Jenee Desmond-Harris Analysis

Jenée Desmond-Harris utilized brand names to create a image in the readers minds and a photo to further clarify that image. Adding in specific brand names helps readers obtain an idea or visualisation of the era in which the girls lived in. Wardrobe and style expresses a person’s personality as well as the popular style of other people amongst their generation. Desmond- Harris’s use of modifiers specifies the description in fewer words. In paragraph five, she indicates West Coast was involved in a war with East Coast. Instead of stating ‘my rainbow tee with stripes’ in paragraph seven, Desmond-Harris made the statement more specific and shorter by writing “rainbow-striped tee”. Jenée specifies that her and her friend were in transition from …show more content…
Although the writing conveys a great deal, the photograph reveals the girls’ expressions, the position in which their bodies laid in and their physical attributes. The girl's expression indicates that the girls were aware of the photo being taken because they were smiling and looking in the direction of the camera. Although they do look happy, we cannot know for sure if they are feeling those exact emotions. Her description didn’t specify the length or color of their hair which from the picture we see Jenée with dark shoulder-length hair and Thea with short, brown hair tied up in two ponytails on the sides of her head. The photo gives us a clearer understanding of the Sharpie-written tattoos that they given each other. The tattoo that Desmond-Harris applied with black Sharpie onto Thea’s stomach reveals that Jenée was more creative in her choice of tattoo. After reading about fifteen-year-old Jenée Desmond-Harris and Thea, I envisioned Desmond-Harris to be involved in African-American affairs. If it were not for her statement “raised by our white moms in a privileged community” in paragraph eight, I would have believed that they were not privileged because of their “skater-inspired Salvation Army shopping