Daughters&Race
Life with Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant is a story told from a black fathers perspective on raising his daughters. The story contains not only a gender issue but a race issue as well because they are African American. One of the main issues in the story is how the daughters get picked on for having braided hair in school as apposed to all the white girls with straight hair. Linnet the daughter tells her father that she wants long blonde hair so she can conform with everyone else. The mother though feels that by conforming with straightened hair for her daughters she is giving into assimilation and there for abandoning her racial pride. This is why she forces both her daughters to get short afro cut hair cuts as they are referred to in the essay. She wants her daughters to appreciate their race and not think that beauty is modeled after what white people look like. The father disagrees with the mother and feels it would be fine to let his daughters have longer hair if it meant they would not get picked on. This example is what the true meaning of the essay is about which is the mother supports the empowerment method of her race no the emancipation method. "In a Booker T.Washington tone, McCall goes on to describe how the establishment of a black beauty culture serves as a source of empowerment for black women:' Then there is the issue of the Miss America Pageant which is the whole family is watching the beauty pageant and the daughter think that the black women is going to win and she does against a bet she made with her mother. The mother and father are both elated because in their eyes "It is impossible for blacks not to want to see their black daughters elevated to the platforms where white women are." My favorite point in the essay is at the end when the daughter are playing with their dolls and are playing with their father and the father asks them how did two black dolls create a white baby doll. His daughter answers him by saying, "we're not racial. That's old fashioned. Don't you think so daddy? Aren't you tired of all that racial stuff?" To me this shows that the kids aren't even thinking about racial differences which is good thing and once step closer to a more free and equal society.-Sam Kanusher
I agree with everything Sam has said in his reflection of this story. It blows my mind that the father would want to change how his daughters truly are because he wants them to fit in and not get picked on. I agree with Sam when he says, "The mother though feels that by conforming with straightened hair for her daughters she is giving into assimilation and there for abandoning her racial pride. This is why she forces both her daughters to get short afro cut hair cuts as they are referred to in the essay. She wants her daughters to appreciate their race and not think that beauty is modeled after what white people look like." The mother wants her children to be who they are, she doesn't want them to conform and change just to fit into society. In my opinion, you should be proud of your race and where you came from. The father needs to realize that even though everyone looks different on the outside, everyone is really the same on the inside.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sam's opinions on Life with Daughters. I thought the girls in the essay became stronger people from the haircut they were given, even if it did cause them pain in school. Sam said, "To me this shows that the kids aren't even thinking about racial differences which is good thing and once step closer to a more free and equal society." I also think this was a positive scene; it shows that this generation of people are more accepting of all types of people. Letter to a Daughter at Thirteen was similar to Life with Daughters because they both show parent's perspectives of their children. The parents in Life with Daughters seemed more involved in their kids lives, while in the other essay, the mother wants her daughter to "live and learn" from her own mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with my fellow classmates’ opinions about this essay. Getting the perspective of a father on his thoughts about pageants and how it affects his own daughters. Fathers tend to be more protective of their daughters and want the best for them. He stated how he himself is affected by the words and actions of society affecting his daughters. Like how April stated, “The parents in Life with Daughters seemed more involved in their kids lives, while in the other essay, the mother wants her daughter to "live and learn" from her own mistakes.” Gerald focuses on improving his daughters’ self esteem and their view of who they are on the inside.
ReplyDeleteI too agree with all of my classmates that the girls in the story became stronger from the haircuts they were given. I also agree that fathers tend to be more protective of their daughters. Personally, my father would have taken the same actions and would have done anything to protect me, just as their parents did. I liked that the mother did not want her children to conform to society. For some reason today, conforming to the society is the norm. We need to step away from that and be our own individuals.
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