How does one tell the story of America? Is the story based on facts from the American Revolution? Does he or she consider the immigration papers flooding Elis Island? Perhaps, one finds comfort, excitement, and truth in the films depicting the second World War. Moreover, the American story can find its home in the eccentric music, protest literature, and magnificent plays of the rebellious late twentieth century. Throughout the history of American Literature, authors have strived to share their stories with the general public on a vast number of medias with each platform targeting a different part of the American identity. However, storytelling cannot be limited to how the author relays their message to their readers; the interactive storytelling …show more content…
As the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson commenced the creation of the American literary voice purely out the soil upon which this country was founded. Although the Declaration of Independence relies on political diction and a list of grievances, Jefferson dynamically establishes that America is its own entity, apart from Britain, with its own desires and its own voice. However, after sixty-five years of this radical separation, Americans still failed to truly form their own culture, for example, in literature and social norms. In this moment in time, Ralph Waldo Emerson emerges to urge the American people to look forward to their new country’s future, which is especially evident in his essay, “Self-Reliance.” Emerson contrasts the dreary Americans to a rose, saying “These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones… But man postpones or remembers…heedless of the riches that surround him” (Emmerson 11). Unlike humans, roses develop with an individual and intrinsic knowledge, constantly living in the present and acting in response to the conditions of that time. Nature knows no history and only seeks to move forward, and Emerson argues that …show more content…
Z. Packer demonstrates this very notion established by Jefferson and Whitman: the power of giving a voice to the voiceless and highlighting the importance of storytelling as a sign of respect and wisdom. Throughout the entire story, causeless rebellion tempts two girls of the primary, and all African American, Brownie troop as they seek to fight the girls of Troop 909, a group of white girls with various disabilities, unbeknownst to the main character, Laurel, and her troop. At the end of the story, the girls of Laurel’s troop inaccurately accuse a member of Troop 909 of saying a racial slur, as the leader of 909 says, “That’s impossible. She doesn’t speak. She can, but she doesn’t” (Packer 23). As Packer tells the story of the Brownies, she also tells helps the character tell her story of her disability and her actions. Though the girl is able to speak, there exists something that blocks the full fruition of her voice, which parallels Laurel’s character throughout the entire story. When Laurel and her troop recline in the cramped seats of the school bus, the rowdy girls begin talking about why they and the troop of disabled girls cohabited the same camps, and they all understand that their race and health statuses create an even field for discrimination and alienation. Here, Laurel begins to tell a story about her father and the time he asked a Mennonite man to paint his house because “’it was the only time he’d have a white man on his knees
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.
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.
A person comes to conclusions about situations based on their point of view. If an individual is in downtown Los Angeles, he/she will mention how chaotic and populated it is, but if that person is on top of the Mount Hollywood, he/she will be overlooking a gorgeous view of the city and will describe Los Angeles positively. The point of view a person has goes hand in hand with how he/she will understand an issue. In ZZ Packer’s “Brownies” the narrator is in a position that gives her a unique insight of the camping trip she and her brownie troop take. The reader is able to see the narrator’s honesty because of the personality traits she displays throughout the story.
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.
the best US president in my eyes would be the third president which is Thomas Jefferson, but why ? Thomas Jefferson was the principle author of the declaration of independence. jefferson appointment to the committee of five formed to draft a declaration of independence in furtherance of the lee resolution passed by the congress, which declared the united colonies independent. Thomas Jefferson was important to the Louisiana purchase because he had authorized livingston only to purchase New Orleans . The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at anytime preventing the United states from acquiring New orleans, so they agreed and signed the Louisiana purchase treaty on April 30, 1803. Did you know that thomas jefferson is on
At the end of the story, they are almost about to fight their rival troop over someone claiming to have heard a girl call a black girl a “nigger”. What really happens is one of the more outspoken black girls is quick to jump on an accusation that probably did not happen with a negative intent. feel that “Brownies” was a great work of literature. I found it extremely interesting how ZZ Packer put these young girls in heavy situations, dealing with mature topics such as, racism. She also had the young girls using some adult language throughout the
Laurel carries the story to the end with, a noticeable pattern with her father and the Mennonites. She relates to the brownies group reaction to the mentally delayed white girls’ troop that human being seek deliberate cruelty against another to feel momentary superiority. The desire of retribution has no
Literary Analysis Essay William Howard The short story that I chose for my literary analysis essay is “Brownies” By ZZ Packer. 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
The 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
The American Revolution or also known as The War of Independence was brought on by American colonists. The colonists felt the taxations and limitations oppressed onto the Americans by British was worth fighting for their rights. The Americans had George Washington as their general, and Washington had an itch to keep the moral of the colonists alive during the hard times. In the times of The American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress emerged and voted for freedom from Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin came together and formed a document stating the colonists’ intent to gain independence from Great Britain.
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).
Packer does not give a direct explanation of why there is this hate, but works to show through her description of this story how even for adults, hate and polarization of the two groups comes from a difference in socioeconomic class. For example, when Laurel describes the way that the Mennonites painted the porch, she says “the Mennonites [bent] the way Daphne had bent when she was cleaning the restroom”(31). Laurel is realizes that to her father, whiteness is synonymous with privilege and socioeconomic class. Daphne is from a certain economic class where her mother has to do for a living a task that requires her to go “on [her] knees” and clean—a task few white people would ever have to do. Packer illustrates how a jealousy towards white people from a young age based on socioeconomic class and societal standards of beauty, can continue into a hatred in adulthood because of what jobs people of low socioeconomic class are forced to
The author demonstrates the problems in the school systems when Scout enters school she is reprimanded by her teacher, Mrs. Honeycomb for reading proficiently. She is commanded to “tell [her] father not to teach [her] anymore” and stop reading outside of school. Lee’s incongruity of the situation alerts her readers to the flaws within the school system. Lee satirizes the church when Scout and Jem are taken to church by Calpurnia, their black housekeeper, when the children’s father is unavailable. At this Christian church, the children are ridiculed for being white.
The story is told in scout’s point of view and through her eyes we may fittingly understand the author’s message and how it is still relevant in
One becomes and American by forgetting ways or “prejudices” that keep them from receiving a grand position on the “lap of our great Alma Mater.” He writes that the labors performed by the countrymen aid in earning the title freeman. All of the title holders have received ample rewards and benefit from “wanting a vegetative mold.” He believes that the diversity of the freemen here will and should cause tremendous changes to the world.