Journal #4a Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by Z.Z. Packer

chapter: Brownies
Word Count: 223

After reading through the chapter, I observed that she is a very descriptive writer. The author uses descriptions that are fitting of her character’s mind. For example, the description of the white girls as a “blend of ice-cream (strawberry and vanilla)” and the observation off their Disney sleeping bags are things that a young girl would notice. Packer’s use of acrostics adds humor and irony to the story. I thought it was funny that these holy items were being broken down into acronyms as if anyone could ever forget what these figures and things stood for.
Her use of descriptions plays a major role in her story telling. Octavia’s self-important personality is reflected by her long hair, the only long-haired black girl out of the bunch. Again Packer’s describes through her main character’s eyes when she uses a “shiny new earring” as a simile for Daphne’s voice.
The style of this chapter is overall light and entertaining but with moments of seriousness and innocent questionings that have much darker explanations. For example, the story becomes about one of the black girls questioning if one of the white girls had used the N word. Though the girls seem to only want to find out the truth for revenge, the underlying meaning seems to be directed to the social injustice happening during that time.