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Theme 1: Identity and Race
Prompt for Writing: Discuss how the characters in the texts grapple with their racial identities in contexts that challenge their self-perception and societal expectations.
Say I’m Dead: A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love – E. Dolores Johnson
As a little girl, I first became aware of the way race and identity shaped our lives during a family trip to the park. We were just passing through the park on a leisurely walk when a white mother hastily encircled her children to prevent them from coming near us. Her gaze was one of disgust, a silent message that we were not welcome. My mother tried to maintain a semblance of normalcy, but I felt the weight of her sadness and the societal rejection we collectively faced. Even though our family had been together for years, both black and white worlds seemed to reject us because of my parents’ marriage.
These incidents seeped into the way I saw myself, my identity constantly probed and questioned by others. My racial ambiguity called into question who I was, where I belonged, and what my family represented to the outside world. My mother, a white woman who chose to live a life entwined with black culture, faced her own challenges. Her whiteness was constantly contested by blacks and whites alike. Her life was not defined by the typical privileges associated with her skin color but by the struggle and love that came with her family choices.
It left me with a continual sense of not fitting in. I questioned my space in society, often feeling like I had to assert my identity as black despite my mixed heritage. The fact that my white mother was part of our black family didn’t erase the biases and stereotypes. For years, it was as if my blackness was under constant scrutiny and negotiation within and outside my household. But I was determined to explore all facets of my identity, not just the parts visible to society, and break free of the imposed limitations.
(Chapter 3)
Long Division – Kiese Laymon
LaVander Peeler and I navigated a world where our identities were picked apart by others. In Mississippi, I was often labeled as the “White Homeless Fat Homosexual,” a jumble of epithets in stark conflict with the identity I claimed for myself. On the national stage at the Can You Use That Word in a Sentence competition, I faced the crushing weight of racial stereotypes. The pressure came not only from society but from fellow competitors who used race as a tool of intimidation and hierarchy.
The contest felt rigged, a spectacle designed to placate the consciences of white observers who wished to seem progressive by allowing black contestants to win. My journey to understand my place in this contest and, by extension, in society, was reflective of the larger struggle of African American identity in a racially stratified world. In a society eager to label and contain me, it required a new approach to understanding who I was, beyond the words used to describe me and the competitions I entered.
As LaVander and I navigated these spaces, I questioned what winning truly meant. Was it a victory for me or merely appeasement for the white people watching? The complexities of identity won’t be resolved through competitions or placating performances but through the honest assessment of self-worth, which transcends the oppressive definitions thrust upon us by external forces.
(Book One, pages 32 – 37)
Analyze what these sets of 3-paragraph excerpts from each text about identity and race have in common and how they might be different.
Theme 2: Family Dynamics and Secrets
Prompt for Writing: Examine how family secrets reveal the complexities of identity and belonging in the narratives, and how they affect each character’s understanding of themselves and their place within the family structure.
Say I’m Dead: A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love – E. Dolores Johnson
My family history felt like it was always under wraps. When I first began to unravel the mysteries, I discovered hidden truths that brought new meaning to my understanding of who we were. There was the revelation about my father’s previous marriage that was never spoken of in our household. And then there was the matter of my unspoken white heritage—my mother’s family, whom she never talked about. As I got older, it became clear these whispers of the past had shaped, even controlled, our family dynamics.
I discovered how my grandmother’s white relatives had vanished from our lives when I was a young girl. My mother’s choices and the silence about them had left much unexplored territory in our family’s story. She had severed ties with her family, so they presumed her dead. This secret haunted our family, lingering silently yet powerful in its implications. I had always viewed my identity through the lens of my father’s race and culture, yet the truth about my mother’s past hung like a shadow over my perception of self.
It wasn’t until I unearthed these secrets and confronted my mother that I began piecing together the fragments of who I was. Understanding that my mother left her white family for love and fear of racial persecution led me to question how various pieces of my identity meshed into the persona I presented to the world. It was a journey not just of self-discovery but one of resilience, of creating a life forged from the complexities and layers of racially charged history.
(Chapter 3)
Long Division – Kiese Laymon
Family and expectations play an enormous role in our lives, echoing the pressures of identity and societal roles. In preparation for the National Can You Use That Word in a Sentence competition, LaVander Peeler’s father was relentless, instilling a sense of superiority and drive within his son, making it clear this contest was more significant than individual accomplishment. The father’s expectations were steeped in a legacy of what it meant to live—and to win—as a black boy against a backdrop promising failure.
LaVander Sr. wanted his son to embody an unyielding symbol of excellence, one that defied the constraints of what white society expected from black boys from Mississippi. The irony was that these high expectations only mirrored yet perpetuated the struggle against being reduced to a stereotype or statistic, much like the systemic biases the contest subtly represented. There was an implicit family secret in their household, one of bearing burdens and ambitions passed on through generations.
In the green room at the Coliseum, the weight of familial expectations dawned on me and LaVander Peeler. It was a realization that this contest didn’t just test our diction and agility with words, but it also challenged the fabric of who we were or would become. It brought to the foreground an existing tension between familial aspirations and the authenticity of our self-realization as individuals. This was an intricate dance with our family expectations, secrets buried beneath ambitions, layered against the biases of the stage.
(Book One, pages 21 – 31)
Analyze what these sets of 3-paragraph excerpts from each text about family dynamics and secrets have in common and how they might be different.
Theme 3: Societal Expectations and Personal Challenges
Prompt for Writing: Reflect on how the individual character’s struggles against societal expectations define their journeys and determine their personal growth within the stories.
Say I’m Dead: A Family Memoir of Race, Secrets, and Love – E. Dolores Johnson
From an early age, my life was cross-hatched by racial expectations imposed both internally and externally. Society saw my family as an anomaly, our existence an affront to the simplicity of categories they wanted us to fit into. As I grew, the juxtaposition of my identity against the views of the outside world cultivated a resilience within me. The emotional scars of having my family’s identity constantly questioned became the impetus for my journey to acceptance and understanding.
My professional life was no different. As a black woman in a predominantly white corporate America, the expectations were suffocatingly clear. I needed to conform, yet somehow stand out, all while representing my race and gender. The unspoken but palpable tension between being authentically black and projecting a facade to succeed in a white-dominated environment amplified the struggle. It demanded courage to navigate these waters without losing myself.
Through years of code-switching and conforming, I started realizing the toll it exacted on my mental well-being. Success should not lead to the erasure of one’s essence but should serve as a stage where your unmitigated self can shine amidst societal expectations. The resilience to push through each roadblock eventually carved the path for a nuanced acceptance of my complexity, defined not just by what society expected but what I chose to be.
(Chapter 4)
Long Division – Kiese Laymon
At each turn, the expectation to fulfill a role weighed heavily on my shoulders. Growing up in a society where being a black boy from Mississippi already carved out the narrative deemed “acceptable” by society, refusing to fit into that narrative was my quiet rebellion. Publicly, I was tasked with proving to the world and myself that I was more than these imposed descriptions. Attending the national contest was supposed to be my proof—a testament to my capabilities and an opportunity to pivot away from imposed narratives.
LaVander Peeler and I faced a stage designed to celebrate diversity while maintaining control through limiting expectations. It was challenging to grasp the double bind presented by societal praise paired with the underlying dehumanization. My challenge was not just personal excellence but how to hold steadfast to my identity in the face of detraction, scrutiny, and expectation—the voices telling me I was not enough, yet sometimes too much.
In pursuit of my dreams, I learned the painful yet liberating truth—escaping the traps set by societal expectations didn’t occur in a public arena but within oneself. Unraveling these challenges helped fortify my understanding of self, challenging these narratives courtesy of oppressive societal dynamics. Success required navigating a series of transformations while renegotiating what it meant to achieve within my identity framework—who I chose to be versus who society envisioned.
(Book One, pages 32 – 37)
Analyze what these sets of 3-paragraph excerpts from each text about societal expectations and personal challenges have in common and how they might be different.
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