Joe+C+Betsey+Brown

__ Ntozake Shange  __

Ntozake Shange is not the name that she was given at birth. When Ntozake Shange was born her name was Paulette Linda Willliams. She was born on October 18, 1948. She was born in Trenton, New Jersey. She grew up in an upper to middle class family. When Shange was 8, her family moved to a very racist place at the time called St. Louis. As a kid Shange had to deal with a lot of racism because she was in a dominant white school in St. Louis. She went on to go to University of Southern California and got her masters. Shange had some more rough times in college though, she married in her first year of college and the marriage didn't last and she attempted suicide. Then in 1975 she went to New York City and wrote her famous play called **__For Colored Girls That Have Considered Suicide__** and she later won an award for this play, this award is called the Obie Award. She is a good author that is not only an author/writer but, is also, a performer and a educator. Shange is still alive and now lives in Philadelphia and continues to write. Betsey Brown This story takes place in 1957, Betsey Brown narrates the story and talks about a clored thirteen year old girl and the troubles she has being an African-American. Betsey's family lives in St. Louis and has eight members. The family includes Jane and Greer(mom and dad), grandmother Vida, four kids, and their cousin Charlie. Betsey Brown is the oldest child and she loves poetry. This family seems to be like every other normal family except for two things, the fact that they are colored and the fact that they are wealthy in the middle class. Greer, the father of this family is a doctor and the mother, Jane is a social worker. This was rare to see in the 1950s because not very man african-americans had high paying jobs like a doctor. In the late 1950s throughout the 1960s racism was obviously a big problem. Even though Greer and Jane were qualified and have good jobs, they were still not treated equally in society. Greer is a very smart man and he is not afraid to express his views about discrimination towards his family and other african-americans. Jane does not agree with everything Greer does and how he deals with their familes issues because she is always worried about the children and their safety. Greer includes the children in a lot of his discussions about racism and Jane does not support that. During this time period and this story, the major attempt to deal with racism mentioned is Brown vs. the board of education. This trial played a huge part in segregated schools in the 1950s and 60s. I thought that this was a good book overall. There were two things from the book that i really liked. The first thing that i liked was how well Ntozake Shange showed the difficult times that Betsey Brown had. She gives good examples and situations that a thirteen year old colored girl would run into in the 1950s. The other thing that Shange does a good job on is showing how the family was mistreated. If someone thinks about a african-american doctor and an african-american social worker raising a family, they would think that the family is pretty respected and looked up to. Sh ange shows how even though they are a hard working family with good jobs, they are still not respected because of their skin color. The only problem with this book is how Shange jumps around from scene to scene. Sometimes it was hard to follow and it was confusing. Other than that small problem, this is a great book and i recomend it for those that are interested in a very level minded, real life book. This books point of view is narration. It is an omniscent narrarotor because the narrator can tell what the other characters are saying but they are not actually part of the story. The book is a fiction novel. Ntozake Shange does a good job of explaining all of the characters. Betsey Brown is a protagonist,she is very smart and her years through junior high are just like a lot of other thirteen year old girls. She gets her first boyfriend and even runs away.
 * Works Cited**

Shange, Ntozake. __Betsey Brown__ New York: Picador, 1985

"Ntozake Shange" 2008. November 4, 2008 <  http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/images/shange_a.jpg   >

"Ntozake Shange" 2008. November 4, 2008 < http://voices.cla.umn.edu/vg/Bios/entries/shange_ntozake.html >