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Analysis of Brownies by ZZ Packer Brownies is a short story by African American writer ZZ packer written in 1999 and printed alongside other stories in her 20003 collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. Brownies is situated in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, at camp crescendo, which is a summer camp for students in fourth grade. The story follows the themes of racial segregation and prejudice as the author creatively pits the brownie troop against troop 909 from the very start. From the very start of the camp, the girls in brownie troop took an immediate dislike to the white girls in troop 909 and vowed to “kick their assess” (Packer 2). The rest of the story follows the activities and experiences of troop brownie all
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Point of view is one of the literary devices that allows authors to accomplish this purpose. The point of view is the manner in which an author interacts with his/her literary world. It provides a creative avenue for skillful readers to capture and direct the attention of the reader to particular emotions, details, and opinions. Thus, the point of view is simply an angle of considering things as embodies with the manner in which the author narrates a story. This paper provides a clear and concise analysis of the short story Brownies by ZZ packer with particular focus on the point of …show more content…
These constant struggles between connection and autonomy are perhaps more palpable when Arnetta called for the brownies troop to call a secret meeting to discuss what they are going to do to get even with troop 909 for allegedly calling one of them a ‘nigger’. When Laurel showed a little hesitation, the other members looked at her like she is an impediment with Arnetta stating “Snot, you are not going to be a bitch and tell Mrs. Margolin, are you?” (Packer 9). This is just one of the situations where Laurel is faced with a tough choice where she has to weigh between her autonomy and group inclusion. Therefore, through the first-person point of view, the author clearly articulates the issue of human prejudices with particular focus on
"Brownies" is a story by ZZ Packer, who is a contemporary African American writer. The story appears in her short story collection Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, which was published in 2003. The story provides a platform that reveals the strenuous relationship between the African American and the Whites during the mid of the twentieth century. The story entails the Brownie troop of fourth grade African American girls who went to a summer camp. During their camping, they did encounter a troop of white girls in which they believe one of the White girls had addressed them in a way that insulted their race. Considering the strenuous relationship that is prevalent between the two races, the Brownie troops chose to resolve it by beating up the white girls. Through the relationship of the two troops, the strenuous nature of the Black and the White people is adequately detailed. In light of the Brownies, the paper will provide a literary research on Packer 's views and facts. Indeed, the relationship between the Black and the White people has been fraught with injustice and oppression. Based on such premise, it has been an extremely polarized relation.
Point of view is described as the perspective from which a story is told (Literature, G25). In the story "Everyday Use" the point of view is that of first person narrator or major character. The story is told by the mother in the story. The theme of this story is that of a mother who is trying to cope with changing times and two daughters who are completely different. Having the story told from momma's point of view helps to reveal how momma feels about herself and how she defines her daughters Dee and Maggie.
Laurel and her troops’ continued racial exclusion and perceived marginalization is another major driving force behind the group’s solidarity. Unlike most of the other girls, Laurel does not seem to have an inherent or genuine prejudice toward white people. Her limited exposure and lack of integration with this group
However, she quickly began to realize that the racial-ideology espoused by white southerners was used as a means to oppress and subordinate the African American community. Although many blacks were content to accept discrimination, segregation, and disenfranchisement as the norm, Anne (from this moment on) refused to conform to her status as an “inferior.” Rather, she constantly questioned and criticized the treatment of African Americans, even as a young child. For example, she mentally chastised Raymond’s family for refusing to acknowledge her mother at church (pg. 61) and she refused to conform to Mrs. Burke unreasonable household rules (pg. 122). Ultimately, at this young age, Anne knew intuitively that the racial status quo in the south was morally wrong and unjust. In many ways, this awareness contributed to Anne’s tireless commitment to the cause of desegregation and racial equality later in
In the short story Brownies, written by ZZ Packer, the story takes place in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia and within this suburbs, lies a group of Girl Scouts who are in camp. This camp is called Camp Crescendo. This camping site houses two camp groups: the Brownies which are African American and Troop 909 girls who are Caucasian. The story is narrated by a young girl named Laurel, who’s also known as Snot among the Brownies. The story begins by Snot giving a brief overview of the other six girls and the camp. During this time, racial tensions were in abundance throughout the United States. As the story progresses, Arnetta over hears a young girl from the Troop 909 calls Daphne a brownie girl a “nigger” and the dynamic of the story changes
Point of view is important in any novel. It allows readers to see and understand the events and characters in a novel. Depending on who is speaking, point of view can drive the plot and convey the thoughts of the characters in a story. In the novel, The Brief Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, point of view plays a crucial role in narrating the life of the lonesome outsider, Oscar. The novel is narrated in first person, but Diaz chooses to disclose who the speaker is until later in the book. As the story progresses, there are clues that hint to the reader who the outside source narrating Oscars life is. Diaz uses Yunior to narrate a majority of the novel. This point of view lets the readers understand the Dominican culture through Yunior’s commentary and perspective. It also gives an outside perspective on Oscar which helps build Oscar as a character. Instead of using an omniscient third person or generic first person point of view, Diaz uses multiple characters to narrate the story. This ingenious idea gave the story a more personal and up close look at not only the life of Oscar, but also the lives of his sister, Lola, and his mother, Beli.
Point of view is the narrator’s position in the story being told. Point of view changes the story drastically, since you are hearing different stories and opinions by different characters in a story. Even if the plot is the same, the point of view will change the entire story. Point of view can also create tension between different characters. For example, if you are hearing the thoughts of one character in the story, and the actions of another character who is aware of these rude thoughts, the reader knows that the two characters tension between each other will eventually rise up to a certain point that a problem will occur. Point of view creates a lot of tension in the two books, Confetti Girl and Tortilla Sun, between the narrator and their parent. Both books
A point of view is a position in which the story is being told, but did you know that there is two point of views in The Three Little Pigs and The True Story of the Three Little pigs? The two stories have views changed by how the author tells them. In the story of the pigs it’s in third person, but in the wolf’s view he just wants sugar and see’s them as a snack so it’s first person. The story of “The Three Little Pigs” and “The True story of the Three Little pigs” have different point of views that help the readers understanding of the wolf.
Brownies by ZZ Packer is a short story that takes place at a summer camp called Camp Crescendo in Atlanta, Georgia. The story follows two racially segregated troops of Brownie Girl Scouts, one troop consisting of all black girls and the other all white girls. Conflicts arise when the troop of white girls were accused of calling a black brownie a racial slur. The black troop confronted the white troop, Troop 909, with the accusation that one girl in Troop 909 called a girl in the black troop a racial slur in the camp bathroom. During this confrontation, their first face-to-face confrontation with the white girls, the black troop made the revelation that Troop 909 had special needs. A Troop Leader then shared that some of the girls in Troop
Growing up in social environments that are heavily influenced by class systems definitely impacts young peoples’ perspectives. This influence contributes to struggles Hazel from Watership Down, Scout from To kill a Mockingbird and Ellen from Ellen Foster, face, especially handling social order in a nondiscriminatory way. However, Hazel and Scout have family and friends who advise them, whereas Ellen has no one. Ellen Foster presents the most hopeful chance of the end of racism because she suffers and has no one to guide her, yet she remains strong and persistent in her efforts to become less prejudiced.
Imagine you had to fight a war against a formidable army that outnumbered you tenfold; you had very few friends and hardly any weapons at which you could use. This is a great analogy for Melba Patillo Beals’ battle for integration into Central High School, but Melba’s army composed of segregationist and students whose mission was to keep her out of the school. Upon her shoulders Melba carried the responsibility of being one of the first African Americans to integrate a high school in Arkansas, a feat that could only be accomplished by an individual with a strong inner character. In “Warriors Don’t Cry”, Melba Patillo Beals presents the idea that both independence and despondency are necessary character traits in her fight for freedom and equality.
The writer ZZ Packer’s short story, “Brownies,” is about a troop of African-American Girl Scouts from south Atlanta that takes a camping trip; unfortunately, almost instantly, imaginary tensions build up between them and Troop 909, a group of white girls; struggle that later in this story develops as the main external conflict. Arnetta and Octavia, appear as the leaders of the group, and insist that the 909 girls called one of their group a derogatory word which is the starting point of the conflict. Consequently, a confrontation rapidly takes place between the teams, but this quarrel turns awry when the African-American girls realize the white members of Troop 909 are developmentally disabled and it becomes clear to the reader that
In the short story “Brownies” by ZZ Packer there are a few different settings throughout the story. The use of multiple settings serve as a purpose to establish the mood of the story, and give the reader better insight to the characters and the theme of “Brownies,” racism. The conflict of Arnetta claiming that one of the girls from Troop 909 called Daphne the n word is tied in with the theme of story, and the setting of where Laurel, the narrator lives, the type of school her and the rest of her troops go to, the time period they live, and the bathroom at the camp all work as a part of the story in order to help give the audience a deeper understanding of the conflict and theme of “Brownies.”
In the short story “The School,” written by Donald Barthelme, many different literary devices are being utilize like order of events, phraseology, point of view etc. The literary device that stands out the most in the short story “The School” is point of view. Barthelme uses point of view by making the teacher the story teller which gives the story a different mood than it would if it was told from a distinct perspective. Point of view is a position or perspective from which something is considered or evaluated (Merriam-Webster, n.d.)Barthelme’s use of point of view leads to the interpretation of the story in a totally unusual way which makes the story much less creepy than it should be.
Writing from different viewpoints allows the author, Tim O’Brien, to express himself in a more comfortable manner. Written in this viewpoint, the story is read as a tale instead of an autobiography and the author becomes more distant with the story like he is looking into it rather than writing it.