Acclaimed author Renee Watson offers a powerful story about a girl striving for success in a world that too often seems like it's trying to break her.
Jade believes she must get out of her poor neighborhood if she's ever going to succeed. Her mother tells her to take advantage of every opportunity that comes her way. And Jade has: every day she rides the bus away from her friends and to the private school where she feels like an outsider, but where she has plenty of opportunities. But some opportunities she doesn't really welcome, like an invitation to join Women to Women, a mentorship program for "at-risk" girls. Just because her mentor is black and graduated from the same high school doesn't mean she understands where Jade is coming from. She's tired of being singled out as someone who needs help, someone people want to fix. Jade wants to speak, to create, to express her joys and sorrows, her pain and her hope. Maybe there are some things she could show other women about understanding the world and finding ways to be real, to make a difference.
https://www.amazon.com/Piecing-Me-Together-Ren%C3%A9e-Watson/dp/1681191059
I have answered that questions below as my response.
ReplyDeleteIdentity and Socioeconomic Status
1. How do we know that Jade is considered poor or “low income?” I think they way in which she talks about her neighborhood and the compares her old school with the new one.
2. Are there certain people with whom Jade can be transparent about money? Mostly Sam is whom she feels most close to about sharing money woes as well as her mother.
If she chose to reveal the truth of her situation with others, how might she share it? What might be the impact of her honesty on those relationships? Great questions. I would speculate that if she did, knowing kids today, they would embrace her until the financial gap became too obvious such as going o a class trip or other financially heavy event or activity.
3. How does the gap between Jade’s experience and that of more affluent people distance her from them? It is more the affluent people that would be distancing themselves from her, not vice versa.
4. How does it make it possible for her to be aware of things they can’t see? Financial struggle forces people to be more careful with finances and innovative in order to survive.
Identity and Race
1. When does Jade experience herself as “too black” or check her behavior so she won’t be seen that way? I'm not sure.
2. Are there times Jade might experience herself as “not black enough”? How might that impact her relationships and her feelings about herself? This comes into play mostly when she is dealing with family.
3. Do you agree that “white people can handle black sadness better than black anger”? Why? Yes, because people can be more compassionate towards other who are sad, buy react defensively when others demonstrate anger.
4. Break down Jade’s experience at the mall store. What does it feel like for Jade to see that she’s being mistreated and to be sure that it’s because of race, but to have Sam and the other shoppers ignore, deny, or explain it away, to tell her she didn’t actually experience what she experienced? How could everyone have acted differently? Her experience is a universal one, unfortunately. I wish she had stood up for herself more strongly and tried to explain to her friend how she felt and help her friend recognize the racism right in front of her.
Identity and Gender
1. Do the Dairy Queen boys know Jade? I don't think they knew her. Why do the boys feel they can rank girls and comment on their bodies? This is is a pretty typical dynamic among young men. They do it because it is encouraged in our culture in order to be considered masculine and not gay. How do their comments affect Jade’s belief that she is both plus sized and beautiful? I was surprised one young man went to say hello, which bolstered her ego a bit.
2. Do girls comment on boys’ bodies and looks? Is it different? If so, how? These days they definitely do, but it not typically expressed publically.
3. What are people saying when they tell Jade she has a pretty face, when they pick out just one part of her body to compliment? She realizes that her weight is something that doesn't appeal to everyone.
4. Why does Jade talk about black women being shot in the same breath as talking about her own body? I do not recall this part of the novel.
7. Who do you compare your body to? What do you think that says about your self-perception? I typically compare my body to other guys at the gym and wish for better abs. LOL