Think back to our discussion of theme in class. In your opinion, what is a major theme in this story? Use specific examples and quotes to support your argument.
I think one of the main themes in Brownies is pride. The girls all want to teach the white girls a lesson for what they called Daphne. Even though these girls are pretty young they already have been treated badly and feel like they should stand up to the white girls. I also think that throughout the story there are mentions about when Laurel and her friends have been stared at or teased by white kids.These kids have exposed to some racist things and have developed their own ideas about how black and whites should act. For example when they say that they have never been close enough to the white girls at the camp to tell whether their faces are like the faces of the white girls on TV; "pony-tailed and full of energy, bubbling over with love and money". That's a complex thing for forth graders to say, also their joke about being so "caucasian" shows that they have certain ideas about how whites behave. It's interesting to see their reactions to the racist things they are exposed to.
"we cant let them get away with calling us niggers I say we teach them a lesson" (pg 29 brownies).
The main theme in the book is dignity. I think dignity is a symbol because they all banded together to show they weren't afraid to stand up to the older girls.
the Brownies soon got ready to sow there dignity by saying jeering words toward the other troop. Like,"were gonna teach you a lesson". but when they charged in ready to fight they troop girls claimed it was an accident that one of their girls had a problem and repeated everything she hears.
dignity may be a good thing to have if you know when to use it.
I think that the main theme is racism is the major theme here. I think that because in the beginning of the short story all the black girls make fun of the white girls because they are a different from them. The exact words of the story is: the girls in my brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in brownie troop 909. Troop 909 was doomed from the first day of camp; they were white girls. the way the author used the word white girls it told me that there was some major racism going on. Also a another thing that let me know that there was racism going on was the fact that Arrnetta was the one cracking on the white girls and trying to make everyone laugh when it was not really funny. I also thought that louisa was right as well because for a lot of white girls to come into a black community they are going to get made fun of because their white and it was in a time when racism was strong.
i think that racism and courage or pride are all symbols the girls in the book are proud and courageous. though they are both proud and courageous there is still a huge theme of racism as donyaeh said. the black girls were making fun of the black girls and how that one black girl was trying to make everyone laugh when it wasn't funny. i think that these girls need to spend sometime with different people.
I think the main theme of brownies was racism. The children had never been close to white girls before but knew about the racism and the way black people had been treated. They had never been able to tell if white girls were the same as on tv. The girls knew about the way people were treated and abused this knowledge to get into a fight with the first white girls they were near. The first moment of understanding expressed in the story is when one of the girls say "nobody calls us nigger." I think this showes that the girls are not willing to give in to racism and will fight back. The girls used the word caucasion as a term of disrespect throught the book and this proved that their ideas were not, in my oppinion, fully formed. the only thing their actions proved was that they wanted to get back at the white people rather than try to get along.
I think a couple of themes that are portrayed in "brownies" are racism, curiosity, and peer pressure/leadership. The brownie troop that Laurel belongs to consists of African American girls. They are not exposed to whites allot, and as Laurel said it is easy for them to forget about the other race. But when Troop 909, a group of white girls, comes to the camp it becomes clear that there are issues of racism between the two troops.
It is never actually proven that the child calls Daphne a "nigger," but regardless of whether she did or not the girls jump at the chance to prove that they will not stand for these insults. Laurel's troop plans an ambush on the white girls and when accused the claim that she just repeats everything she hears.
I thought that it was interesting that the girls thought that the girls were retarded because even though nothing was wrong with their mental state because of their lack of exposure to white girls the jumped to that conclusion. I also saw that Arnetta and Octavia were the supposed "leaders" of the troop. Octavia seems to have gained her post because of the length of their hair, and Arnetta comes of as a bossy character. Peer pressure appears when they are going to attack troop 909 and they are in the dark forrest. Most girls are scared but the continue on because it was Arnetta's idea, regardless of their own fears, just taking the necessary steps because everyone else was doing it as well.
It is my interpretation that the major theme in “Brownies” by ZZ Packer is ignorance, for the girls had no actual encounter with racism though it is very much present in their lives and in their community. They “ had never actually seen a baby pigeon”. Even their use of the term “Caucasian” is loosely based on gossip which has incorporated itself into their understanding of the world. Indeed Laurel seemed deeply engrossed in such speculations their he understanding of her world or as expressed in the story “the rain in her heart”
1.Note that the “rain in her heart” is not entirely a direct quote from Brownies but has been modified from Daphne’s poem in order to prove the point of ignorance.
I think a major theme in Brownies is toughness. Octavia was very into fighting the other brownie troop, because someone said said that Daphne was called the "N word" by one of the girls frm that troop. They were planning how they were going to fight them. Some people did not want to fight like laurel. She was told she would also get in trouble with them no matter what happened so she went.
i think one of the major themes in Brownies is race.its almost like throughout the story, there are a set of rules of what you have to do if you're black or white. When Arnetta asks Daphne if she heard the name she'd been called. " Daphne shrugged her shoulders at first, then slowly nodded her head when Arnetta gave her a hard look."(page 29) Its almost like that Arnetta expects Daphne to have a bigger, and more angry response. later on the page, Arnetta basically responds for Daphne, in a frustrated way. Also, the narrator says that seeing white people in the suburbs of Atlanta is "like those baby pigeons: real and existing, but rarely seen or thought about." Its like nobody really expects to see white people in the suburbs of Atlanta, and it should be that way. Its strange that there can be rules that are established throughout communities that arent made by the law, but are kind of expected to be followed.
"Some of our girls are echolalic--" She smiled and happily presented one of the girls hanging on to her, but the girl widened her eyes in horror, and violently withdrew herself from the center of attention, sensing she was being sacrificed from the village sins." (p.41)
The major theme of this story is that you shouldn’t get revenge on a class of people; you should get revenge on a person. Snot’s voice is impartial, but she hints at her judgment about what’s going on. You get the feeling that Snot believes Octavia and Arnetta are “bullies”.
The same thing happens with Snot’s father. He uses the kind white people to get revenge on the white people who were cruel to him. Snot’s father understands the concept of revenge a little bit more than the little girls do and has suffered a lot more than the girls have, but he is still wrong to be mean to the people who are kind to him. The girls treat the “mentally delayed” girls the same way Snot's father treats the Mennonites. In both cases, the innocent are punished in retaliation for the racism of others.
Hating the word "nigger" is completely natural for the black man, as is the hatred of whites. Over the centuries and in recent time whites have committed so many unforgivable atrocities against blacks. Yet, in this story, they show two examples of whites that do not deserve to be hated. This conflict has gone on for so long that it is hard for African-Americans to know who their enemies are. When one race is hated as much as the black people have been hated then it is almost impossible for that class of persons to ever forgive the people that caused so much pain and death to their race. Black people only started to know and forgive white people when some schools were integrated. Before that they only saw each other occasionally--in summer camps and on T.V. So, they carry all of the stereotypes that the fake world has shown them about each other, in addition to all the stereotypes that emerge historically.
Race is a main and recurring theme in "Brownies". The whole story is based on race, and there are many different pieces of the story that touch upon race. One part, was the school joke that everything not done well, or not cool was called "caucasian". There was also the whole of troop 909 which was what most of the story was about, and was about race. There was also the story about the Mennonites at the end of "Brownies" and how they painted her porch. The last story about the Mennonites seemed to have summed up many of the themes that the author was trying to get across. It was a realization point for Laurel, she realized what was wrong about the whole situation, and seemed to have a better understanding of the world around her and race, in just that one moment.
I say that power is the binding theme in this story. Prejudice is a big example of power throughout the story, initially the power struggle between blacks and whites. One example is that everyone at Woodrow Wilson Elementary uses “Caucasian” as an insult, even the only white kid. It also shows the power of adults over kids when Mrs. Margolin says “Oh. They will apologize” after they had threatened troop 909. Some examples of power among the troop itself are Arnetta and Octavia. They are the popularity leaders of the troop within the members. Another example is when Octavia says “Oh shut up Snot” to Laurel, Daphne however said “Go on Laurel”, even after everyone else had been calling her “Snot”. This shows the power that one person has to make a difference. It seems that who has power over whom defines the nature of relationships.
I think one of the themes of this story is pride because they got together and wanted to mke themselves stronger and stand up for themselves. They wanted to get payback because someone called Daphne the n word. Even though they are still young, they stood up for themselves and made an image of themselves while doing so.
I think that main themes in “Brownies” would be racism and satisfaction.
"We can’t let them get away with calling us niggers I say we teach them a lesson" (pg 29 Brownies). In this quote from the book, said by Arnetta, is talking about these white girls thinking they are the best out of everyone else and calling black people names so Arnetta is saying lets do something about this and so the girls teach want to teach the white girls a lesson for calling Daphne a name, even though it wasn’t proven in the story. Together they show the white girls that they are not afraid of these white girls. To show that they aren’t afraid, they call the other troop taunting words and were ready to fight with the white girls but they apologized for what they have said. They are not exposed to white people a lot and Laurel said it is simple for them to be forgetful about an additional race. At the time a group of white girls, Troop 909, attends camp and shows there faces around, it becomes obvious that there are and will be problems of racism among the two troops.
I think the major theme of this book is not knowing. The narrator always wonders how the white girls act or if they like what she sees on the television. Another major theme is racism. The girls in troop 909 are always trying to figure out ways to something to the white girls. They only do this because they don't know about the white girls and are afraid of them.
A main theme in Brownies is racism. Racism is a broadly used word in describing Brownies. The specific reason for racism is the way the narrator's troop was treated. They apparently know what the n-word means as they take drastic action against the Troop 909. The narrator's troop sets out against the other troop due to accusation of Daphne being called the n-word. This is taken as a racial insult as the n-word actually means a worthless slave. her parents must have taught them about slavery as they decide to take action. The racism is also supported by the fact that the accused girls were "delayed learners." During the time during segregation, slow children were classified as burdens and regarded and treated like African American children. In return the story has the Troop 909 going to the African American camp. This is supported by the name Brownies (the racial skin color of most African Americans) and that the beginning said "Troop 909 was doomed from the [start] of camp; they were white girls." This infers that the narrator's troop was not the only African American troop there.
The main theme in the story Brownies is curiosity and ignorance. The girls in Snot’s troop are not even sure of what the white girls look like. Theses girls are exposed to some rough social problems and racism. When so young it’s hard to understand racism and why certain people are racist it’s even hard to understand when you’re an adult. Snot’s troop wants to teach the white girls a lesson, but from my point if view it seems like they’re not even sure if the white girls called Daphne the “n” word and that’s when I think the ignorance trotted into the picture. Their Caucasian jokes were also ignorant and childish, not to mention that they didn’t make sense. Troop 909 should be punished and lectured if they did call Daphne names. For fourth graders it’s acceptable or expected to call one another names like stupid face, but even that’s pushing the limit. The “n” word is really not okay.
A major theme in the story "brownies" is as many people said, racism. For these girls, the color of their skil controls their life. The concept of race shows up countless times. There is lots of racism toward troop 909. "we cant let them get away with calling us niggers I say we teach them a lesson" (pg 29 brownies)." This quote shows that there is lots of discrimination and also the fact the the white girls are refered to as "white girls". Just this is a sign that there are conflicts due to race because the girls are categorized into groups of race or ethnic background. It also shows the racial separation within the girls. Besides the fact that there is racial discrimination, there is also a line drawn due to what race you are and it is obvious that ones race is considered when dealing with that person. An example of this in my own life is in my saturday religion class. This morning was my first day of religious instruction. There are about 60 students separated between four classes and 57 of those 60 students are latino or hispanic. There is one white kid in my class who the other students call white boy. this name is not just a joke but it is used as a derogatory remark. Just the fact that they call him white boy shows that separation between the races as in "Brownies."
I think one of the main themes in Brownies is power because Laurels brownie troop was always trying to get some kind of power over the white girls brownie troop. I think they did that because in society, at the time, white people had a power of them. I think the story Brownies show a kind of sad hunger between races to be better than one another and picking problems and fights out of something that might have been heard. For an example on page 29, "Daphne? Didn't you hear them call you a nigger?" Arnetta asked, giving Daphne a nudge... We can't let them get away with that," Arnetta said, dropping her voice to a laryngitic whisper. "We can't let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach then a lesson."
I think the major theme in "Brownies" is unconscious ignorance. The reason I say this is because of the whole race scenarios that play out in the story. Supposedly a white girl called Daphne a "nigger" and the white girls will pay for what they have said. But I am led to believe/obliged to believe the opposite because of earlier examples of ignorance. The whole "fad" of calling something "caucasian" as a term rooting from a derogatory nature is just as ignorant as calling something "gay" from a derogatory nature. I feel that this shows up in the beginning of the story to show that these little girls are, little girls and they are not intellectuals and don't know what is necessarily racist. I am not saying they are not exposed to racist and prejudice things, but they do not know what to separate from the bad. Pablo
I think one of the many themes in this short story is togetherness/friendship. In the whole story the Brownie troops stayed together for the whole problem with the white girl who called Daphne, the n word. The n word really drained Daphne emotionally, and the Brownies cabin wanted to help her and talk to these white girls, because Daphne is their friend. They had seen racism before, but at camp, it was not a good thing, because they were spending part of their summer there. Im pretty sure that most kids couldn't stand up for their friends like that, but these girls have bonded and will help eachother.
i think that a major theme is race and skin color, it seems like the white girls didn't do anything wrong but these kids had obviously been treated pretty poorly i thier life because they were living in the heart of rasism. i thought that it wasn't that they were trying to get back at the white girls but that they were trying to take revenge on the white community using the only targets they could find.
I think a big theme in the story Brownies is racism and pride. One of the girls in the book claimed that one of the white girls called a girl in their all black troop a nigger, which you find out later was probably not true. I think that she just felt like she was being oppressed for some reason and she wanted someone to blame for it. So she got the whole troop to protect her pride and planned to beat up the white girls. They found out that the girls were "slow" so they did not beat them up. Instead they started to make fun of them. At the end of the story the main character finally realized this " I now understood what he meant, and why he did it, thought I didn't like it. When you've been made to feel so bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others. I remember the Mennonites bending the way Daphne was bending when she was cleaning the restroom... suddenly I knew there was something mean in the world that I could not stop".
I think one of the major themes is the absence of knowledge. The majority of the girls had no idea whether or not anyone called anyone the "N word" or not but because the leader of their group said so, so they teamed up with her any ways, but the person who was supposedly called the "N word" didn't make it clear that she heard it. When they finally confronted troop 909 they didn't know they had some mental defects until the leader of their troop told them. The whole argument was started because all of the brownies in Laurel's pageant didn't want to be seen as wimpy and scared and but wanted impress Octavia.
I think hatred is one of the themes in Brownies. I think this because some parts in the book there's some sense of tension and hatred between the Brownies and troop 909. For example the quote I gave at the top. Or at the beginning of the book when the narrator is describing how their complexion is light and blends of ice cream: strawberry, Vanilla. And describing their sleeping bags and what kinds of disney characters are pasted on it. Those 2 examples that I just gave also can relate to another theme which is jealousy.
"We can't let them get away with that". "I say we teach them a lesson." Arnetta said. (pg. 29)
This quote shows The Brownies Determination. Determination is another big theme in this story. It shows The Brownies determination and that they're never going to let go of this until they get what they want.
I think that a main theme is revenge. Revenge comes up in two scenarios in the story “brownies”. Laurel’s troop believed that troop 909 called Daphne a nigger, and their first instinct is to get revenge by going and beating the other troop up. They felt anger towards troop 909 for something that wasn’t clarified. They simply assumed that troop 909 had racially offended Daphne because Arnetta, a dominant leader in laurel’s troop, had said so. But as it turns out, laurel’s brownie group had been so blinded with revenge that they left no room for any explanations. Another time where revenge comes into the story is when Laurel is explaining about the Mennonites. Especially to the part where she explains that the man and his family were painting her porch while her dad simply sat there and watched. “When you’ve been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others.” I think this quotes represents the true feelings one had about revenge and how strong one’s hunger for equality can truly be.
I agree with Donyaeh, Ian and Whoever else said racism was the theme. I mean the whole being teased by white kids and standing up to the white girls is driven by racism and rage. I think that the calling people niggers is also driven by racism. The standing up part is more of a rage and revenge thing which i think are 2 other mini subjects. I also agree with nicholas that ignrance is also a theme, but racism is the biggest part of the story... --Brandon
i think one one of the main theme's in brownies is pride. The idea of some white girls that use princess sleeping bags beating them are too much for their troop so they deciede to "teach them a lesson" before they could even have a chance. I don't think that the other troop actually called Daphne a name, it seems more of an excuse to bully them and show them that they are the ones in charge. If it wasn't for the fact that Daphne was such a quiet person and she doesn't exactly speak up for herself, I don't think the whole situation wold have happened. If Arnetta hadn't pushed her to say something, I doubt she would have said anything. I also think that the girls are jealous of troup 909. they have money and i dont know how much any of the rest of the girls have, but i know that daphene is a poor girl.
I think the major themes in Brownies are racism and as Mayo said, power. Racism because the the African American girls are want to teach the white girls a lesson for calling Daphne the N word. Also the girls talk about the white girls and call them names having to do with their race. Power, because the Afro-Amer. girls want to show to the white girls that they have more power then the white girls and that they are stronger.
Some of the major themes in Brownies was racism, aggression, and pride. Racism was one of the main themes to this story because the story line was built around it and it was the main reasons for why the groups fought a lot of the time. The troops being separate by names like Brownies & Caucasians really adds on to their problems because they begin to think that their titles hold who they are and their standing in life. In these groups they hold pride and aggression. Pride because they believe in each other and themselves. They have aggression because if one of the girls felt violated the whole group would have to stand up for that one person and show that they aren't fearful of their opponent.
Naturally, there is a negative response to hateful words such as “nigger”. A main theme in “Brownies” is Pride and satisfaction. The theme pride shows when Snot’s Troop set off to pursue Troop 909 for supposedly wronging one of their own. Then there is the short-lived satisfaction from confronting a few of Troop 909’s members. Though it is somewhat hypocritical considering the past racial comments made by Snot’s peers.
I think racism, self respect, and dignity are major themes in brownies. -Racism is a theme because the girls in Brownie Troop think that troop 909 is being racist and calling them mean names. It is has to do with racism also because the black girls were making fun of the white girls and calling them "Caucasion Chihuahuas."(pg 26) I think the black girls think that the white girls are racist and don't like black people but they really have no problem. I think they are expecting the white girls to dislike them.
"We can't let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach them a lesson."(29) This sentence shows dignity and self-respect. Dignity is like a sense of pride in yourself. The black girls are basically saying we can't let the white girls get away with disrespecting us. They are working together as a people to teach the white girls that disrespecting them is wrong. Self-respect is like confidence in yourself and the black girls are being confident in themselves with not letting anybody getting away with impudence. Like KJ said, dignity is good thing to have if you know how to use it. The way the girls want to show dignity should not be by harming others.
Racism is definetely a theme in this book. Like starting in the beggining of the story if you did certain this you were Caucasion. Even when a girl had called a black girl a nigger shows how mean these girls can actually be sometimes. I think in personal opinion that also these girls weren't the most responsible but they knew what they were doing and some of the were the wrong thing. Yes, the girls were courageous but for example, when the black girls were called niggers, one of the black girls were ready to go and fight the other. I agree with Emmett's last statement.
I think the major theme of this story was racism but a sub theme is peer pressure. There was all the hate in the racism part from one trop being black and the other being white and the whites were "slow learners." There was the part about Snots dad asking the Mennonites to do work for them and didn't say thank you. As Snot told the story she realized that "when you've been made to feel bad for so long you jump at the chance to do it to others." This quote is saying black people have been hated on for so long that when they get an opportunity to hate back they will jump right on it. There was also the peer pressure with Arnetta convincing the whole group that one of the white campers called one of the black campers a "nigger". She picked Daphne, the quietest camper, as the one who supposedly was called "nigger". In truth that never happened but the silent girl nodded her head because of peer pressure even though she knew that didn't happen. The others knew that didn't happen, too, they just went along with Arnetta, the leader. They created a chance to hate for all the years they've been hated on. -James
I think that the theme for Brownies was growing up and racism, also how this affected people even though slavery was down. Most of the black girls didn't like the white kids and would talk bad about them. But I think this is because of the history of blacks and whites together. When the kids are talking about the shampoo commercials and how they were jealous of their hair and the girl with long hair got more respect then some of the other girls.And when the dad ask the white guy to paint he's porch and didn't say thank you. This showed Laurel that all of this teasing was not a joke and was a big deal.
I think the main theme in the story was diffrence between african american and white.
"We can't let them get away with that," Arnetta said, dropping her voice to a laryngitic whisper. "We can't let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach them a lesson." (p.29. Brownies.)
They want to teach trop 909 girls a lesson for calling Dephne a nigger. Even though it's clear that they didn't. Just that it is Arnetta that is telling it, makes you wonder. Beacuse she certanily does not like them. As you would notice in the start of the reading. I do not quite understand why she would lie about that.
39 comments:
I think one of the main themes in Brownies is pride. The girls all want to teach the white girls a lesson for what they called Daphne. Even though these girls are pretty young they already have been treated badly and feel like they should stand up to the white girls. I also think that throughout the story there are mentions about when Laurel and her friends have been stared at or teased by white kids.These kids have exposed to some racist things and have developed their own ideas about how black and whites should act. For example when they say that they have never been close enough to the white girls at the camp to tell whether their faces are like the faces of the white girls on TV; "pony-tailed and full of energy, bubbling over with love and money". That's a complex thing for forth graders to say, also their joke about being so "caucasian" shows that they have certain ideas about how whites behave. It's interesting to see their reactions to the racist things they are exposed to.
"we cant let them get away with calling us niggers I say we teach them a lesson" (pg 29 brownies).
The main theme in the book is dignity. I think dignity is a symbol because they all banded together to show they weren't afraid to stand up to the older girls.
the Brownies soon got ready to sow there dignity by saying jeering words toward the other troop. Like,"were gonna teach you a lesson". but when they charged in ready to fight they troop girls claimed it was an accident that one of their girls had a problem and repeated everything she hears.
dignity may be a good thing to have if you know when to use it.
I think that the main theme is racism is the major theme here. I think that because in the beginning of the short story all the black girls make fun of the white girls because they are a different from them. The exact words of the story is: the girls in my brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in brownie troop 909. Troop 909 was doomed from the first day of camp; they were white girls. the way the author used the word white girls it told me that there was some major racism going on. Also a another thing that let me know that there was racism going on was the fact that Arrnetta was the one cracking on the white girls and trying to make everyone laugh when it was not really funny. I also thought that louisa was right as well because for a lot of white girls to come into a black community they are going to get made fun of because their white and it was in a time when racism was strong.
i think that racism and courage or pride are all symbols the girls in the book are proud and courageous. though they are both proud and courageous there is still a huge theme of racism as donyaeh said. the black girls were making fun of the black girls and how that one black girl was trying to make everyone laugh when it wasn't funny. i think that these girls need to spend sometime with different people.
I think the main theme of brownies was racism. The children had never been close to white girls before but knew about the racism and the way black people had been treated. They had never been able to tell if white girls were the same as on tv. The girls knew about the way people were treated and abused this knowledge to get into a fight with the first white girls they were near. The first moment of understanding expressed in the story is when one of the girls say "nobody calls us nigger." I think this showes that the girls are not willing to give in to racism and will fight back. The girls used the word caucasion as a term of disrespect throught the book and this proved that their ideas were not, in my oppinion, fully formed. the only thing their actions proved was that they wanted to get back at the white people rather than try to get along.
I think a couple of themes that are portrayed in "brownies" are racism, curiosity, and peer pressure/leadership. The brownie troop that Laurel belongs to consists of African American girls. They are not exposed to whites allot, and as Laurel said it is easy for them to forget about the other race. But when Troop 909, a group of white girls, comes to the camp it becomes clear that there are issues of racism between the two troops.
It is never actually proven that the child calls Daphne a "nigger," but regardless of whether she did or not the girls jump at the chance to prove that they will not stand for these insults. Laurel's troop plans an ambush on the white girls and when accused the claim that she just repeats everything she hears.
I thought that it was interesting that the girls thought that the girls were retarded because even though nothing was wrong with their mental state because of their lack of exposure to white girls the jumped to that conclusion. I also saw that Arnetta and Octavia were the supposed "leaders" of the troop. Octavia seems to have gained her post because of the length of their hair, and Arnetta comes of as a bossy character. Peer pressure appears when they are going to attack troop 909 and they are in the dark forrest. Most girls are scared but the continue on because it was Arnetta's idea, regardless of their own fears, just taking the necessary steps because everyone else was doing it as well.
It is my interpretation that the major theme in “Brownies” by ZZ Packer is ignorance, for the girls had no actual encounter with racism though it is very much present in their lives and in their community. They “ had never actually seen a baby pigeon”. Even their use of the term “Caucasian” is loosely based on gossip which has incorporated itself into their understanding of the world. Indeed Laurel seemed deeply engrossed in such speculations their he understanding of her world or as expressed in the story “the rain in her heart”
1.Note that the “rain in her heart” is not entirely a direct quote from Brownies but has been modified from Daphne’s poem in order to prove the point of ignorance.
I think a major theme in Brownies is toughness. Octavia was very into fighting the other brownie troop, because someone said said that Daphne was called the "N word" by one of the girls frm that troop. They were planning how they were going to fight them. Some people did not want to fight like laurel. She was told she would also get in trouble with them no matter what happened so she went.
i think one of the major themes in Brownies is race.its almost like throughout the story, there are a set of rules of what you have to do if you're black or white. When Arnetta asks Daphne if she heard the name she'd been called. " Daphne shrugged her shoulders at first, then slowly nodded her head when Arnetta gave her a hard look."(page 29) Its almost like that Arnetta expects Daphne to have a bigger, and more angry response. later on the page, Arnetta basically responds for Daphne, in a frustrated way. Also, the narrator says that seeing white people in the suburbs of Atlanta is "like those baby pigeons: real and existing, but rarely seen or thought about." Its like nobody really expects to see white people in the suburbs of Atlanta, and it should be that way. Its strange that there can be rules that are established throughout communities that arent made by the law, but are kind of expected to be followed.
"Some of our girls are echolalic--" She smiled and happily presented one of the girls hanging on to her, but the girl widened her eyes in horror, and violently withdrew herself from the center of attention, sensing she was being sacrificed from the village sins." (p.41)
The major theme of this story is that you shouldn’t get revenge on a class of people; you should get revenge on a person. Snot’s voice is impartial, but she hints at her judgment about what’s going on. You get the feeling that Snot believes Octavia and Arnetta are “bullies”.
The same thing happens with Snot’s father. He uses the kind white people to get revenge on the white people who were cruel to him. Snot’s father understands the concept of revenge a little bit more than the little girls do and has suffered a lot more than the girls have, but he is still wrong to be mean to the people who are kind to him. The girls treat the “mentally delayed” girls the same way Snot's father treats the Mennonites. In both cases, the innocent are punished in retaliation for the racism of others.
Hating the word "nigger" is completely natural for the black man, as is the hatred of whites. Over the centuries and in recent time whites have committed so many unforgivable atrocities against blacks. Yet, in this story, they show two examples of whites that do not deserve to be hated. This conflict has gone on for so long that it is hard for African-Americans to know who their enemies are. When one race is hated as much as the black people have been hated then it is almost impossible for that class of persons to ever forgive the people that caused so much pain and death to their race.
Black people only started to know and forgive white people when some schools were integrated. Before that they only saw each other occasionally--in summer camps and on T.V. So, they carry all of the stereotypes that the fake world has shown them about each other, in addition to all the stereotypes that emerge historically.
Race is a main and recurring theme in "Brownies". The whole story is based on race, and there are many different pieces of the story that touch upon race. One part, was the school joke that everything not done well, or not cool was called "caucasian". There was also the whole of troop 909 which was what most of the story was about, and was about race. There was also the story about the Mennonites at the end of "Brownies" and how they painted her porch. The last story about the Mennonites seemed to have summed up many of the themes that the author was trying to get across. It was a realization point for Laurel, she realized what was wrong about the whole situation, and seemed to have a better understanding of the world around her and race, in just that one moment.
I say that power is the binding theme in this story. Prejudice is a big example of power throughout the story, initially the power struggle between blacks and whites. One example is that everyone at Woodrow Wilson Elementary uses “Caucasian” as an insult, even the only white kid. It also shows the power of adults over kids when Mrs. Margolin says “Oh. They will apologize” after they had threatened troop 909. Some examples of power among the troop itself are Arnetta and Octavia. They are the popularity leaders of the troop within the members. Another example is when Octavia says “Oh shut up Snot” to Laurel, Daphne however said “Go on Laurel”, even after everyone else had been calling her “Snot”. This shows the power that one person has to make a difference. It seems that who has power over whom defines the nature of relationships.
I think one of the themes of this story is pride because they got together and wanted to mke themselves stronger and stand up for themselves. They wanted to get payback because someone called Daphne the n word. Even though they are still young, they stood up for themselves and made an image of themselves while doing so.
I think that main themes in “Brownies” would be racism and satisfaction.
"We can’t let them get away with calling us niggers I say we teach them a lesson" (pg 29 Brownies).
In this quote from the book, said by Arnetta, is talking about these white girls thinking they are the best out of everyone else and calling black people names so Arnetta is saying lets do something about this and so the girls teach want to teach the white girls a lesson for calling Daphne a name, even though it wasn’t proven in the story. Together they show the white girls that they are not afraid of these white girls. To show that they aren’t afraid, they call the other troop taunting words and were ready to fight with the white girls but they apologized for what they have said. They are not exposed to white people a lot and Laurel said it is simple for them to be forgetful about an additional race. At the time a group of white girls, Troop 909, attends camp and shows there faces around, it becomes obvious that there are and will be problems of racism among the two troops.
-Brianna<3
I think the major theme of this book is not knowing. The narrator always wonders how the white girls act or if they like what she sees on the television. Another major theme is racism. The girls in troop 909 are always trying to figure out ways to something to the white girls. They only do this because they don't know about the white girls and are afraid of them.
A main theme in Brownies is racism. Racism is a broadly used word in describing Brownies. The specific reason for racism is the way the narrator's troop was treated. They apparently know what the n-word means as they take drastic action against the Troop 909. The narrator's troop sets out against the other troop due to accusation of Daphne being called the n-word. This is taken as a racial insult as the n-word actually means a worthless slave. her parents must have taught them about slavery as they decide to take action. The racism is also supported by the fact that the accused girls were "delayed learners." During the time during segregation, slow children were classified as burdens and regarded and treated like African American children. In return the story has the Troop 909 going to the African American camp. This is supported by the name Brownies (the racial skin color of most African Americans) and that the beginning said "Troop 909 was doomed from the [start] of camp; they were white girls." This infers that the narrator's troop was not the only African American troop there.
The main theme in the story Brownies is curiosity and ignorance. The girls in Snot’s troop are not even sure of what the white girls look like. Theses girls are exposed to some rough social problems and racism. When so young it’s hard to understand racism and why certain people are racist it’s even hard to understand when you’re an adult. Snot’s troop wants to teach the white girls a lesson, but from my point if view it seems like they’re not even sure if the white girls called Daphne the “n” word and that’s when I think the ignorance trotted into the picture. Their Caucasian jokes were also ignorant and childish, not to mention that they didn’t make sense. Troop 909 should be punished and lectured if they did call Daphne names. For fourth graders it’s acceptable or expected to call one another names like stupid face, but even that’s pushing the limit. The “n” word is really not okay.
A major theme in the story "brownies" is as many people said, racism. For these girls, the color of their skil controls their life. The concept of race shows up countless times. There is lots of racism toward troop 909. "we cant let them get away with calling us niggers I say we teach them a lesson" (pg 29 brownies)." This quote shows that there is lots of discrimination and also the fact the the white girls are refered to as "white girls". Just this is a sign that there are conflicts due to race because the girls are categorized into groups of race or ethnic background. It also shows the racial separation within the girls. Besides the fact that there is racial discrimination, there is also a line drawn due to what race you are and it is obvious that ones race is considered when dealing with that person. An example of this in my own life is in my saturday religion class. This morning was my first day of religious instruction. There are about 60 students separated between four classes and 57 of those 60 students are latino or hispanic. There is one white kid in my class who the other students call white boy. this name is not just a joke but it is used as a derogatory remark. Just the fact that they call him white boy shows that separation between the races as in "Brownies."
I think one of the main themes in Brownies is power because Laurels brownie troop was always trying to get some kind of power over the white girls brownie troop. I think they did that because in society, at the time, white people had a power of them. I think the story Brownies show a kind of sad hunger between races to be better than one another and picking problems and fights out of something that might have been heard. For an example on page 29, "Daphne? Didn't you hear them call you a nigger?" Arnetta asked, giving Daphne a nudge... We can't let them get away with that," Arnetta said, dropping her voice to a laryngitic whisper. "We can't let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach then a lesson."
I think the major theme in "Brownies" is unconscious ignorance. The reason I say this is because of the whole race scenarios that play out in the story. Supposedly a white girl called Daphne a "nigger" and the white girls will pay for what they have said. But I am led to believe/obliged to believe the opposite because of earlier examples of ignorance. The whole "fad" of calling something "caucasian" as a term rooting from a derogatory nature is just as ignorant as calling something "gay" from a derogatory nature. I feel that this shows up in the beginning of the story to show that these little girls are, little girls and they are not intellectuals and don't know what is necessarily racist. I am not saying they are not exposed to racist and prejudice things, but they do not know what to separate from the bad.
Pablo
I think one of the many themes in this short story is togetherness/friendship. In the whole story the Brownie troops stayed together for the whole problem with the white girl who called Daphne, the n word. The n word really drained Daphne emotionally, and the Brownies cabin wanted to help her and talk to these white girls, because Daphne is their friend. They had seen racism before, but at camp, it was not a good thing, because they were spending part of their summer there. Im pretty sure that most kids couldn't stand up for their friends like that, but these girls have bonded and will help eachother.
i think that a major theme is race and skin color, it seems like the white girls didn't do anything wrong but these kids had obviously been treated pretty poorly i thier life because they were living in the heart of rasism. i thought that it wasn't that they were trying to get back at the white girls but that they were trying to take revenge on the white community using the only targets they could find.
I think a big theme in the story Brownies is racism and pride. One of the girls in the book claimed that one of the white girls called a girl in their all black troop a nigger, which you find out later was probably not true. I think that she just felt like she was being oppressed for some reason and she wanted someone to blame for it. So she got the whole troop to protect her pride and planned to beat up the white girls. They found out that the girls were "slow" so they did not beat them up. Instead they started to make fun of them. At the end of the story the main character finally realized this " I now understood what he meant, and why he did it, thought I didn't like it. When you've been made to feel so bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others. I remember the Mennonites bending the way Daphne was bending when she was cleaning the restroom... suddenly I knew there was something mean in the world that I could not stop".
I think one of the major themes is the absence of knowledge. The majority of the girls had no idea whether or not anyone called anyone the "N word" or not but because the leader of their group said so, so they teamed up with her any ways, but the person who was supposedly called the "N word" didn't make it clear that she heard it. When they finally confronted troop 909 they didn't know they had some mental defects until the leader of their troop told them. The whole argument was started because all of the brownies in Laurel's pageant didn't want to be seen as wimpy and scared and but wanted impress Octavia.
"Caucasian Chihuahuas" Arnetta said. (pg. 26)
I think hatred is one of the themes in Brownies. I think this because some parts in the book there's some sense of tension and hatred between the Brownies and troop 909. For example the quote I gave at the top. Or at the beginning of the book when the narrator is describing how their complexion is light and blends of ice cream: strawberry, Vanilla. And describing their sleeping bags and what kinds of disney characters are pasted on it. Those 2 examples that I just gave also can relate to another theme which is jealousy.
"We can't let them get away with that". "I say we teach them a lesson." Arnetta said. (pg. 29)
This quote shows The Brownies Determination. Determination is another big theme in this story. It shows The Brownies determination and that they're never going to let go of this until they get what they want.
I think that a main theme is revenge. Revenge comes up in two scenarios in the story “brownies”. Laurel’s troop believed that troop 909 called Daphne a nigger, and their first instinct is to get revenge by going and beating the other troop up. They felt anger towards troop 909 for something that wasn’t clarified. They simply assumed that troop 909 had racially offended Daphne because Arnetta, a dominant leader in laurel’s troop, had said so. But as it turns out, laurel’s brownie group had been so blinded with revenge that they left no room for any explanations. Another time where revenge comes into the story is when Laurel is explaining about the Mennonites. Especially to the part where she explains that the man and his family were painting her porch while her dad simply sat there and watched. “When you’ve been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others.” I think this quotes represents the true feelings one had about revenge and how strong one’s hunger for equality can truly be.
I agree with Donyaeh, Ian and Whoever else said racism was the theme. I mean the whole being teased by white kids and standing up to the white girls is driven by racism and rage. I think that the calling people niggers is also driven by racism. The standing up part is more of a rage and revenge thing which i think are 2 other mini subjects. I also agree with nicholas that ignrance is also a theme, but racism is the biggest part of the story...
--Brandon
i think one one of the main theme's in brownies is pride. The idea of some white girls that use princess sleeping bags beating them are too much for their troop so they deciede to "teach them a lesson" before they could even have a chance. I don't think that the other troop actually called Daphne a name, it seems more of an excuse to bully them and show them that they are the ones in charge. If it wasn't for the fact that Daphne was such a quiet person and she doesn't exactly speak up for herself, I don't think the whole situation wold have happened. If Arnetta hadn't pushed her to say something, I doubt she would have said anything. I also think that the girls are jealous of troup 909. they have money and i dont know how much any of the rest of the girls have, but i know that daphene is a poor girl.
I think the major themes in Brownies are racism and as Mayo said, power. Racism because the the African American girls are want to teach the white girls a lesson for calling Daphne the N word. Also the girls talk about the white girls and call them names having to do with their race. Power, because the Afro-Amer. girls want to show to the white girls that they have more power then the white girls and that they are stronger.
Some of the major themes in Brownies was racism, aggression, and pride. Racism was one of the main themes to this story because the story line was built around it and it was the main reasons for why the groups fought a lot of the time. The troops being separate by names like Brownies & Caucasians really adds on to their problems because they begin to think that their titles hold who they are and their standing in life. In these groups they hold pride and aggression. Pride because they believe in each other and themselves. They have aggression because if one of the girls felt violated the whole group would have to stand up for that one person and show that they aren't fearful of their opponent.
Naturally, there is a negative response to hateful words such as “nigger”. A main theme in “Brownies” is Pride and satisfaction. The theme pride shows when Snot’s Troop set off to pursue Troop 909 for supposedly wronging one of their own. Then there is the short-lived satisfaction from confronting a few of Troop 909’s members. Though it is somewhat hypocritical considering the past racial comments made by Snot’s peers.
I think racism, self respect, and dignity are major themes in brownies.
-Racism is a theme because the girls in Brownie Troop think that troop 909 is being racist and calling them mean names. It is has to do with racism also because the black girls were making fun of the white girls and calling them "Caucasion Chihuahuas."(pg 26) I think the black girls think that the white girls are racist and don't like black people but they really have no problem. I think they are expecting the white girls to dislike them.
"We can't let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach them a lesson."(29)
This sentence shows dignity and self-respect. Dignity is like a sense of pride in yourself. The black girls are basically saying we can't let the white girls get away with disrespecting us. They are working together as a people to teach the white girls that disrespecting them is wrong. Self-respect is like confidence in yourself and the black girls are being confident in themselves with not letting anybody getting away with impudence.
Like KJ said, dignity is good thing to have if you know how to use it. The way the girls want to show dignity should not be by harming others.
Racism is definetely a theme in this book. Like starting in the beggining of the story if you did certain this you were Caucasion. Even when a girl had called a black girl a nigger shows how mean these girls can actually be sometimes. I think in personal opinion that also these girls weren't the most responsible but they knew what they were doing and some of the were the wrong thing. Yes, the
girls were courageous but for example, when the black girls were called niggers, one of the black girls were ready to go and fight the other. I agree with Emmett's last statement.
I think the major theme of this story was racism but a sub theme is peer pressure. There was all the hate in the racism part from one trop being black and the other being white and the whites were "slow learners." There was the part about Snots dad asking the Mennonites to do work for them and didn't say thank you. As Snot told the story she realized that "when you've been made to feel bad for so long you jump at the chance to do it to others." This quote is saying black people have been hated on for so long that when they get an opportunity to hate back they will jump right on it. There was also the peer pressure with Arnetta convincing the whole group that one of the white campers called one of the black campers a "nigger". She picked Daphne, the quietest camper, as the one who supposedly was called "nigger". In truth that never happened but the silent girl nodded her head because of peer pressure even though she knew that didn't happen. The others knew that didn't happen, too, they just went along with Arnetta, the leader. They created a chance to hate for all the years they've been hated on.
-James
I think that the theme for Brownies was growing up and racism, also how this affected people even though slavery was down. Most of the black girls didn't like the white kids and would talk bad about them. But I think this is because of the history of blacks and whites together. When the kids are talking about the shampoo commercials and how they were jealous of their hair and the girl with long hair got more respect then some of the other girls.And when the dad ask the white guy to paint he's porch and didn't say thank you. This showed Laurel that all of this teasing was not a joke and was a big deal.
I think the main theme in the story was diffrence between african american and white.
"We can't let them get away with that," Arnetta said, dropping her voice to a laryngitic whisper. "We can't let them get away with calling us niggers. I say we teach them a lesson."
(p.29. Brownies.)
They want to teach trop 909 girls a lesson for calling Dephne a nigger. Even though it's clear that they didn't. Just that it is Arnetta that is telling it, makes you wonder. Beacuse she certanily does not like them. As you would notice in the start of the reading. I do not quite understand why she would lie about that.
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