Brownies by ZZ Packer Essay

Segregation had had many effects on the black nation, to the point that it started building up ones character, “See the depressing clouds of inferiority begin to form in her little mental sky and see her begin to distort her little personality by unconsciously developing a bitterness towards white people”, King shows readers that segregation is even affecting little children, that it is starting to build up a young girls character and is contributing to the child developing hatred “bitterness” towards the white Americans. King makes readers imagine a black cloud settling in a young girls brain mentally, when instead she should have an image of a colorful blue sky with a rainbow, isn’t that suppose to be part of a 6 year-old’s imagination? King gives readers an image of destruction civil disobedience had created in the black community, especially in the young innocent little children.

"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.

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

The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B Dubois is a influential work in African American literature and is an American classic. In this book Dubois proposes that "the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line." His concepts of life behind the veil of race and the resulting "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others," have become touchstones for thinking about race in America. In addition to these lasting concepts, Souls offers an evaluation of the progress of the races and the possibilities for future progress as the nation entered the twentieth century.

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

Racism was hard for Melba, her family, and every person who was one of the little rock nine. Racism brought hate between black and white people. Racism is a bad thing. Melba’s mother shouted the words “epsom salts and water”, as she raced down the hall, desperately searching for a nurse. The woman was in digant, saying yes, come to think of it, the doctor had said something about epsom salts. “ But we don’t coddle niggers.” She growled.(page3). Why people write “colored” on all the ugly drinking fountains, the dingy restrooms, and the back of the buses.(page3). Melba wanted to ride the merry-go-round but the white man said “there’s no space for you here.”(page4).

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

To engage a large audience, Staples appeals to readers with his use to two different points of views throughout the essay: societal views and black views. Staples tries to connect with the readers by giving examples of unconscious thoughts that run through the minds of most people when in the same situation as the “white women.” In his opening sentence, Staples calls the women a “victim.” In her own eyes, she herself was “victim” due to the influence of generalized stereotypes presented in our culture. She becomes quick to judge based on Staples appearance: his skin tone. Because of his color, his every action becomes nothing but threats and anxiety on the women. “She casted a back worried glance. To her, the youngish black- broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a

The novel The Garies and their Friends is a realistic examination of the complex psychology of blacks who try to assimilate through miscegenation and crossing the color barrier by “passing as white.” Frank J. Webb critiques why blacks cannot pass as being white through the characters Mr. Winston and Clarence Jr.

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.”

“Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination” written by American author, feminist and social activist, bell hooks, dissects the dichotomy of black and white culture in a westernized society. Hooks utilizes the term ‘whiteness’ throughout her piece as an acknowledgment of the domination, imperialism, colonialism, and racism that white people have asserted among black people. This discipline progressively has evolved from history; through slavery and forth, leaving an imprint in

In the story “Brownies” By ZZ packer. There were a lot of differences and racial sides going on. Particularly it was going on with two different troop groups. Troops 909 and  troop brownie (which was Arnetta’s team). Arnetta from brownie overhears and troop from 909 which were the white girls call one of her troops whose name is daphne call her a racial slur. This is where the problem starts and goes on throughout the story.

Anne was immediately confused by their presence because they seemed to be just like her except for skin color. On one occasion all the children were playing together in the lobby of a movie theater. Anne was with some local white children playing, but when it was time to enter the movie lobby the white children went in one direction and Anne went in after her friends. Her disapproving mother quickly stopped Anne and they left the theater. Before this instance Anne had never considered the coincidence that all the white children watched the movie from the bottom terrace and all the African America children from the top terrace. While thinking about the difference Anne realized that the bottom terrace and side entrance was much more luxurious than the raggedy top terrace, where she and her mother usually sat (38-2). After this the difference in skin color became much more apparent to her in everyday life. Anne was motivated to find the answers as to why she was treated differently because of the color of her skin.

Donald Glover along with the other writers and producers of Atlanta proves the views with an authentic look into the daily challenges of being black in this country. The show creates a dialogue that examines the intersection of topics such as police brutality, mental health, and transphobic in relation to the systemic racism and violence experienced by black America. This review will examine the representation of blackness on Atlanta, and how the representations of African Americans continue

ZZ Packer’s short story “Brownies” is a of a type genre I do not particularly gravitate to when looking to read something. However, I am glad I had the opportunity to do so. In her writ-ing Ms. Packer examines an unsightly truth in society. Namely racial intolerance, indifference and misunderstanding through ignorance and conflict. Specifically she explores the topic through the experience of a summer camp outing for two Girl Scout troops of elementary school age, one African American and the other Caucasian. Skillfully, she capitalized her writer’s skill set to paint imagery to support the story, for example “The sun was setting behind the trees, and their leafy tops formed a canopy of black lace for the flame of the sun to pass through” (Packer 6). In a video interview Ms. Packer describes writing both a first and third person narrative and vice versa several times during the creation of the story that as a result helped her to deftly confronts the starkness of human nature that may never be eradicated. From the opening two sentences I was impressed this would be a different kind of read.