Brown Girl Dreaming: Part 4 Summary & Analysis

In this poem, Woodson shows the reader how the conventions of storytelling frame Jacqueline’s point of view. When Jacqueline compares the “happy endings” of the stories that Odella reads to her with the “almost happy ending” that she experiences reuniting with Mama and Roman, the reader sees how markedly the complexity of Jacqueline’s life contrasts with the typical arc of a children’s story.

The title of this poem, “one place,” highlights the sense of internal division that Jacqueline feels when she is separated from her mother and brother. Despite her sense of being pulled between the North and the South, Jacqueline seems at peace here at last with her family together.

Until now, Jacqueline’s social circle (even in New York) has been mostly limited to English-speaking Southerners, but now she begins to learn Spanish from her new friend Maria. This is another instance when Woodson shows Jacqueline’s language skills expanding, evolving, and becoming richer.

Wishing recurs throughout the memoir as a concept that jogs Jacqueline’s imagination and her desire to tell stories.

When Mama say that Jacqueline walks like Jack, she suggests an alternative mode of memory that exists in the body rather than in language. Despite Jacqueline’s fading memory of her father, she evokes him every day in her gait.

Mama continues to enforce her strict behavioral rules, and, like with their religious restrictions, Jacqueline and her siblings continue to feel set apart from other children by the norms of their family.

As Jacqueline listens attentively to Mama’s story, the reader sees again how much she appreciates other people’s stories. It’s notable that when Woodson reproduces the scene of her younger self (Jacqueline) listening to her Mama’s story, she remembers such a fine level of detail from Mama’s descriptions—this speaks to Jacqueline’s close attention to her storytelling, even at this young age. Again, storytelling is a deep love of Jacqueline’s that allows her to access a past that either she doesn’t remember or wasn’t alive for.

This poem serves in part to show the budding friendship between Maria and Jacqueline. It also exemplifies cross-cultural, interracial exchange. This tender moment, which occurs between two children of color, models an acceptance and sociability between people of different races that the white people in the book so often fail to strive for. This moment also shows the subjectivity of Mama’s story in the preceding poem, since Maria and Jacqueline think she is a good cook.

Jacqueline continues to struggle with writing, which strengthens her preference for oral storytelling. She feels limited by written language in a way that she doesn’t when she speaks. Woodson shows the reader how Jacqueline’s language acquisition affects her storytelling capabilities.

In this poem, Woodson shows the reader how Jacqueline’s struggles with writing are not self-contained, and how her inability to express herself in writing affects her identity. Though she prefers to be called “Jacqueline,” she agrees to be called “Jackie,” since she does not want to admit she cannot write a cursive “q.” Her lack of control over her name due to her writing limitations shows how her struggle with writing prevents her from controlling her identity, as naming represents self-actualization at various points in the book.

Odella’s brilliance continues to make Jacqueline feel insecure, as she feels her teachers slowly realizing that she is not as academically talented as her sister. Jacqueline continues, as described in other poems, to struggle with reading and writing, two skills at which Odella excels. It is unclear whether the teachers genuinely dismiss Jacqueline as a student, or Jacqueline’s insecurity makes her feel that way.

In the end, Jacqueline adjusts her learning method to improve her reading and writing skills. Jacqueline, for whom orality has always been easy and interesting, learns to write by transcribing the lyrics of the music on the radio. Again, Jacqueline’s interest in music, melody, and rhythm are integral to her ability to grasp writing, which foreshadows her decision to write her memoir in verse. Though the music keeps Jacqueline’s interest and helps her to understand writing, it also triggers her imagination, which she has to put aside in order to continue to focus on learning to write.

In this poem, Woodson shows the reader Jacqueline’s continued literary development, as she identifies a specific writerly influence. Though Jacqueline has been learning storytelling from her family and the books Odella reads aloud, Robert Frost’s poem is the first time Jacqueline mentions a specific work that she finds moving.

Perhaps influenced by Robert Frost’s poem about a different variety of tree, Jacqueline’s imagination wanders under a neighborhood oak.

Jacqueline’s difference in learning style continues to be a problem as her teachers push her to read harder books faster. For Jacqueline, the pleasure in reading lies in committing the stories to memory, which highlights the relationship that Jacqueline cherishes between memory, writing, and storytelling.

In this poem, Woodson shows the reader the power of literary representation and the importance of diversity in literature. When Jacqueline finds a book about a boy who, like her, has dark skin, she becomes excited because it makes her realize that “someone like [her] has a story to tell.” For Jacqueline, this is an essential moment in her development, as it validates her as a storyteller. The existence of the book encourages her to find her own voice, despite the pervasive racism that makes people of color feel that their stories aren’t valuable. Woodson suggests here the importance of publishing and assigning diverse children’s books.

Though Jacqueline feels validated in her storytelling by the books she connects with, Jacqueline’s family continues to devalue her imagination and her desire to be a writer. Though they have the best intentions, their gentle suggestions that she become a lawyer or a teacher make Jacqueline doubt her ability to be a writer, thinking it is an impossible dream.

This poem shows how Gunnar continues to get sicker. Despite Jacqueline’s hope that their world in the South will not change, Gunnar’s phone call shows how life in Greenville is going on without them, emphasizing the distance between their lives in the North and the South.

Jacqueline, always drawn to music, is impressed by her brother’s singing. As Hope is typically so quiet, his performance is especially impressive. When Jacqueline thinks that in each person there’s “a small gift…waiting to be discovered,” she is perhaps also referring to her own storytelling inclinations.

Back in Greenville for the summer, Jacqueline notices changes to her home in the South. Some are good, and predictable: Roman is with them and the swing set is cemented down. Others, like Gunnar’s sickness, are upsetting. This poem shows how, despite Jacqueline’s wishes, her home in the South changed while she was in the North.

Jacqueline, who so often uses her storytelling to escape the troubles in her own life or ease her own discomfort, tells Gunnar stories on his sickbed. Storytelling, for Jacqueline, not only helps her express herself and control her own narrative, but it can also be used to comfort and heal others. Jacqueline puts to work many of the skills she’s learned in New York in this project, speaking Spanish and singing.

Even though legal segregation is over, the racial divides that plague Greenville are still in place. Georgiana’s decision to sit in the back of the bus in order to avoid conflict and derision shows how racial progress through legislation is limited in its efficacy. Although the legislative step of desegregation was essential, Woodson suggests here that, without changing the attitudes of people, it can only do so much. Unlike her grandmother, Jacqueline pledges to challenge the racist status quo.

When Georgiana tells Jacqueline about how she was not served at Woolworth’s because of her race, Jacqueline imagines the scene. She pictures Georgiana, who is so polished and upright in everything she does, respectfully waiting as the store employees ignore her out of racism and hate. Woodson seems to be suggesting that quietly and respectfully waiting for racial justice is not always effective, and she emphasizes the positive potential of Jacqueline’s vivid imagination.

Jacqueline and her siblings perform the same goodbyes they do every time they leave Greenville to return to New York, and once again Woodson shows how Jacqueline is caught between the South and the North. Gunnar’s sickness exacerbates the pain of leaving Greenville, since he is so unwell.

Finally back in New York, Robert’s quick leave-taking makes Jacqueline and Mama suspicious. Woodson implies that Robert, who is a devoted, fun-loving uncle, is mixed up in trouble. Jacqueline seems to grasp the gist of the situation, taking in the ambiguous look that Mama gives to Robert and the quickness with which he leave the house. Strikingly, Jacqueline, who loves to fill in the gaps of situations she doesn’t understand, does not try to imagine what’s going on with Robert. This perhaps indicates her understanding that it is something unpleasant.

Maria’s experience upstate with a rich white family highlights the gap in understanding between the well-meaning white family that takes her in and how Maria sees her own life. Though they are trying to help, the family’s insistence that Maria is poor and their attempts to give her gifts comes across as arrogant and condescending. Maria’s explanation— that in Brooklyn she’s not poor—shows how little the family understands the life and story of the girl they think they know. Both Jacqueline and Maria are clearly unimpressed by this show of misguided generosity. When Maria accepts Jacqueline’s offer to go to Greenville with her, the reader pictures a much happier summer, in which Maria is not a charity case, but a treasured friend.

Jacqueline experiments with writing her own poetry, drawing on the facts of her life, just as Woodson does in her memoir.

In this poem, Woodson again shows how specific writers influence Jacqueline. As Jacqueline copies Langston Hughes’s work, Woodson displays Jacqueline taking on a kind of apprenticeship, learning from master writers while adding her own touch.

Woodson adds to the list of literature that Jacqueline connects with deeply. Her excitement about the book shows how reading can be exciting for children (even despite persistent difficulty reading) when they find books that they personally connect with.

Oscar Wilde’s book, which Jacqueline has read enough times to memorize it, helps Jacqueline become confident in and proud of her storytelling talent. When she recites the book off the cuff, impressing her classmates and teacher, Jacqueline receives the encouragement she needs to think of her imagination and memorization skills as a gift.

Jacqueline, who is increasingly confident in her abilities as a writer and a storyteller, pores over an encyclopedia to get inspiration for her newest writing idea. Whereas previously Jacqueline internalized her family’s assertions that she could not be a writer, this time, when they say she cannot write the butterfly book, Jacqueline ignores them. She thinks about writing as a medium of infinite possibility.

Jacqueline asks to take on the responsibility of writing a skit for her church, continuing to find spaces to exercise her talent. Like the rest of the family, Mama lacks appreciation for Jacqueline’s powers of imagination and she criticizes Jacqueline for inserting horses and cows into what is suppose to be a realistic roleplay. Jacqueline agrees to make the skit more realistic, but promises herself she will use the story elsewhere, which shows her growing commitment to her own artistic vision.

Jacqueline’s first book, written in spite of her family’s doubt, marks an important step for her as a writer and storyteller.

In New York, Jacqueline remembers how Woolworth’s employees treated her grandmother in the South because of her race, and she refuses to shop there in protest. In doing so, Jacqueline links her lives in the South and the North— though the North is more progressive, the same companies that discriminate based on race in the South profit from stores in the North. Jacqueline and Maria instead shop elsewhere, not letting the memory ruin their outing.

Jacqueline’s worry that Diana will surpass her as Maria’s best friend stems in a large part because of Diana and Maria’s shared race, heritage, and culture. Though Maria insists this will not be the case, she cannot dispel Jacqueline’s worries. Race in Jacqueline’s life generally has served as a segregating factor, and so she worries that, with someone more racially and culturally similar to her, Maria will forget about Jacqueline.

Jacqueline celebrates Maria’s brother’s baptism with her and her family, showing another instance of how Jacqueline and Maria, who practice different sects of Christianity, partake respectfully in each other’s culture. Despite Jacqueline’s ambivalence about religion, she fears God enough to not take the baby’s baptism money.

Jacqueline’s worries that Maria will choose Diana over her as a best friend are dispelled in this poem. During the pre-party, Jacqueline and Maria navigate each other’s cultural differences, such as Jacqueline’s religious prohibition from eating pork. When Maria includes Jacqueline in her definition of “family,” she not only affirms Jacqueline’s place in her life, but also disabuses Jacqueline of her worry that race would be a factor in their emotional connection.

Mama’s strict control over her children’s language seems to have worked, as the children are considered to be very polite. Although they are made fun of for their inability to curse, they stick to their mother’s orders, showing how firmly this early linguistic influence has shaped them.

Robert’s afro symbolizes, in part, his embrace of the Black Power Movement, which rose in the late 60s and 70s and included, among many other stances, an interest in celebrating natural hairstyles for black people rather than conforming to white, Eurocentric standards of beauty. Mama likewise adopts this hairstyle and supports the Black Power Movement (as will become explicit later), but refuses to allow Jacqueline to change her hair. The reader might remember, during this poem, the many hours Georgiana used to spend coaxing Jacqueline’s hair into smooth ringlets.

For Jacqueline, who uses words as a positive and necessary form of self-expression, graffiti is an exciting new way of expressing herself. She cannot understand her uncle’s anger over her and Maria’s graffiti attempts, believing that words could not hurt anyone.

Mama, with her strict policy around language use, refuses to let the children listen to the exciting new music on the black radio stations because the songs use the word “funk.” While Odella happily complies and listens to white radio stations, Jacqueline, ever rebellious, sneaks to Maria’s house and listens to the banned music there. Jacqueline’s love of music prevails over her desire to obey her mother, and the reader can see that Jacqueline is beginning to question the ways in which Mama polices her language. Jacqueline sees words as unthreatening and neither essentially good nor bad, unlike Mama.

When Mama leads the children through the knowledge that their beloved uncle has been thrown in jail, she uses religious imagery to explain it to them, saying he did not stay on the straight and narrow path. Despite Mama’s own lack of enthusiasm for religion, she does seem to find it helpful in certain instances throughout the memoir.. Jacqueline is so troubled by this news that she cannot write at all, showing how her writing not only affects her life, but her life affects her writing.

Jacqueline, unable to face the painful reality of her beloved uncle’s imprisonment, resorts to making up stories and lying, as she did when people asked about her father. Again, Jacqueline’s storytelling becomes a form of emotional relief for her.

On their way to visit Robert, Jacqueline finds storytelling inspiration in the lyrics of a song played over the radio (once again, the reader sees how Jacqueline is especially inspired by music). In Jacqueline’s mind, she pictures each of the people around her dreaming that their imprisoned relative is free and that they are all joined together in love. Jacqueline’s imaginative story is a source of both empathy and catharsis for her.

Jacqueline continues to engage her imagination on the way to visit Robert in prison. When Odella doesn’t believe that Jacqueline made up the song, Odella’s doubt, rather than discouraging Jacqueline, encourages her. This is a sign of Jacqueline’s strengthening identity and confidence.

Jacqueline is disturbed by the idea that Hope, like Robert, could quickly be reduced to a criminal statistic. Woodson is perhaps referring here to unjust treatment of black people in the criminal justice system. One of the aims of the Black Power Movement was to change this relationship and to make the legal treatment of African-Americans fairer.

The fact that Robert’s afro is shaved makes Jacqueline sad. It represents how he has been forced to conform to prison standards and sacrifice his individuality and black pride.

In this poem, Jacqueline synthesizes her understanding of the relationship between comfort, writing, and memory. Jacqueline plans to use writing as a way of combatting her fear of losing the people she loves, because writing will allow her to commit those people to memory forever. Jacqueline’s sense of memory as the preservation of her loved ones, and her use of writing as a way to create memory, shows how she is beginning to understand her writerly motivation.

Once again, Mama’s idea of what Jacqueline’s writing should be contrasts with Jacqueline’s. Jacqueline, however, defies Mama’s instructions, asserting her own sense of the proper subject for her writing.

When Georgiana calls the family to tell them that Gunnar is dying, Jacqueline’s biggest worries and worst fears come true. Before Jacqueline can share more stories with Gunnar, who always encouraged her storytelling gift, Gunnar passes away. Jacqueline notes that the funeral procession is silent—significant because she loves sound so much. The family says goodbye to Gunnar by tossing the Greenville dirt on his casket, which, for Jacqueline, always represented both the South and Gunnar, who loved to garden.

Jacqueline, reeling from the grief of Gunnar’s death, is still able to find storytelling inspiration in the silence he leaves behind.