Identify- “‘Go on Laurel,’ Daphne said… ‘What happened next?'” These are some of the only words that are spoken by Daphne throughout the entirety of ZZ Packer’s short story “Brownies.” In the first paragraph of page 29, Daphne encourages her fellow girl scout, Laurel, to continue telling her story about her father and herself at the mall after she is told to “shut up” by one of the other Brownie scouts.
Contextualize- Throughout the story, the reader follows the Brownie troops through their mischief during their time at Camp Crescendo. In the story, we see the development of several characters through the lens of a girl named Laurel, or “Snot,” as she is referred to by the other girls. Laurel is a quiet girl who follows the other girls around but gets squeamish when they start to get into trouble. One of the girls she follows is named Octavia. She is the loud and outgoing leader of the Brownies who tends to speak before she thinks. The story crescendos around the tension between the Brownie Troops and Troop 909, who are the white girls and allegedly called Daphne the N-word. In the last few pages, leading up to the section that I chose to identify, the Brownie troops are on the bus on their way home from camp. They were talking and gossiping loudly together as Laurel and Daphne sat quietly together before Laurel tried to join the conversation.
Claim- I claim that Daphne’s voice is the loudest out of the entire Brownie troop. By this I mean that she has the most influence and impact on the Brownie girl’s opinions and actions.
Explicate- When Daphne speaks, it is the first time in the story where all the girls seem to be confident in their actions. When the girls talk about their plans to ambush Troop 909 in the bathroom, they argue with each other. But when Daphne definitively speaks, no one argues. The second piece of evidence is that everything that the girls do previously in the story seems to be done “for Daphne,” or done to get back for her, despite her seeming indifference to the situation. The girls always ask her opinion on situations, but she never gives an answer further than a shrug. The reason that I think Daphne’s words have so much force and influence is because they have an economy. When someone talks a lot, especially in a group setting, I tend to care less about what they are saying. I wonder more about those people who are quiet: what do they have to say about the situation? I think the Brownie girls were wondering the same thing about Daphne.
4 Comments