Nina Godridge's Review

I'm back for another for another segment of this is what I read and this is my review. I actually enjoy this part of the class for I can be completely myself, but let's get to the real juicy stuff. This weekend we got to read Raymond Carver's " Cathedrals" and ZZ Packer's "Brownies."
" Brownies" takes place during a camping trip for girls and boys of different race. This plays a key role in the story as many issues arise with racism. First off, " The word took off from there, and soon everything was Caucasian. If you ate too fast you ate like a Caucasian, if you ate too slow you ate like a Caucasian." (415) The word gets a completely different definition, and these characters, who are clearly not even in there teens, are going about saying slang like this. I understand there is no cultural appropriation taught at this age, but it was offensive. When the word "nigger" came involved I started to grow concerned for the piece. The character Arnetta said she heard a Troop 909 say the word towards Daphne, and wanting to make a point across that no one can say the word, Arnetta decides they should a be taught a lesson. I was caught up in the choice to talk to the girls in secret in the bathroom, completely ambushed, and not knowing what to do the 909 Troops stand paralyzed in fear. When the counselors get involved that's when Snot and her band of friends learn what they did, how they thought it was best to do it on there own and scare the girls, when they shouldn't have done it. It left me in a state of anger. I know this is a story, but I do think that no preteen should resolve in scaring little girls to teach them a lesson, especially girls with a learning disability.
" Cathedral" left another impression on me. Carver does a great job of giving background to the story, which is initially the visit of the Blind Man. I was caught up with the life of the wife before meeting Robert and now as husband and wife. Immediately I can tell Robert was an easily jealous man, but he didn't allow it to cloud his judgement of the Blind Man. He was more concerned with the actual blindness of the old friend. " My idea of blindness came the movies. In the movies, the blind man moved slowly and never laughed. Sometimes they were led by seeing-eye dogs. A blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to." (108) By the end Robert looks past it and tries something he never done before, describe a cathedral to a man who cannot see and draws a Cathedral, and for one moment he closes his eyes to feel himself in the blind man's position and understand what it means to be blind, this made me happy.