Response to "Brownies"

ZZ Packer’s “Brownies” is a short story about the prejudices of race and the affect it has on people in the world. This story is under the topic “Conflict.” I could understand this for multiple reasons: there is conflict in the story (a very evident one, and smaller ones) and there is an underlying race issue observed. I guess I was a bit confused to begin with because I thought that our stories were not supposed to have an underlying “bigger issue.” However, I realize this is a real author with a true writing career- she can do what she wants. The most realistic aspect of the story, to me, were the little girls’ plots and attitudes. Little girls by nature are MEAN- greedy, coniving, and make fun of other girls. My favorite part of the whole story was the end. Finally, Daphne speaks, which leads to Laurel finally speaking. Upon being able to say the story of her father and the Mennonites aloud,  the main character comes to a realization- one she does not like. She “suddenly knew there was something mean in the world that [she] could not stop.” The final lines of this story grabbed me, even more so than the fact that Laurel’s girl scout troup bullied a learning disabled girl scout troop. The line “When you’ve been made to feel bad for so long, you jump at the chance to do it to others” perfectly describes the Black troop’s animosity for the White one. Although this line is said about the father/Mennonite story, the real application of this realization is to the hurtful actions toward the White troop. I think the main character finally understands this through the explanation of the story and feels even more down about the situation than she did before. This realization shows character growth for the main character. However, the background characters did not grow, just like “Sea Oak.” However, one could probably argue that Daphne grew, or perhaps she was just nice and quiet to begin with. She was respectful and cleaned up the troop’s bathroom, so her character might have stayed the same, too.