Black Girl/White Girl

By Joyce Carol Oates

Book Overview

In 1975 Genna Hewett-Meade's college roommate died a mysterious, violent death partway through their freshman year. Minette Swift had been assertive, fiercely individualistic, and one of the few black girls at their exclusive, "enlightened" college--and Genna, daughter of a prominent civil defense lawyer, felt duty-bound to protect her at all costs. But fifteen years later, while reconstructing Minette's tragic death, Genna is forced to painfully confront her own past life and identity...and her deepest beliefs about social obligation in a morally gray world.

Black Girl / White Girl is a searing double portrait of race and civil rights in post-Vietnam America, captured by one of the most important literary voices of our time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061125652
• ISBN13: 9780061125652
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Ecco Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Roads to tragedy paved with good intentions

The year is 1974/5. Genna Meade comes from a liberal American family. Her father is a prominent radical lawyer, preachy in private as well as in public life, revered by some and hated by others, and has made a name for having helped draft-refusers from the recently ended Vietnam War. He is often away from home, his whereabouts not known even to his family. Genna's mother is an unhappy and lonely middle aged hippy with a drug problem. Genna herself is a fresher at Schuyler College, a liberal arts women's college in New York state, and in her application form had said she would like to share rooms with someone from an ethnic minority. Her room mate is a black scholarship student, Minette Swift. Minette is an unattractive, unhappy, touchy, fiercely private and intensely religious young woman who rejects friendly approaches, however hard Genna tries; and she is unpopular even with the other black girls in the dormitory of Haven House. The first half of the novel has little plot development: settings are sharply observed, and it concentrates on bringing to life these people and their relationships with each other, very successfully, if perhaps by means of a little too much repetition. In particular, one begins to wonder how Genna can put up with Minette's repeated rebuffs. She feels protective of her and at the same time is afraid of her, and she feels guilt, inculcated by her father, about being white. Then, half way through the book, the story becomes increasingly tense and sinister, as both racism and radicalism move more centre-stage. We have been told in the very first paragraph of the book that Minette will die; and yet her last day, graphically as it is described, is not the end of the book. There is an even more horrendous and quite unexpected tragedy to follow in the Epilogue. To say any more would be a spoiler. A powerful and haunting book which draws you deeply into what it describes.

Water / Oil

Black Girl / White Girl is the story of two 1974 Schuyler College freshmen roommates who could not have possibly been more wrong for each other. Gemma Meade, on the one hand, is a descendant of the college founder and has been raised by ultra-liberal parents to feel somewhat guilty about the privileged circumstances of the Meade family. She feels compelled to prove that she does not consider herself to be better than her black roommate. Minette Swift, on the other hand, is a black teenager who has been raised by her ultra-conservative preacher father to be suspicious of the motives and objectives of whites who go out of their way to befriend her. She sees Gemma's offer of friendship as more condescending than genuine. Both girls arrive at Schuyler College somewhat flawed by the families in which they were raised. Gemma's father, an attorney who not only defended Civil Rights activists and terrorists of the day but hid them when they were on the run and helped to fund their illegal activities, was away from home as much as he was there. Her mother, an alcoholic ex-hippie herself, was more a burden to Gemma than she was a parent. Minette's father, a "prominent" Washington D.C. preacher, raised her to disdain those who did not share her strong Christian beliefs and to find racist tendencies in others where they did not always exist. He was a proud and articulate man who spoke his mind at all times, quick to see "racism" in the words of others. Reading Black Girl / White Girl is a bit like simultaneously watching two train wrecks. Predictably, Minette Swift becomes the victim of racist taunts despite the fact that she is not the only minority student living in her dormitory. She is so unlikable, in fact, that another black student is suspected of being involved in the incidents that occur. Gemma's efforts to shield Minette from the taunting ultimately backfire and cause as much harm as good for both girls. At the same time, Gemma's father is being pursued by the FBI who suspect him of being more than a defense attorney and who suspect that Gemma knows the details. Joyce Carol Oates has created two memorable characters, unlikable as they may be, who reflect the times in which they lived. The 1970s were filled with guilt ridden whites who were very likely seen by blacks as naive and condescending when it came to the racial issues of the day. The two groups were a product of the '60s era that produced both peace loving, doper hippies and militant blacks and they found themselves working together in the '70s, not always comfortably, in the still relatively young Civil Rights movement. In the world of Joyce Carol Oates, good intentions and innocence can be a dangerous combination and Black Girl / White Girl is no exception to her rule.

A Tale of Two Girls

Truth/lies, past/present, friend/enemy-- Joyce Carol Oates revels in these and other opposites in her novel Black Girl White Girl. Set in the year 1990, but told as a flashback to the year 1974, main character Genna Meade, recounts the tragic events that lead to the untimely death of her roommate, Minette Swift. Genna, offspring of a radical, political father and a wounded, drug-crazed mother, pieces together the events of her father's background mingled with the disastrous racial attacks against Minette that ultimately contribute to her death. In 1974, Genna and Minette enter as freshmen to an elite liberal arts school, Schuyler College, near Philadelphia. The bespectacled Minette, hardly acknowledges her roommate, Genna. Constantly muttering "'Scuse me," she reacts to Genna only if necessary. Genna, so desperately wishing to befriend Minette, continually indulges her in kindnesses. As Minette physically and emotionally spirals downward, the protections that Genna volunteers to her end in tragedy. The other characters in Black Girl White Girl contribute to the themes in the text. Genna's parents, Maximilian Elliot Mead (Mad Max) and Veronica Hewett-Meade, drift in and out of Genna's life as they always had as she grew-up in their rambling yet shameful home in Chadds Ford. Max's political antics and beliefs, even though a civil defense lawyer, provide an extreme, unconventional childhood for Genna. Veronica suffers the trauma of a life of drug abuse and spousal separateness. Because of this, she acts abrupt, child-like and needy. Genna plays more of a "parent role" in this book than her parents. Just who are we responsible for in our life? The only parental relations Minette seems to have with her mother involve frequent, lengthy phone calls to the campus. Her father, Reverend Virgil Swift, is preacher for the World Tabernacle of Jesus Christ. Ironically, Minette, needing her father's spiritual guidance desperately, only has a poster proclaiming "I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE" and a white leather-bound Bible for guidance. This is the central misfortune in the story; these characters all cry out to each other but they never ease their wants and needs. Post Vietnam America racial tensions and civil rights flow throughout this work. The great grandparents of Genna Meade and founders of Schuyler College were sympathetic to the "people of color," yet Haven House, the residence hall to Minette and Genna, offers no solace to either girl. Minette experiences racial harassment and Genna also suffers from her past history, not racially, but emotionally, because of her parents. Oates clearly defines the separateness of Minette and Genna due to racial/social backgrounds, but both are girls. Is she suggesting that they really are very much alike in their desires, wants, and needs? What really are the truths for each girl within the narrative? What lies are part of these truths? Carol Joyce Oates cre

Grey

In "Black Girl White Girl" we find Joyce Carol Oates in familiar territory: Genna ("I hated the possibility of being perceived as a spoiled, privileged white girl..."),from a wealthy family yearning for the friendship of her college roommate, Minette: a black woman ("Her face fascinated me, it was the most striking face I'd seen close up....sharp boned...with dark skin that looked stretched to bursting...you felt that, if you dared to touch that skin, your fingers would dart away, burnt."). Genna goes out of her way to be kind and considerate of Minette often doing simple courtesies for her but to no avail. Minette, coming from her conservative African American background is wary and suspicious. ("From the start Minette was an enigma to me. A riddle and a dazzlement".) As with many of Oates' heroines, Genna is uncomfortable in her own skin and seeks the approval of others in order for her to accept herself. Genna is emotionally empty: she is always on the lookout for someone to fill the gaping void that is her heart and soul. As is always the case in Oates' work, family plays a big part in "BGWG" ("...the family is the locus of obsession. The family is about possessing and being possessed.") Genna's family life is anything but simple and straightforward. Her mother Veronica lords over her with absolute authority on the one hand and a bottle of Absolut in the other. Her father, Max always seemingly on the lam for his Civil Rights activities is unavailable physically and emotionally and only makes guest appearances in Genna's life. Both Veronica and Max are thrilled that Genna has the opportunity to room and become acquainted with a living breathing African American. Genna's heart is in the right place. It's just that she has no experience making friendships. She tries too hard and that simply drives Minette farther and farther away. Not that Minette is perfect by any means. She too is flawed but a much bigger mystery than is Geena. ("Always there was a curious aloofness to Minette Swift.")It is also through Minette that Oates once again exhibits her fascination for and fright of compulsive eating. Minette sneaks food into her room, eats in her room alone and generally uses food as a way to hide from others and avoid facing her peceived (by her) inadequacies. Then a series of tacit attacks begins: racial slurs are written on the door of Genna and Minette's room, Minette's textbooks are stolen and reappear marked up and shabby. The attacks escalate and Minette is pushed down a flight of stairs. Who is behind these acts? Oates is covering a lot of territory here: racial prejudice as well as racial entitlement, the family as a base of encouragement or discouragement, the college campus as a microcosm of life and on and on. "Black Girl White Girl" takes us back to that part of Oatesiana called Obsession and though it is not one of Oates' better works it certainly deserves your time being that it comes from one of our finest contemporary writers.

Poetic Genius

This is one of the best books I've ever read. It is so incredibly deep it is like looking into a prism of many facets and finding another story. It is so true life it makes you believe it all really happened even though it is only a novel. It is really easy to read. I got through it in three days, yet it is filled with a wealth of information that is largely conveyed emotionally. The terse reviews provided barely do it justice. I don't want to rehash the plot and ruin it for the next person since no one else seems to have come up with the insights I have gleaned from it. It is so incredibly exciting on a subtle level of emotion. I truly did not know what to expect next. It handles tough issues with a detached clarity that allows the reader to process horrific situations in a detached and safe way. I would love to analyze this book and do a term paper on it but no one seems to have taken the same reaction to it. Let me say it describes the human condition in a way that I can relate to and admire.