history books, including one terrible incident that just happened one week ago when nine innocent Black people were murdered in a church in Charleston South Carolina by a 21 year old White racist who was guilty of stereotyping and hating Black people. The killer accused Black men of raping White women and that Black people were taking over the whole country. These were stereotypes that he first thought about in his head that then led to his terrible actions.

" I ran away from home. I ran away from St. Louis, and then I ran away from the United States of America, because of that terror of discrimination, that horrible beast which paralyzes one's very soul and body" This quote by Baker Josephine engages the reader's attention about discrimination and shows how this person suffered from it. Josephine Baker tried to escape from her place where she lived in a world that participated discrimination on her and the people there. Many people recent their lives because of his or her skin color due to other people treat these people with colored skins in a negative way. For example, some people enjoy mocking at colored people purposely, or say offensive words toward these colored people because of their

A pressing, socio-economic issue seen prevelantly in today’s society is racism. The term has been used for a long time, but has still found its way to stay in the current vocabulary of people in the twenty-first century. The timeless occurence of racism in society has been documented in a piece of literature that enables the horrors of this foulness to forever be known. “Brownies” by ZZ Packer made its way to the shelves in 2003 and has left many in awe of the in-depth perception of how people of the black race were mistreated. The story starts off when a group of black girls were mistreated by a group of white girls at a retreat known as Camp Crescendo (Packer 1).

The Intolerance Backlash In the last century, the epidemic of racial discrimination in America is showcased by how society functioned in areas like the South. Their entire social structure once revolved around segregation of not just race, but gender as well. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the normalcy and expectation of racial prejudice is demonstrated in 1930’s deep south. In the movie The Help, directed by Tate Taylor, the ever growing civil rights movement of the 1960’s began to change the view of some southern citizens. The main characters, Scout Finch and Skeeter Phelan, both witness the bigotry and injustice within their society.

At the beginning of the story, all the girls are still “little children” and innocent. This all changes when one of the white girls from troop 909 calls one of the black girls a nigger. When the black girls heard of this, they decided to seek revenge on the white girls. When the troop

In this society, many judgements are made about people from different backgrounds. This causes many problems between people of other races. Racism can be shown in multiple ways such as by using overt and covert racism. In the two stories “The Stolen Party” by Liliana Hecker and “So What Are You, Anyway?” by Lawrence Hill, there are many examples of racist stereotypes.

Moreover, demonstrate consequences are taken to oppress racial and ethnic minorities to keep them in a subservient position. Overall, this film has provided me with a visual depiction of how stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. The label of “White” became a necessity for Sarah Jane to achieve in society. To attain it she needed to move to a new city, change her name and deny her mother.