Jesmyn Ward Sparknotes

Jesmyn Ward displays the discrimination she has encountered due to the acts of colorism. The separation she felt throughout her life demonstrates that the strategy of divide and conquer is still being used in today’s society. It is seen with the use of juxtaposition. Jesmyn and her boyfriend came from very diverse backgrounds making it seem out of the ordinary he was with her “while she’s been born red, he’d been born golden.”. The use of the words red and golden can be approached as having two separate effects. One way is that it focuses on how he was born valuable from a rich family while Jesmyn was born poor. While the other focuses on how she was born with dark skin, while he was born with golden light skin. Her boyfriend did not encounter
Jesmyn was a Stanford graduate but never felt accepted by the community because of how much of an outcast she was compared to her peers. After graduation, most of them will get recruited by top companies while she struggled to find a job to support her family. It demonstrates that a dark skin African-American will be viewed as a minority and a vagabond no matter the level of education received. This discrimination towards African-Americans is visible during the actions done towards the first Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin. The action of colorism is portrayed into the case of Claudette Colvin and it is shown through the use of diction. Due to the color of her skin, “some black leaders believed she was too dark-skinned, and too young to be an effective symbol of injustice for the rest of the nation.” (The First “Rosa Parks”) The use of the words dark-skinned takes away the powerful message Colvin tried to prove. It was a moment of a young black girl believing in the right she rightfully should have, the focus on her skin belittles the impact it has towards the