’The New Girl’ analysis
The story takes place in a white lower-middle-class neighborhood. The neighborhood is called Prospect Street. Only 2 kids live in the block, Allison and the narrator, so they have to be friends whether they like it or not. Allison is 10 years old while the narrator is only 8, so Allison is a kind of role model to him. A day like any other, where they almost crash, the narrator hears a laugh and turns his head to find a small girl. They smile at each other, though the peace soon being disturbed by Allison. She calls the girl nigger and scares her away. The girl tries explaining that she thought they could play but Allison calls her nigger again. The girl walks back to her house. As Allison and the narrator slowly
…show more content…
‘The water hit me between my shoulder blades, pushing me forward with each blast’. The water is a symbol of the power Allison has over the narrator, he doesn’t know how to act, so he acts like her, though this means him being pushed into something he isn’t comfortable doing.
The title fits the story nicely. ‘The New Girl’ says that there’s going to be a new girl, though before we read the story we do not know where or when, therefore our only knowledge before reading the story will be that there’s a new girl. Furthermore the girl in the story is only mentioned as ‘the girl’ we do not know her name and her whole identity is ‘the girl’.
In the picture ‘New Kids in the Neighborhood’. We see 3 white boys and a girl and boy of colour. The kids are leaning in, like they’re interested and have never seen anything like it. The two kids of colour are standing with a very nice posture looking at them like they’re used to people ponder over what they’re doing at a place like that. Both the picture and the story we see how people off different skin colours meet, though the meetings are very different. In the picture they show somewhat interest and they see curious, while in the story the girl is met first with kindness and then nothing but hatred. All the kids seem to somehow having to grow up fast even if they’re in a peaceful environment there will always be things to look out for and be aware
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.
Stargirl was another fantastic book Jerry Spinelli. He added interesting characters, such as, Leo the quiet and shy one, Stargirl unique and fun one, Dori Dilson Stargirl only friend, Archie the wise and elderly one, Kevin Leo’s friend that likes the stoplight, and Hillari Kimble the popular bratty one. This book takes place in MICA, Arizona. Now, in paragraph one I will discuss the plot of Stargirl. Next, I will talk about the theme in Stargirl. Finally, I will evaluate Jerry Spinelli`s job on the novel Stargirl.
The narrator moves to Seattle and lives with his white girlfriend who he is constantly fighting all the time. He breaks
The fourth chapter of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”is about the identity development in adolescence. It is said that when black children are growing up, they engage in many of the white culture’s beliefs and values as it is all around them. It is not until a little later where they begin to recognize the impact of racism. This can happen around the early stages of adulthood. It might even happen around the junior high age. Gender also comes into play around this time as well. A black girl wouldn't be acknowledged for her beauty in a white setting as she is not in the society's standard for beautiful. Since the black girls aren’t considered beautiful, they begin to feel devalued. The black youth are beginning
As generations have passed, society has become less and less racist. From a young age, many children are taught to celebrate diversity. This instills a sense of being able to love everyone, regardless of skin color or race. But a little over half a century ago, it was a completely different story. There was segregation present in buses, water fountains, and even bathrooms; this was all due to assumptions people made, just based on someone else’s skin color. To add on to the list, parents instilled racism in their children in multiple ways. Records of inequality and racism can be seen in literature from that period of time. Recitatif by Toni Morrison shows how this tragic situation was
Author, Dr. Beverly Tatum a clinical psychologist whose main study of interest is Black children’s racial identity development wrote the text Why Are All the Black Kids sitting Together in the Cafeteria? After receiving a letter from a school principal in New Jersey applauding her on her reason of why, in racially mixed schools all over the country, Black kids were still sitting together in school cafeterias. In the text Tatum shares her thoughts about the development of racial identity faced by the African American population and how it is interrelated to racism at the turn of the twentieth century while highlighting the Black-White relation in childhood and adolescence age group. The book entails controversy in that, Dr. Tatum understanding of racism is centered heavily on race. Tatum’s explanation of racism suggest that Blacks cannot be racist based on the fact their racial bigotry do not stand or rest on a structure of advantage.
Staples and Rodriguez portray in their articles that even at very young ages juveniles can be victims of racism. Such young ages in fact that it leaves scars on them, as it had with Staples and Rodriguez, because they found out the reality behind being black or having dark skin. For example, Staples discovers at the age of twelve what being black is in a racist society, as a white women saw Staples at night walking near her and she ran fearing for her life.In addition, Rodriguez’s first experience of racism was at the age of seven from his mother telling him to put a towel over his shoulder to cover some of his dark skin. Therefore, both Staples and and Rodriguez had to live with the stereotypes and the profiling that comes with having dark skin from a very young age
Our world has came a long way fighting racial and ethnical issues. It’s quite ludicrous however, how we have reached the 21st century, and we can't get rid of all those racial stereotypes that are impacting all ethnicities: white, african american,mexican, asian, etc. I have never noticed how many incorrect ideas towards certain races are portrayed everywhere in our day to day lives until I scrutinized the novel Seedfolks, written by Paul Fleischman. This short book is about a very diverse community that have learned to come together and help one another to grow a public garden where a lot of garbage used to be; This all started due to a young girl. This novel is a children's book that everyone can come to the conclusion that it contains a good moral and value. However, the author decided to use a vast amount of stereotypes throughout the book. Children are being shown these books and television shows that discretely have stereotypes as well and it is completely wrong. We in this century have made it “okay” to categorize our racial background, making everyone the same and it is unacceptable. We, in this society believe that racial comments no longer exist because of how normal we make them see. Once we all are willing to focus and put effort into wanting our ideas of people to change, we will all realize that it is everywhere showing all ages. It is about time that offensive comments and portrayals of ethnicities are put an end to. To start off, people must see where the
It usually starts with an event or an encounter that causes the child to become aware of their ethnicity and what it means for them. This encounter causes most to examine their racial identification and how their future will be affected. Tatum uses her ten-year-old son as an example. If he were to describe himself, he would talk about the things he likes to do and the fact that he is tall for his age. He would probably say this because when he tells people his age they tell him he is tall for his age. He knows he’s tall because that’s what everyone tells him. Likewise, he knows he’s Black because people are telling him so, just not directly. Tatum explains by asking if her son were to walk down the street whether or not women hold their purses tighter, or if people try to avoid him, or if security watches him more closely. Maybe people automatically assume he plays basketball. This all sends a racial message.
This story has affected me in a few ways. One of the ways was how children think and see the world. One of the ways is how children see and picture racial equality. They do this in a way that many adults are not readily capable of doing, or choose not to. From the story early on we are told of a girl named Kesha who distinguishes beyond the socio-typical distinctions of black and white, when she states, “‘Okay, peach with spots for you and brown without spots for me, except his one and this one on my cheek”’ (Paley, pg. 15). In another part in the story, the author says two children, Jeremy and Martha, playing a game of Guess Who? Jeremey asked
It is often said that kids don’t usually understand race or racism, and that is true until Janie is met with kids who have faced oppression all their lives. Janie is a young girl who is raised by her grandmother in the deep South during the 1930’s. Janie lives among many white kids and doesn’t realize that she is not white until she sees a photo of the children and cannot identify herself in the picture. “Dat’s where Ah wuz s’posed to be, but Ah couldn’t recognize dat dark chile as me. So Ah ast, ‘where is me?’ Ah don’t see me’”(9). Janie didn’t know that she was a black girl because she had always been treated the same as the white kids, and they never treated her any differently than anyone else. The only kids that ever abused her with their words were the other black kids at school, they always teased her for living in
To begin with, Hazel, a white teenage girl, caught screaming to the back of another teenage girl’s head, black teenage girl named Elizabeth, claims that in the act she wasn’t feeling any towards of hatred or disapproval towards Elizabeth making her way into school. However, in the heat of the moment this photograph captured her at the wrong moment in time, a moment in which appeared full of hatred. Story is though that Hazel tagged along into the mixt of the crowd, not knowing exactly what she was thinking or doing but just wanted to do what everyone else was doing. This very act touches upon one aspect of racism, how your society influences your thoughts and actions. Growing up in the south, this was just a custom, to Hazel just like to everyone else. Individuals come as a whole to torment someone who they were taught was inferior to them.
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.
It is hard to distinguish the difference between which race is more important. One might ask themselves if white is superior over colored skin. There have been numerous struggles and much success in the fight towards equality between the races. Although many large steps have been made, there are still existing racial barriers. One particular struggle is whether or not people of different races should interact with each other. Should Caucasian adults interact with young children of color? A question that becomes especially critical when children are putting themselves in potentially dangerous situations. This moral debate is portrayed in Grace Paley's short story, "Samuel."
Soon, they do the same or try to be the same. They also think that the coarse children or the other race is terrible. "My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough," "Those Who Don't" and "We Real Cool" are the same because they are safe with all the same kind of people around. "My Parents Kept Me from Children Who Were Rough," "Those Who Don't" and "We Real Cool" because they are told in different perspectives. All these pieces show differences and similarities of point of view. The pieces also comparisons and contrasts so many other ideas.