Drinking Coffee Elsewhere: Loss Of Innocence
In Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, the major theme that develops is a loss of innocence. This loss of innocence is a common theme in many of the stories including Brownies, Our Lady of Peace, Speaking in Tongues, and Geese. In the first story Brownies, there is a troop of black girl scouts and a troop of white girl scouts going camping. The black girl scouts have always looked at the white girls as different, and were calling them names. “They smell like Chihuahuas.” 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 …show more content…
The main character Dina decided to travel to Japan for an escape from home. At the start of her trip, she decided to take a little “vacation” and enjoy herself in Japan. She then sold the return part of her plane ticket and went around exploring Japan and used up all her money. Dina and many other americans in a similar situation stayed at Ari's one room flat. She and her many roommate soon find themselves in a constant state of poverty and starvation. After arriving in Japan and living like this, she becomes disillusioned with the world and people around her. She becomes trapped in this foreign country with no way back home. She initially wanted to travel to Japan just for pleasure. “... she went to Japan for loveliness.” At the end of the story, she thinks about the Kamikaze pilots of World War 2, and how they would go on a one way trip with no return. She realizes that if she was given that same option now, she would have done something different. “She remembered how she'd marveled when she'd read it, amazed that anyone would do such a thing; how – in the all-knowing arrogance of youth – she'd been certain that given the same circumstances, she would have done something different.” The loss of innocence is shown because Dina is now aware of her own “Kamikaze mission” and how the viewpoint of others around her have
Analyzing The Short Story 'Brownies'
366 Words | 2 Pages2 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.
Similarities Between Brownies And Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
1054 Words | 5 PagesIn 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.
Summary Of Brownies By Zz Packer
444 Words | 2 PagesThe main conflict in “Brownies” started when “Arnetta said she’d heard one of the Troop 909 girls call Daphne a ******” and wanted to get revenge (Packer). No one else could confirm that Arnetta’s accusation was true, and when Arnetta tried to get confirmation from Daphne, all she did was shrug. Even though there was no evidence that a girl had actually called Daphne the derogatory term, everyone joined in on the plan to get revenge, trusting Arnetta’s words. They eventually confronted the Troop 909 girls, but they quickly learned that some of the girls were echolalic, meaning “they will say whatever they hear, like an echo,” and that even if one of the girls did say the word, it was unintentional. The Brownies had created an elaborate plan to get revenge because of one girl’s words, only to find out that the situation was not what they had imagined it to be, therefore developing the theme that “There is often more to something than what meets the
Hero's Journey Character Analysis
1005 Words | 5 PagesShe is going from her Ordinary World, a colony on a small planet named Kerenza towards the edge of the universe, to the spacecraft where she will be spending the entire rest of the war against BeiTech. In a debriefing interview, she later tells a member of the Ministry of the Interior United Terran Navy, “I was in class when it started. This is going to sound stupid, but I broke up with my boyfriend that morning, and he was right there on the other side of the room. I’m staring out the window and coming up with all the things I should say to the jerk, when these ships fly right overhead and all the windows start shaking” (2). Before her Hero’s Journey changes her, she is a typical teenage girl with a talent for hacking, worrying about school and the ex-boyfriend
Brownies Zz Packer Analysis
672 Words | 3 PagesFor instance, Arnetta, who the girls follow and give their attention to, gets away with saying and doing things because she listened “to Mrs.Margolin’s religious talk and [gave] her what she wanted to hear” when she asked questions (178). Mrs.Margolin was their troop leader who saw her position “as an evangelical post” (178). Arnetta had once gotten away with killing “the troop goldfish by feeding it” a french fry and claiming to Mrs.Margolin it had snatched the fry out of her fingers (178). She had also started the “Caucasian” joke, a month before camp, which was used when someone did anything wrong. For example, jumping off the swing midair and landing on knees instead of feet was followed by a “solemn horror Caucasian” (179).
Theme Of Racism In Brownies
746 Words | 3 PagesRoots of Racism ZZ Packer’s “Brownies” takes place at Camp Crescendo, a summer camp for fourth grade students near Atlanta, GA. The author is effective in depicting prejudice and racism through Laurel who is objective, open minded, empathetic and less opinionated; the plot of the story may become increasingly hostile and biased if told from Arnetta’s point of view. Laurel, the narrator is objective and open minded in this racially charged environment at the camp. When Arnetta says she heard a girl from Troop 909 call Daphne a “nigger” Laurel is the only one who considers the fact that Arnetta may not have heard the girl correctly. fShe tries to questions this possibility but Arnetta just brushed her off.
Farewell To Manzanar By Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
542 Words | 3 PagesThese feelings eventually led the Japanese-Americans to lose their livelihoods and become helpless. Jeanne and her family arrive with a dusty welcome. After losing everything (with Papa’s arrest), they were sent to a “Camp”. From that moment on, Jeanne and her family knew that their lives would be changed. Jeanne said,“The bus was being pelted by what sounded like splattering rain.
Summary Of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere By Zz Packer
1495 Words | 6 PagesDina tried to ignore Heidi, but after a while Heidi brought her out of her shell and after a while Dina went back to being socially isolated. The author seems to be exploring the idea of race and sexuality throughout the whole story. Dina feels held back by her race and does not want to understand her sexuality. Heidi is the opposite of Dina and is more accepting of her sexuality and does not care about hiding it. Dina is a socially isolated character due to her race and
Brownies By Zz Packer Analysis
620 Words | 3 PagesThe 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
Sexuality In ZZ Packer's Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
1060 Words | 5 PagesGiving the impression that she purposely lives her life submerged from the rest of the world. Since it could be the first time Dina had someone revealing something so personal to her, in the original version, she realized that she might not be the person that she thinks she is, but it is clear that she is
Boys Like Her Summary
165 Words | 1 PagesNella, another girl in the story, writes in her diary and reveals her horror when her new boyfriend, white man Doug, calls her children “jigaboos.” The alternate viewpoints shed light on
The Short Story Brownies By Zz Packer
1054 Words | 5 PagesThe whole story has a bunch of racial tension in it which leads up to a huge fight at the bathrooms or so we thought. Another girl in the story named Arnetta is the girl that starts it all by saying the white girls called them names based on the color of their skin and that starts the whole dilemma of the 2 groups. Since the story is told by a girl in the African American group you really don't get another point of view from the girls in Troop 909. You only get a view from the other
Personal Narrative: Satellite Coffee
103 Words | 1 PagesGrowing up, I only knew of Starbucks coffee, and coffee you can purchase at a convenience stores. I then, moved to Albuquerque and I would hear about Satellite coffee. People would make the place sound amazing. Most people tell me, "you need to visit Satellite coffee. " The way they explain their experience, makes me want to experience it myself.
The Dangers Of Caffeine In Coffee
1240 Words | 5 PagesCoffee is the second most consumed beverage in the world, behind water. There are many people consume it everyday. They consume coffee at least 1 or more cups of coffee per a day. In addition, coffee is not only popular among adults but teenagers also drink it. In fact, there are caffeine and sugar in coffee that has pros and cons which affects consumers’ health such as physical health or mental health: increasing heart rate, obesity, headaches, blood pressure, etc.
Descriptive Essay On A Coffee Shop
718 Words | 3 PagesWinter was just around the corner. It was my first time in the biggest coffee shop in town. I could see the cheerful and brilliant lighting of the shop as I walked across the vast parking lot. There were tables outside the shop each with a brown vintage style umbrella. This particular coffee shop is not a cafe, it’s a coffee shop literally.
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