Dora Selin Sarialp Ms. Rueda and Ms. Staniford 7th ELA Due: ??? Self-Love in “Genesis Begins Again” “Who do you think going to love you, look at you with your thick lips, big nose, nappy hair and blacker than black…”(Williams, 10) These are examples of the tauntings Genesis has received from her drunk father in the novel, Genesis Begins Again. Genesis has always felt insecure about the way she looked. Her father is partly to blame since he took his anger out on her while he was drunk, targeting her skin tone, facial features, and more. Genesis’s father, Emory plays a big role in this, as he has targeted Genesis with racist and colorist comments while he was drunk. The author, Alicia D. Williams, illustrates how the character is self-conscious of her looks and can never seem to love herself. She also tries to improve herself in extreme ways throughout the book to feel accepted by the people around her. Genesis has always been insecure about her skin tone. She is constantly harassed about her dark skin by her dad and her fake friends. The following quote is from when Genesis’s father finally burst on her while he was drunk and his friends were …show more content…
“Look at you with that wide nose, my reflection says. . . I slam the door, trapping the voices inside” (Williams, 10) Genesis’s intrusive thoughts show how insecure she is about the traits that she got from Emory. These include her wide nose, nappy hair, and dark and ashy skin. She has tried to hide or get rid of some of these traits throughout the book. This is because Emory has made her feel ashamed to look like him by yelling about how much she looked like him, he did this because of his rough childhood and crushed hope that his daughter's skin would be light so she wouldn’t have to face society’s racial standards, and thus his burden would not be passed down to