Each week is the same. Gunnars parents decision to give him a name that no master could ever take away reflects the fact that slave owners gave slaves their own last names as a sign of ownership. Jacqueline says that there is a war going on in South Carolina, and even though she doesn't actively join in, she is part of it. Again, the discussions that Jacqueline recalls from her early childhood are primarily conversations about words and names, reflecting Jacquelines interest in language. Course Hero. This quote is from the first poem, "halfway home #1" (104). Will there always be a bus? This part is just for my family. This poem also shows how sensations evoke memory. LitCharts Teacher Editions. When Mama tells them they have a new home in New York, Jacqueline wants to reply that Greenville is their homethis shows Jacquelines deep ties to Greenville. Find related themes, quotes, symbols, characters, and more. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. This moment shows racial violence not only as a hateful act in itself, but as one with rippling repercussions. This foreshadows her own familys future and supports her fathers assertion (and the sense among the community in Nicholtown) that there are more opportunities for black people in the North than in the South. Simile. Woodson shows Jacqueline struggling between these two very different conceptions of morality and religion. Cora and her sisters from down the road come over in the evening and talk to Jacqueline and Odella. Maybe Mecca is good memories, presents and stories and poetry and arroz con pollo and family and friends. Though Odella has more talent for school, at this young age, she is willing to help her younger sister get a head start on writing. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss thenovel. When Jacqueline's mother was young she wanted a dog, but her mother wouldn't let her get one. Part II takes place in South Carolina. Their new baby brother is named Roman. -Graham S. Again, Woodson shows Jacquelines close relationship with Gunnar. A girl named Cora and her sisters live down the road, but Jacqueline's grandmother won't let them play together because the mother of Cora left their family and ran off with the church pastor. The way the content is organized, LitCharts makes it easy to find quotes by Weeks continue to pass, with grandmother doing the girls' hair like usual. You know the right way to speak. Though Brown Girl Dreaming includes some very difficult topics and themes such as racism and death, Woodson keeps the tone hopeful and largely positive throughout. Course Hero. Brown Girl Dreaming Quotes. Section 3, - Jacqueline learns the days of the week by their engagements at Jehovah's Witnesses on each day of the week. And I imagine her standing in the middle of the road, her arms out fingers pointing North and South: I want to ask: Will there always be a road? Then, long before we are ready, it moves on.". Once again, sounds and music fascinate young Jacqueline, and her special attention to them foreshadows her later forays into verse, as poetry is a form of writing that has a particular allegiance to sound and spoken language. Sometimes, she understands, silences can be appropriate and productive, and language can sometimes be unnecessary or insufficient to describe feeling. Jacqueline's grandfather loves to work in his garden. When Jacqueline steps on a mushroom, Cora and her sisters say that the Devil is going to come for her. 1. This statement refers to her and Roman's actions when Odella and Hope are playing games they don't understand. She must reckon with the fact that she is growing, with all of the opportunities and responsibilities this brings. On paper, a butterfly never dies." - Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming 3. https://www.gradesaver.com/brown-girl-dreaming/study-guide/summary. Detailed quotes explanations with page numbers for every important quote on the site. Gunnars singing enraptures Jacqueline, and makes her imagine her aunt listening along. Jacqueline vascillates between embracing and rebelling against religious narratives. You can check them out below: https://www.gradesaver.com/brown-girl-dreaming/study-guide/themes. The signs that say "White Only" have been painted over in downtown Greenville, but on bathroom doors where not a lot of paint was used, you can still see the words through the paint. When Mama beats Hope for failing to follow these rules, Woodson shows the intense fear Mama has that her children will be demeaned because of their speech, and how unjust it is that the onus of defying racist stereotypes should be on them. Through the character of Miss Bell, Woodson shows the potential economic repercussions of partaking in the Civil Rights Movement. Jacqueline is suddenly forced out of her role as the youngest child, something that made her feel special and comfortable within her family. Before, their mother told her to let them choose their own faith, but grandmother feels differently. (approx. Instead of combining the African-American students with white students at a nearby high school, they have to crowd into the Black lower school. The title of this poem, sometimes, no words are needed, suggests that Jacqueline is experimenting not only with effusive narration, but also with the power of silence. And now coming back home / isn't really coming back home/ at all. You can keep your South The way they treated us down there, I got your mama out as quick as I could Told her theres never gonna be a Woodson that sits in the back of a bus. Once her mother leaves, Jackie Woodson and her siblings are forced to become Jehovah's Witnesses and their grandmother tells them to use the Bible as their sword and shield. Brown Girl Dreaming Quotes and Analysis "I am born as the South explodes, too many people too many years enslaved, then emancipated but not free, the people who look like me keep fighting keep marching and getting killed so that today February 12, 1963 and every day from this moment on, brown children like me can grow up free" Jacqueline, 2 However, in the fabric store, grandmother feels they are treated equally, even though it is run by a white woman. However, as noted in this quote, the fight for African American rights and social respect goes further than the Civil Rights Movement. In Greenville, South Carolina, teenagers are peacefully protesting by "sitting/ where brown people still aren't allowed to sit/ and getting carried out, their bodies limp,/ their faces calm" (72). His unhappiness in the South is reflected in his increasingly reserved personality. We dont know how to come home and leave home behind us. Many people begin leaving Greenville to make a life in the city, believing African Americans can do better there. Maybe no one does. She writes about the ocean, toy stores, celebrities, skyscrapers, and hair salons. Its hard not to see the moment my grandmother in her Sunday clothes, a hat with a flower pinned to it neatly on her head, her patent-leather purse, perfectly clasped between her gloved handswaiting quietly long past her turn. 119 likes. Woodson shows What is the theme ? I love my friend, and still do when we play games we laugh. Jacqueline calls all of these children their "almost friends" (67), but her grandmother tells Jacqueline and her siblings that they should just play with one another. Woodson uses lots of imagery of rivers in her memoir, including at the end of Part I when her family returns to Ohio before her parents separate permanently. This conversation with Mama makes it clear that Mamas sense of being at home in South Carolina is waning. Just by writing one letter, Jacqueline feels exposed to a world of infinite possibility. In this poem, Woodson links Gunnars favorite pastime, gardening, with the history of his family, and, disconcertingly, with the legacy of slavery. Jacqueline and her siblings have the sense that their lives are about to change drastically. Dont you know people get arrested for this? Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. We do not know yet / who we are fighting / and what we are fighting for. All of them live in a different town, since Nicholtown is home only to "Colored folks" (53). Cohen, Madeline. Need analysis for a quote we don't cover? She tucks them back into bed where they sleep together in a bed covered with quilts. character, Jacqueline's grandmother taking the time to caringly, if aggressively, do Jacqueline and Odella's hair every week shows her devotion to them and to helping them shape their identities as black women. "Brown Girl Dreaming Study Guide." Teachers and parents! Not only will Jacqueline be moving to the North, but she will also have a slightly different role in the family; the title of the poem suggests that Jacqueline connects the two changes. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Woodson writes, "They say a colored person can do well going [to the City]./ All you need is the fare out of Greenville./ All you need is to know somebody on the other side,/ waiting to cross you over./ Like the River Jordan/ and then you're in Paradise" (93). Racial violence inserts itself again into Jacquelines life when the family finds out that the high school that Mama attended as a teenager was burned down in retaliation for Civil Rights protests. Jacqueline's grandfather smokes a lot of cigarettes. Teachers and parents! One of the most interesting allusions the author includes is in the form of a simile in the poem "the leavers" (93). As Odella reads aloud, Jacqueline is so overcome by her excitement that she leans in towards her sister, showing how the words attract her. We are not thieves or shameful / or something to be hidden away / we're just people. Mother leaves for a long weekend visit to New York City. Likewise, the news of Mamas pregnancy marks a big change in Jacquelines life. Like with the list of her weekly schedule, the intensity and strictness of Jacquelines routine is daunting. We assign a color and icon like this one. The children sit on the porch, shivering because winter is coming, and talk about how they'll come back to Greenville in the summer and do everything the same. He sings a song as he walks slowly down the road, and Jacqueline wonders whether her aunt Kay can hear it calling to her in New York. Woodson shows how, despite Gunnars higher status in his workplace, race still negatively impacts him at his job. If someone had taken that book out of my hand said, Youre too old for this maybe Id never have believed that someone who looked like me could be in the pages of the book that someone who looked like me had a story. Part II: the stories of south carolina run like rivers, Part III: followed the sky's mirrored constellation to freedom, Read the Study Guide for Brown Girl Dreaming, View the lesson plan for Brown Girl Dreaming. How each new story Im told becomes a thing that happens, in some other way to me! However, the fabric store stands out because the shop owner treats Jacqueline's grandmother like just another good person looking to buy material, which we as readers know is the truth. Jacqueline's grandmother would only visit a few stores in her town because in many others they were followed around as if they were going to steal something or not served at all because of their race. This poem suggests the complicated relationship between race and language use. The familys pull between the North and South causes Hope pain and discomfort. This quote also shows how Jacqueline's character; even as a young child, she was thoughtful, practical, and full of hope. As Jacqueline and her siblings move from place to placestarting in Ohio, then moving to South Carolina, then to New York City with trips back to the South in the summertheir accents and vocabularies change. It also affirms the sense of belonging Jacqueline has come to feel with her grandparents in South Carolina, as she describes being enveloped in their love as being wrapped in a blanket. Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming. Jacqueline, though comforted to be back with her mother, clearly worries about the impending move. Jacqueline and her siblings run to him. This makes Jacquelines evangelizing come across as ironic at her grandmothers urging, Jacqueline walks around town trying to convert people, despite the fact that she shows little faith in the religion she peddles. Later in the memoir, when Woodson describes the tone of the Black Power movement, the reader can contrast these two senses of social justice. Jacqueline and Odella are scared. These bookmarks can be don Mother sends home brown dolls from New York and writes about all the beauty and wonder of the city. When mother leaves, grandmother begins making the children Jehovah's Witnesses like her. Page 64: The South doesn't agree with my brother. There are many themes you can consider. Not only will she change by the next time she returns to South Carolina, but eventually she will not even see South Carolina as her home, which is evidence of her changing relationship to the place over time. Grandmother suddenly switches from talking about living in an integrated, equal country to a story about Jacqueline's mother. Woodson shows the reader how difficult and straining daywork is, and how much daywork pains Georgiana both physically and emotionally. At night, she reads the Bible to herself, and in the morning she tells the children Bible stories. This statement conveys her belief that what she is sharing is real to her and that her intention is not to lie, but rather to expand her world beyond the walls in which she lives. Course Hero, "Brown Girl Dreaming Study Guide," December 20, 2019, accessed March 1, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Brown-Girl-Dreaming/. Through this, Woodson shows naming to be a politically significant act, and self-naming to be an important aspect of self-possession and liberation. Though Georgianas reason for keeping the children apart is ambiguous, it seems to be out of some kind of elitism. It is at this moment she realizes the power of being able to write down the thoughts in her head. Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Here, Woodson shows Jacqueline successfully comforting her grandfather in his illness by distracting him with stories of her own invention, which marks her progress as a storyteller over the course of the book. Woodson also shows how racial injustice is embedded into even the most pleasant and unremarkable moments of the childrens lives. The dog could be a figure for violent protest (think of police dogs in Birmingham turned on Civil Rights protestors), while kittens may represent nonviolent action. At the fabric store, were just people. Jacqueline Woodson, Part 2, Section 1. "Brown Girl Dreaming Quotes and Analysis". Jackie Woodson. Refine any search. In a moment of humorous parallel, Jacqueline thinks that she wants to "send it back to wherever/ babies live before they get here" (138), just like Hope wanted to do when Jacqueline came home from the hospital, saying "Take her back. On Sunday afternoons when they are made to play inside, Cora and her sisters play on their swing set, teasing them. They sit quietly with him and answer his questions about New York City. Theyre just words, I whisper. "When there are many worldsyou can choose the oneyou walk into each day.". You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. Perhaps the most important to Jacqueline is Gunnar Irby, who the children call Daddy though he is actually their grandfather. This is the only time in the story that corporal punishment is inflicted on a child in the story, and it has a clear impact on all of the children even though Hope is the only one physically affected. Making up what I didnt understand or missed when voices dropped too low, I talk until my sister and brothers soft breaths tell me theyve fallen asleep. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. What Jacqueline misses while thinking about this is her sister reading that her mother is having another baby. When Jacqueline and her siblings ask their mother how long they'll be staying in South Carolina, she tells them "for a while" (46) or to stop asking. Jacqueline startles awake to the sound of her grandfather coughing late at night. Jacqueline asks "Will the words end" (62) and Odella assures her they won't. It is Jacquelines own wild imagination, which so often comforts her, that leads her to believe Coras superstition in this instance. explain how it develops over the course of a text. Gunnars garden marks the change in the seasons as fall arrives and the vegetables are picked. He died, I say, in a car wreck or Hes coming soon if my sisters nearby she shakes her head. The Civil Rights Movement continues to feature prominently in the childrens lives, as it is frequently discussed and explained by adults. Better Essays. Jacqueline says that the children "don't know to be sad" (79) the first time their mother goes to New York because they are beneath a blanket of their grandparents' love. To Jackie, words are the most important thing in the world, they are the thing that ties everything else together. They call him Daddy because it is what their mother calls him, and he calls them his children. Jacqueline struggles with the idea of her role in the family changing, which challenges her identity as the youngest child. PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. When she comes home from work, the children fight over who will get to rub her feet as they soak in a bath of Epsom salts. When they ask her how she was able to do this, this statement is her response. Page 28: In return, they hold onto their color, even as the snow begins to fall. Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Jacqueline Woodson, If You Come Softly. Mother arrives late at night and the children wake up to hug her. More books than SparkNotes. One morning, grandfather is too sick to walk to the bus to take him to work. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. I am born on a Tuesday at University Hospital Columbus, Ohio, USA a country caught between Black and White. Jacqueline's grandmother tells the children that people have been marching since her own children were young. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Brown-Girl-Dreaming/. Jacqueline's mother is not strongly religious, but when she leaves the three children with her parents and begins to spend long stretches in New York City, Hope, Odella, and Jacqueline are forced to become Jehovah's Witnesses. Born in 1963, she spent her . Brown Girl Dreaming takes place during a crucial time in African American history. At night, Hope, Dell, and Jacqueline listen to their grandmother talking to whatever neighbor comes by. Grandma Irby says this in response to her grandchildren wondering why she still rides in the back of the bus, even though she does not. Course Hero. Jacqueline's sister explains the word "eternity" (130), and Jacqueline thinks about how things that are bad won't last forever and good things can last a long time. Odella teases Hope for his name, saying it is a girl name and might be a mistake, even though they both know he is named for their grandfather. After deciding to divorce her husband . Our, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Brown Girl Dreaming: Part 2 Summary & Analysis Next Part 3 Themes and Colors Key Summary Analysis our names. "Saturday night smells of biscuits and burning hair". Odella and Jacqueline wear ribbons in their hair every day except Saturday, when they wash and iron them. Woodson highlights the way that, despite equal job responsibilities in the workplace, social and geographic segregation is rampant in the South. Georgianas belief that everyone dreams of living in a free, equal country connects racial justice with the very foundations of American political thought, showing how the same ideals white Americans valorize are incompatible with a racially segregated society. Quotes and Analysis Summary And Analysis Part I: i am born Part II: the stories of south carolina run like rivers Part III: followed the sky's mirrored constellation to freedom Part IV: deep in my heart, i do believe Part V: ready to change the world Symbols, Allegory and Motifs Metaphors and Similes Irony Imagery The American Civil Rights Movement Daddy's garden is bountiful, colorful, and ready to harvest. Crossing the Jordan River into Paradise or the Promised Land is specifically referenced in the book of Joshua. Woodson seems to be implying that the expectation that protestors should endure such degradation and violence without ever reacting is difficult, and perhaps unfair.
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