Patricia Smith’s What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl (for Those of You Who Aren’t) is a powerful poem. Written in the early 1900s, it still conveys the same message society had back then, to almost 30 years later, with society facing the same issue-black females, particularly, young girls, do not find themselves beautiful/pretty due to society’s definition of beauty being still and uninterrupted. The poem can be broken down into three subtopics to decipher a more in-depth meaning Smith tried to illustrate: growing up, looking into one’s own reflection, and cultural differences.
The major theme Smith makes in her poem, is that she’s sharing an experience of what it’s like to be a young black girl and not being comfortable in her own skin. Growing …show more content…
Most girl who are distinguished by the color of their skin and ethnicity tend to compare themselves to society’s outdated standards. The topic of looking into one’s own reflection, in the case of the poem and Smith’s theme, is when the young girl examines every minute detail of her face and uniqueness, and compare it to unrelatable standards society holds for women. Smith describes vividly what this young black girl sees in the mirror, noticing the negatives or flaws, she truly believes she has. The young girl sees these minute details as “something, everything wrong,” and does all she’s able to make herself in the image she truly believes is beautiful. This image of beauty she has in her mind, as mentioned above, is the stereotypical white women with blonde hair and blue eyes. As she describes it as “bleached white mophead” and “dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue.” In addition, her word choice is significant. She describes her hair as wild, having kinks and needed to primp in front of the mirror. Not once does she admire any of her own features, but instead criticize her own image. In the end, all these changes the young girl decides one, will “deny her …show more content…
“It’s learning to say fuck with grace but learning to fuck without it.” This line seems to have stayed intact through all the changes the young girl had made. Though it’s a bit complex to comprehend its true meaning Smith entailed it to have, I believe the young girl kept her beliefs concrete and true to her faith. On a different perspective, the Motown detail shows a more cultural difference, as this genre was more popular in the African American community. Music in one’s culture is essential for pride and identification. “Flame and fists and life according to Motown,” Smith was trying to illustrate that through strength, failures, and victory, there’s still some other characteristics that may be in the way. For example, though these values are strong, with doubt, any foundation can break, and it can be seen, as the negative tone of the poem continues to the end. This last detail isn’t cultural, but one can say is gender bias towards women. Even though the young girl attempts to hide all her own features and replace them with white women stereotypical ones, one expects this to give her the courage and determination, but no. Smith states “it’s finally have a man reach out for you then caving around his fingers.” Smith tries to show that this young girl falls victim, not only to society’s lie of beauty, but of the dependency women find in men, and how they “cave” for their
The major theme Smith makes in her poem, is that she’s sharing an experience of what it’s like to be a young black girl and not being comfortable in her own skin. Growing …show more content…
Most girl who are distinguished by the color of their skin and ethnicity tend to compare themselves to society’s outdated standards. The topic of looking into one’s own reflection, in the case of the poem and Smith’s theme, is when the young girl examines every minute detail of her face and uniqueness, and compare it to unrelatable standards society holds for women. Smith describes vividly what this young black girl sees in the mirror, noticing the negatives or flaws, she truly believes she has. The young girl sees these minute details as “something, everything wrong,” and does all she’s able to make herself in the image she truly believes is beautiful. This image of beauty she has in her mind, as mentioned above, is the stereotypical white women with blonde hair and blue eyes. As she describes it as “bleached white mophead” and “dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue.” In addition, her word choice is significant. She describes her hair as wild, having kinks and needed to primp in front of the mirror. Not once does she admire any of her own features, but instead criticize her own image. In the end, all these changes the young girl decides one, will “deny her …show more content…
“It’s learning to say fuck with grace but learning to fuck without it.” This line seems to have stayed intact through all the changes the young girl had made. Though it’s a bit complex to comprehend its true meaning Smith entailed it to have, I believe the young girl kept her beliefs concrete and true to her faith. On a different perspective, the Motown detail shows a more cultural difference, as this genre was more popular in the African American community. Music in one’s culture is essential for pride and identification. “Flame and fists and life according to Motown,” Smith was trying to illustrate that through strength, failures, and victory, there’s still some other characteristics that may be in the way. For example, though these values are strong, with doubt, any foundation can break, and it can be seen, as the negative tone of the poem continues to the end. This last detail isn’t cultural, but one can say is gender bias towards women. Even though the young girl attempts to hide all her own features and replace them with white women stereotypical ones, one expects this to give her the courage and determination, but no. Smith states “it’s finally have a man reach out for you then caving around his fingers.” Smith tries to show that this young girl falls victim, not only to society’s lie of beauty, but of the dependency women find in men, and how they “cave” for their