In the first chapter of Jacqueline Woodson’s novel „If you come softly“ Jeremiah’s thoughts about his blackness are expressed. Jeremiah is a teenage boy and one of the two main characters of the novel. Since he has been a child, he has been confronted with the colour of his skin. For example, his grandmother told him not to stay in the sun for too long as it would make his skin darker. Jeremiah seems to have ambiguous feelings towards being black. On the one hand, he rejects his grandmother’s ideas and knows about the Black Panther Party which proclaimed “Black is beautiful”. On the other hand, he feels unsure when being outside his neighbourhood and he does not like playing basketball on a mostly white school team. Moreover, he does not know whether he should like his outward appearance in general and especially his eyes. His uncertainness can be best seen in this quote: “But sometimes, looking in that mirror, he had no idea who he was or why he was in this world” (p.11). It will be interesting to see if Jeremiah’s thoughts about himself will develop throughout the novel and in which direction.
A picture that might express Jeremiah's feelings can be seen here (I didn't paste it because of copyright) :
http://ruff-draft.tumblr.com/post/4023423362/black-boy-at-mirror
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