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Identity Formation in Brown Girl, Brownstones - Online Essay

Identity Formation in Brown Girl, Brownstones

Identity Formation

Paule Marshall’s Brown Girl, Brownstones is a coming-of-age story about a young 2nd generation Caribbean-American girl by the name of Selina Boyce. Throughout the story, Marshall guides us through Selina’s internal and external struggle determine her true ethnic identity. On one hand she is inherently Caribbean because her parents are both Barbadian immigrants, but she’s also American because she was born in the United States. Second generation immigrant children constantly face this struggle between accepting this new American identity, and perhaps leaving behind their Caribbean side, or embracing their Caribbean side and moving away from the pressures of being ...

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that is rarely, if ever, solved.
We first meet young Selina Boyce, a 10 year old girl, giving an imaginary tour around her house to a group of white people. Upon meeting her we get a first glimpse at what she, and most other Caribbean-Americans at some point feel about their identity. Marshall states,
As Selina entered, the chandelier which held the sunlight frozen in its prisms rushed at her, and the mirror flung her back at herself. The mood was broken. The gown dropped from her limp hands. The illusory figures fled and she was only herself again… That was all she was. She did not belong here. She was something vulgar in a holy place.
In this excerpt, a lot is revealed to us about Selina’s struggle with finding her place in white, American society. She wants to fit the phenotypical description of an American, but as she realizes when she encounters the mirror, she can only do this in the confines of her home. In the words of W.E.B DuBois’s essay on “Double ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 5/6/2011 11:17:21 AM
Submitted By: boonet
Category: Book Reports
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 677
Pages: 3

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