Patrica Smith What It Is Like To Be A Black Girl Summary

In the poem “ What it is like to be a black girl”, Patrica Smith uses metaphorical language to show us how young black girls are being judge in society based on stereotypes . It’s describing how she wants to change and become like other people in the racial society because she’s having a hard time accepting who she is.

In the beginning of “What it’s like to be a black girl” it gives you a view of a young black girl who doesn’t feel accepted in society. It emphasis the fact that many young black girls want the world to accept them for who they are. But in today’s society people base everything on social media. When smith writes “….it’s being 9 years old and feeling like you’re not finished….” she is saying puberty is changing the young girls image as they go through these changes by the age 9-14. This is how young girls feel when they start becoming a teen to a grown woman. Another thing she writes is “..it’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue and suffering the burn in silence “ this line is showing imagery of a young girl who is becoming someone they’re not. The blue for coloring into eyes is creating a image of a young black girl trying to turn white. It also expresses that the food coloring as its will burn the eyes. She expresses “ …its popping a bleached white mophead over the knits of you’re hair and priming in front of the mirror that deny your reflection” in this line it explains how young girl are petraying themselves as white girls to be