Brown girl dreaming. Theme and didactics

Task A)

Literary analysis of the main theme of Brown girl dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming is a book, written by Jacqueline Woodson. The book is a memoir about her childhood, written as a series of poems in free verse. She has stated that she choose verse because memory is episodic (National Foundation, 2006). Additionally, she uses personal-narration (Gamble, 2013). This is a tool, which the author use to bring the reader closer to the character and the events. Firstly, the reader gets to observe her parents fight. Secondly, the reader gets to experience everyday moral dilemmas for the discriminated Afro-Americans. Thirdly, the reader also gains access to the thoughts of Jaqueline. She was born and raised during the Afro-American liberation, and many sequences of the book arguably point towards liberation as the one of the most visiable themes.

“..I do not know if these hands will become Malcolm's – raised and fisted or Martin`s – open and asking or Jame`s – curled around a pen. I do not know if these hands will be Rosa`s or Ruby`s gently gloved and fiercely folded calmly in a lap, on a desk, around a book, ready to change the world.” (Woodson, 2014, p.15).

In this quotation (Woodson, 2014) is the thought of a six-year-old Jacqueline, who does not know where life will take her. She is aware of the famous people, whom everybody speaks. This quotation displays how effective free verse can be. Without using a whole lot of words, (Woodson, 2014) reminds the reader what Malcolm x and Martin Luther King jr are famous for. This is also an example of how the reader has been given access to the mind of Jacqueline. This quotation is found early in the text (), which more than indicates Afro-American liberation as a theme.

"Her mouth a small lipsticked dash, her back sharp as line, DO NOT CROSS! COLORED TO THE BACK! Step off the curb if a white person comes towards you. My apologies. Her eyes straight ahead, my mother is miles away from here…” ”We are as good as anybody, she whispers. Good as anybody” (Woodson, 20014, p.38).

This is another interesting quotation. Her mother put on her lipstick and acts polite to white people. I am not entirely sure, whether the sign is exaggerated or from a real life experience. However, I think the sign works as intended. I can imagine the reader thinking “wow, I have no idea the discrimination was that bad”. Still it is attention-grabbing that Jacqueline's mother acts one way to the white people, and tells the children afterwards that all people are just the same. Why is the mother acting like this? My first thought was that the mother had given up the fight against social injustice. After discussing this with fellow students in class, I have come to realise that this might be an expression of how the elders fought injustice. Instead of using violence and demonstration, they encourage the youth to become critical thinkers. After all, a mother`s main responsibility is to care for her children. The best way for Mary Ann to provide for her children is to stay out of trouble and encourage her children to have a mind of their own.

Given my analysis of the two quotes, I think it is evident that the Afro-American liberation is being portrayed throughout the book. However, the liberation is portrayed through Jacqueline's eyes, and the book is, after all, a memoir. Therefore, it I would argue that childhood is the main theme, but Afro-American liberation one of the main sub-ordinated themes of the book. To conclude, I would like to point out some other subordinated themes such as family affairs, ethical dilemmas, and different ethnic perspectives on the issues (ex. Grandfather, Daddy, Miss Bell, Mary Ann, Grandmother). From my point of view, the second quotation describes an ethical dilemma and family affairs because the reader experiences the mother's reaction to injustice.

How can I use Brown girl dreaming in a teaching situation?

As a teacher, I look upon this book as an excellent opportunity to working on the oral skills, history, and multicultural dimensions. I could use the reader`s theatre as the main activity. It is a group activity, which will also challenge and improve the pupil`s social skills. The reader`s theatre is about reading a script out loud. There are no need to memorize the script, as the audience have their eyes closed, or sits with the back towards the group. Reader’s theatre may also involve dramatization. From my point of view chapters or even a small paragraph from Brown girl dreaming is suitable to readers theatre.

Reader’s theatre may also engage the pupils in critical discussion. A discussion that can lead to a reduction in prejudice. (Banks & Banks, 2012) describe the reduction of prejudice as the fourth dimension of multicultural education. While working with reader`s theatre, I will encourage the pupils to live through the eyes of Jacqueline. So that the pupils can view concepts, issues, events, and themes from the perspectives of diverse ethnic and cultural groups. If some groups need an extra challenge, I will encourage them to change between different perspectives. In other words, encourage the pupils to also act out the grandfather`s perspective.

Before using Brown girl dreaming of creating a teaching scheme, it is important to take into the account the length and the free verse style. I believe in using chunks from the book. For the reason, that reading the whole book is going to take a lot of time and energy. Especially, if I am to teach in primary school. I would also like to point out that this book is very applicable to teach interdisciplinary. There are multiple themes such as ethics, history and family affairs. Such themes can be unified with subjects as social science, religion, and science. Free verse is also an interesting writing style. Maybe I could investigate the properties with the pupils. With this in mind, I believe the book can be of great usage.

Nevertheless, in order to prepare the pupils for the class, for homework, they need to do an information search about the author. What is her story, and what other books has she written? If my class holds 20 pupils, I would divide the pupils into four or five groups. The groups will be assigned with different tasks to do as preparation. For instance, finding out who Kennedy, Luther King or Malcolm x were, or writing down their presumptions about the book, theme, or Afro-American liberation. In the end of the class, I want the pupils to evaluate the activity, hopefully, I can engage them into reassessing their previous assumptions. Transforming assumptions belong to as a transformative approach by (Banks & Banks, 2012).

Resources

Banks, J. A., & Banks, C. M. (2012). Multicultural Education; Issues and Perspectives. Wiley.

Gamble, N. (2013). Exploring Children`s Literature; Reading with Pleasure and Purpose. New Dehli: SAGE.

Munden, J., & Myhre, A. (2015). Twinkle Twinkle. Oslo: Cappelen Damm.

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown girl dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books.

Foundation, N. B. (2016, 03 22). http://www.nationalbook.org/. Retrieved from 2014 National Book Award Winner, Young People's Literatur: http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014_ypl_woodson.html#.VvFRMfnhDSE