Betsey Brown (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Paulette Williams
- First Published: 1985
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Domestic realism
- Time of Work: 1959
- Setting: St. Louis, Missouri
- Principal Characters: Betsey Brown, Greer Brown, Jane Brown, Vida Murray, Mrs. Maureen, Carrie
- Genres: Long fiction, Bildungsroman, Domestic realism, Family literature
- Subjects: 1950’s, African Americans, Civil rights, Girls, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, Self-discovery, Racism, Adolescence, Race, Self, Midwest, Class consciousness, Doctors, Schools or school life, Social work
- Locales: St. Louis, MO
Form and Content
Betsey Brown tells the story of one thirteen-year-old African American girl’s struggles with adolescence. Although the issues of growing up would resonate for any young girl, Ntozake Shange wrote the novel specifically to provide reading matter for adolescent black girls—the literature that she could not find in her own youth. Betsey Brown is the oldest of five unruly children in a middle-class family. Like all adolescent girls, she feels estranged from her family: They do not understand or appreciate her. Jane, Betsey’s mother, wants her to start...
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See Also:
See Also:
- - Betsey Brown summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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