preview

How Does Josie Change Throughout The Novel

Good Essays

Josie Jessop, the main character in Sylvia Olsen's thought provoking book, White Girl, would be a good fit at St. Ignatius because she possesses many characteristics which are beneficial for an SI student, such as her ethnicity, her ability to adapt to new surroundings and situations, and the fact that she is not easily intimidate. These characteristics are present in many SI students and would allow Josie to jump right into the flow of things at St. Ignatius.

Josie could fit into the St. Ignatius scene for many reasons, but likely the biggest and most obvious reason is her ethnicity. Josie, A.K.A Blondie, has blond hair and blue eyes. This description is not just of Josie but is also the description of the stereotypical, quintessential …show more content…

Ignatius.

Josie adapts to changes in a relatively short period of time which allows her to thrive in many different areas. In the prologue, the readers learn that the life-altering move to the reservation was basically just sprung upon Josie and her opinion was seemingly disregarded: “That's how it was when we lived in the city, where almost everyone was like me -- I blended in. Then with one move, I became a white girl, painted like a picket fence -- plain as day, whiter than white” (Prologue). By no means was Josie's life pre-reservation easy, her economic/social status placed her and her mom as “white trash,” yet it was easier in the big city then on the res. In the city everyone looked like her, everyone talked like her, and did similar things, but on the res no one looked like her. On the reservation she was the outcast, different from everyone but that didn't stop her from making friends or going to school. Josie's mom, Lenore is the one who has more trouble adapting to the new surroundings, and this results in Josie taking the lead in terms of upholding the family image and making new family friends. At the end of the book, Josie sounds as if she has lived on the reservation her whole life: “June 21 was mom and Martin’s first anniversary… An open invitation, to the family, and anyone else who wanted to attend… ‘And I want you to invite your friends, I want everyone to come” (Chapter 17). At the beginning of the book, Josie

Get Access