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| Plot Summary of Black Girl White Girl |
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"At the age of eighteen, Minette Swift, an African American student from D.C. heads to Schuyler College in Pennsylvania. At the age of nineteen Minette is mysteriously killed in a fire on campus. It is now 1986 in the story and her college roommate Genna Hewett-Meade is consumed by the tragedy and the secrets associated with Minette's brutal death. The daughter of a minister and a merit scholar Minette was standoffish and prickly during her freshman year. Her roommate Genna was raised in an elite family, her father Max being a civil rights attorney and her ancestors founders of the college. Max is thrilled that his daughter has an African American roommate and encourages his daughter to develop a friendship with Minette. Although Genna tries to reach out to Minette, Minette remains aloof and unfriendly. When a series of racial incidents begin to Minette, life at Schuyler becomes steeped in hostility and accusations of racism. When Minette's dorm window is broken, her school books are destroyed and racial epithets are left for Minette, Minette retreats even further into her solitary world.
Things get out of control when the nigger is written on Minette's dorm room door. Although Genna knows that Minette wrote the racial slur herself, she can't bring herself to turn her roommate in. Unable to bear the racism and ostracism from the Schuyler students, Minette moves out of the door to live on her own, devastating Genna, who feels as if she failed Minette. As Minette's life spirals out of control, culminating in her untimely death, Genna is forced to examine the roommate she barely knew, the racist incidents and her mysterious death. Although Joyce Carol Oates is a masterful storyteller, this book doesn't live up to its premise. The characters are stilted and lifeless; stereotypes abound in this portrayal of black and white."
Sandra Calhoune, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Black Girl White Girl |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1980's-1999
Political/social activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- minorities fighting for rights
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Gender
- Female
Profession/status:
- student
Age:
- a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 6 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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