Theme Of Racism In Brownies

“Brownies” by ZZ Packer was a story focuses on the racial divide and prejudice between black and white girls in a brownie troop. Within the troop of black girls, Arnetta claims that she overheard a white girl say a racist remark which leads to her troop attempting to expose them; however, the plan failed. In the story, it states, “When you’ve been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others” (518). The quote implies that minorities will always hold a grudge towards white people, even though history is in the past. It also reveals why minorities may be disrespectful to them.

In addition to her saying that whites smell like wet Chihuahuas, she also made jokes about the word Caucasian. People often tease or make fun of things they don’t know or understand , Giving the fact that she is never around whites she just going off the things she is taught or seen. During their last encounter with troop 090, they realized that members of this group are mentally challenged and that some of the girls are Echolalic. In many cases children who uses racial terms or who are discriminative towards other learns it from their parents. I understand why Octavia and Armetta wanted to confront the girls for calling Daphne a nigger.

For instance, Arnetta, who the girls follow and give their attention to, gets away with saying and doing things because she listened “to Mrs.Margolin’s religious talk and [gave] her what she wanted to hear” when she asked questions (178). Mrs.Margolin was their troop leader who saw her position “as an evangelical post” (178). Arnetta had once gotten away with killing “the troop goldfish by feeding it” a french fry and claiming to Mrs.Margolin it had snatched the fry out of her fingers (178). She had also started the “Caucasian” joke, a month before camp, which was used when someone did anything wrong. For example, jumping off the swing midair and landing on knees instead of feet was followed by a “solemn horror Caucasian” (179).

The short story that we read by ZZ Packer, entitled “Brownies” discusses racism from the perspective of young African American girls who belong to a Girl Scout troop. The African American troop is separate from the Caucasian troop just like they are in society. The separation has created hatred and dislike by the girls. The African American girls used derogatory words “Wet Chihuahuas” and “Caucasian Chihuahuas and one of them accused the Caucasian troop of using the word “nigger”. This segregation impacted not only the children but also the adults.

The plot of the short story, “Brownies”, by ZZ Packer, is of a troop of young girl scouts who are of African American descent. The story depicts them attempting to brawl with another group due to the “brownie” troop assuming another called them a particular insult. Whether the other troop, Troop 909, in called the others a racial slur is left to ambiguity, although it is strongly suggested that they did not in fact refer to them in an invective manner. When the other troop is confronted about it, it is discovered that Troop 909 simply consisted of mentally disabled girls all in one group. Due to this, it is only fitting that the theme of the story was to indicate individuals with disadvantages in life should rejoice and unify rather than combat

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