Daniel Black's Perfect Peace: A Review
Kylah McCollough
LW103
Prof.Jefferson
31, March, 2015
Perfect peace
“Perfect Peace " written by the author Daniel Black, is not a settling story. In a poor, Southern town in Arkansas a Black mother decides after giving birth to six sons to raise her seventh son as a girl. She names her Perfect. Perfect Peace with Peace being the family’s last name. Her husband isn’t so wise since the mom Emma Jean only wants takes care of her “daughter”. Being abused by her own mother as a child she always longed to raise a girl the way she wished she had grown up. She always imagined dresses and dolls and yellow ribbons in her hair, it was always the little things that count to her. As the story continues, Perfect and her friends get old enough to ask questions and experiment with their sexuality. When Perfect gets around the age of eight years old, Emma Jean reveals the truth to her “daughter” that she is really her “son". From then on things within the family and town starts to become heartbreaking ,and suspenseful which leads to so much about gender, social status, education, forgiveness, self-awareness, and domestic violence.
Throughout the story there are so many characters who are Perfect’s Mother, father and all of her brothers. Everyone is given their own distinct traits, storyline and purpose. Being that every character’s name has its own meaning, Perfects mother Emma Jean named her that since she always longed for a baby girl, and just wasn’t allowed to have her. As Perfect grows up we began to see how her attitude and personality changes. While she didn’t know what was going on with her sexuality, she was so used to being a lost cause, but then again everybody kind of figured it was something different about perfect.
Perfect was left to suffer through the transition from the softer female world, where he felt special, to the one of men, where he finds little support. His sexuality is forever suspect, and his family can only think to bring him into line as a man
LW103
Prof.Jefferson
31, March, 2015
Perfect peace
“Perfect Peace " written by the author Daniel Black, is not a settling story. In a poor, Southern town in Arkansas a Black mother decides after giving birth to six sons to raise her seventh son as a girl. She names her Perfect. Perfect Peace with Peace being the family’s last name. Her husband isn’t so wise since the mom Emma Jean only wants takes care of her “daughter”. Being abused by her own mother as a child she always longed to raise a girl the way she wished she had grown up. She always imagined dresses and dolls and yellow ribbons in her hair, it was always the little things that count to her. As the story continues, Perfect and her friends get old enough to ask questions and experiment with their sexuality. When Perfect gets around the age of eight years old, Emma Jean reveals the truth to her “daughter” that she is really her “son". From then on things within the family and town starts to become heartbreaking ,and suspenseful which leads to so much about gender, social status, education, forgiveness, self-awareness, and domestic violence.
Throughout the story there are so many characters who are Perfect’s Mother, father and all of her brothers. Everyone is given their own distinct traits, storyline and purpose. Being that every character’s name has its own meaning, Perfects mother Emma Jean named her that since she always longed for a baby girl, and just wasn’t allowed to have her. As Perfect grows up we began to see how her attitude and personality changes. While she didn’t know what was going on with her sexuality, she was so used to being a lost cause, but then again everybody kind of figured it was something different about perfect.
Perfect was left to suffer through the transition from the softer female world, where he felt special, to the one of men, where he finds little support. His sexuality is forever suspect, and his family can only think to bring him into line as a man