The Short Story Brownie by ZZ Parker - Essay Example

The short story Brownie by ZZ Parker, is an excursion into the world of the black and people of color especially in the period after the civil rights movement and the repeal of Jim Crow laws but when race and color lines were still distinct, and integration had not yet been achieved. It is an attempt by Parker to walk us through the world of young black girls as they grew up surrounded by racial differences and the effects that racial prejudice had on the young girls outlook on life and their understanding of how the others lived. Parker paints the story of camping Brownies, yet to become girl scout, fighting imaginary racial prejudice from their Caucasian contemporaries in Troop 909, whom as the girls find out, are incapable of racial insults as the brownies accuse them of. This essay aims to evaluate to literary critiques of the short story by different authors in an attempt to further decode the nuances that underlie this short story and the significance of this story in the journey towards a more racially integrated society.

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According to Aitor Ibarrola-Armendiz in her essay, Short-Story Form and Diversity Management in ZZ Packers Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, the short story is an attempt to tell the story of African-American consciousness using an innocent young voice while detaching that voice from the usual archetypes that permeate stories by minority ethnic writers (Ibarrola-Armendiz 746). As the essay contends, Brownies is a moral tale that tells of the ironic and unexpected consequences of the sort of reverse racism that the girls in the Brownie troop find themselves guilty off by planning a racialized counter attack on perceived racists who turn out to be retarded (Ibarrola-Armendiz, 747). The essay, which critiques the entire collection in which Brownies was published observes that Ms. Packer was intent on fully developing each of the characters featured in her short stories in an attempt to make their views on issues have to context. In this regard, the stories that the young girls narrate towards the end of the story are meant to show the reader the template from which the girls process the other race and issues regarding the other race. According to the author, ZZ Packers story is an attempt to glimpse into the young girls attempt to process a world of racial prejudice that thy have hence been shielded from by the segregation that is spawned by that same prejudice which they are sure to grow into.

Emilio Cadanas Rodriguez, in his essay titled Orality and other southern aspects in ZZ Packers short stories, however, focuses on Packers narrative style of writing and its efficiency in getting the authors intended message across. According to the author, the most distinctive aspect of packers writing is the telling characteristic that she weaves into the story (Canadas "Orality and Other Southern Aspects in ZZ Packer's Short Stories"). The author contends that this writing style is unique and fresh and a break from the stories that emphasize the reader's connection with the text in reading. The essay suggests that ZZ Packers stories are meant to be told, rather than be read and that they carry a folklore aspect to them that enable the reader to see the world from the perspectives of the characters she creates (Canadas "Orality and Other Southern Aspects in ZZ Packer's Short Stories"). As exemplified in Brownies, the story is told from Laurels perspective, and this enables the audience to relate and empathize with the girls through the sad and almost depressing plot.

Works Cited

Canadas Rodriguez, Emilio. "Orality and Other Southern Aspects in ZZ Packer's Short Stories." Uvadoc.Uva. Es, 2017, http://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/17344.

Ibarrola-Armendiz, Aitor. "Short-Story Form and Diversity Management in ZZ PackerS Drinking Coffee Elsewhere." 2008, pp. 746-758.