Segregation And Power In 'Every Tongue Shall Confess'

Johnathan Sortino
Dr. Chaple
ENGL 1102-04
July 25, 2014
Segregation and Power
In analysis of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Throughout life we learn about segregation of blacks in the fifties and sixties, but we never learn about the segregation of any other groups. Segregation supposedly ended with the end of The Civil Rights movement, but people refuse to look at segregation in their every day lives today. Look at the Greek system here at West Georgia, every member is considered Greek but each organization is separated and taught to dislike the others. We are segregated first into one big group separated from the rest of the school and then segregated within that group into each of our organizations. This is one reason how segregation is still
present in the world today. Segregation is also visible between men and women, like in sports men and women are not allowed to play in the same leagues and have separate leagues for each gender. The main reason segregation exist is to separate the population so that someone or some group can control the others and gain power over them. Segregation is something that will be around forever and there is no changing it and segregation will always lead to power of a group. In “Brownies” and “Every Tongue Shall Confess” of ZZ Packer’s Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by segregation symbolizes oppression or power.
In the story “Brownies” the girls of troop 909 are segregated from the rest because they have a different skin color than the others girls. Now this story happens much after segregation had been eliminated in the United States, but still these girls were treated different because they were the white minority. From the first line of the story Snot says “By our second day at Camp Crescendo, the girls in my Brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909” (Packer 1). By Snot saying what she is saying it shows that the girls in Snots Brownie troop have power over the girls in Troop 909. They know that they could “kick the asses” of those girls. They are constantly talking down about the girls in Troop 909 and calling then names like when Octavia whispers to Arnetta “why did we have to be stuck at a camp with retarded girls? You know?” (Packer 25). By calling the white girls retarded Octavia is putting the girls in the troop 909 below them simply based on their skin color. She also makes an assumption about these girls based on what they see. These girls have never met before and because the girls of troop 909 are white the other girls instantly think that they are underneath them. When Octavia says retarded she is not talking about the girls in troop 909 literally being retarded, but she is talking about them being white or different. Troop 909 is in a different cabin and not a part of the other troop at all therefore the other girls see them as outsiders and a threat to their already existing way of life. They are oppressing the girls in troop 909 because they are different. At the start of the story the girls in troop 909 are referred to as “wet Chihuahuas” (Packer 2). Being called wet Chihuahuas really is not an insult, but is something funny that the girls in Snot troop can laugh at. When Arnetta says that she does not mean that they are dogs it is just something that she finds funny and something to make those girls feel less about themselves and by making them feel less about themselves Arnetta gains power of the girls in troop 909. The segregation between the two troops is what causes the conflict to exist. If the girls in troop 909 had not been put in a separate cabin the girls in the two troops could have possible gotten to know each other and actually could have become friends before any of the name calling happened. The girls in Snot’s troop feel that they must oppress the girls of troop 909 because they are segregated from them and feel threatened by outsiders who could possible take away their power. By writing about the segregation in the Camp Crescendo Packer shows that within Segregation being a part of a minority people will always have to summit to the majority and this is because a majority group will always have power over a minority. Whether people plan to segregate others or not it is always going to happen in our lives and Packer shows that in the short story “Brownies”. In the story “Every Tongue Shall Confess” every character might be from the same group of people but even in that group there are people who are segregated by looks, social class, and by their possession in the church.
Clareese is segregated from others because of the way she looks, her personality, and her lack of money. She is not very outgoing or pretty and is described as “quiet, nervous, skinny in all the wrong places, and completely cross-eyed” (Packer 37). The way that the speaker describes Clareese makes her a perfect target for Deacon McCredie. He chooses Clareese because she is in a different group that is lower than he is. Due to the segregation within the church Clareese is beneath Deacon McCredie. Her being ugly and beneath him in the church allows him to sexually assault her and not have to worry about her telling anyone. Even though Deacon McCredie is disgusted by Clareese he decides to choose her because he knows that she will not tell anyone because it is not her place due to her level in the church. By their church being segregated between class and social aspects gives the people who have power in the church control over the others in different groups. The leaders of the church have extreme power over the rest of the members. The Brothers have the extreme amounts of power over the sisters and Clareese shows this in the beginning of “Every Tongue Shall Confess” when she thinks “she was having her monthly womanly troubles and all she wanted to do was curse
the Brothers’ Church Council of Greater Christ Emmanuel Pentecost Church of the Fire Baptized, Who’d decided that the Sisters had to wear white every Missionary Sunday” (Packer 29). She is talking about how the Brothers of the church have complete control over the sisters. They tell them what to wear on what days. The sisters have to obey the brothers and have no other choice. By segregating the sisters from the brothers, the brothers have given themselves power over the sisters. The sisters have to do as the brothers say and this is why Clareese does not want to tell anyone about what happened between her and Deacon McCredie. His group has the power over hers therefore she must do what he says. Segregation in “Every Tongue Shall Confess” shows that segregation does not have to be between different races it can also be segregation within a small group and it will always lead to one group having more power over the other. By reading Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer, she takes a worldwide problem, segregation, and shows to the readers what segregation really is and she proves that it is a fight to obtain power and be able to oppress and control others.
Segregation is a problem that the world has been facing for a long time and there is no changing that. As long as people feel the need to gain power they will feel the need to segregate others to make it easier to manipulate and control so that they never lose their power. People will always think less of certain groups whether ethnicity, gender, or social class is the reasons, these people will always be segregated. The people will always segregate others to gain the power they need because in reality they are afraid of that group over powering them. They gain their power by separating the people who threaten them. It is done today by in a less noticeable way. Segregation will always be linked to power and always cause oppression and will never go away. ZZ Packer writes about this in her short stories “Brownies” and “Every Tongue Shall Confess” and shows how much power and violence segregation can
cause.
Work Cited
Packer, ZZ. "Brownies." 2007. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. New York: Berkley Group, 2003. 117-47. Print.
Packer, ZZ. "Every Tongue Shall Confess." 2007. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. New York: Berkley Group, 2003. 117-47. Print.
Packer, ZZ. "Speaking in Tongues." 2007. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. New York: Berkley Group, 2003. 117-47. Print.