Throughout Brown Girl Dreaming, Jaqueline Woodson writes about many members of her large, extended family. As a child, she moves several times and lives with different family groups. Jackie retains a firm impression of her mother’s strength and the pride that she always tried to instill in her children. After the move to New York, Jackie grows very concerned about her baby brother, Roman, when he becomes so ill that he must be hospitalized.
In the years when the children and their mother are living in South Carolina, where they relocate after the parents’ separation, young Jackie is constantly confronted with evidence of discrimination that they and other African Americans face. As Woodson writes in one poem about Greenville, her mother encourages the children to remember that they are “as good as anybody.”
When the new baby, Roman, is born, Jackie senses that she has been displaced as the...
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“baby of the family”: she is no longer the youngest child. It requires quite an adjustment to become fond, rather than jealous, of Roman. These petty feelings evaporate, however, when he is taken ill. Roman is poisoned by eating toxic lead paint used in their apartment. During his absence while staying in the hospital, Jackie realizes how much she cares about him.
How does Jackie's family show love in Brown Girl Dreaming?
Unfortunately, there is no love lost between certain members of Jackie's family. Her parents have a rocky marriage which eventually leads to them splitting up, getting back together, and splitting for a second and final time.
This results in Jackie, her siblings, and their mother moving in with Jackie's maternal grandparents, with whom Jackie enjoys great reciprocal love. Evidence of this love lies in the fact that Jackie is reluctant to leave for New York once her mother has settled there. In fact, Jackie and her siblings have grown so close to their grandfather that they start calling him "Daddy."
The children's grandmother, Georgiana, shows her deep love for her grandchildren by taking them to Bible study and teaching them everything she can about being Jehovah's Witnesses. Following the death of her husband later in the story, she goes to live with her daughter and grandchildren, which is further evidence of the love she shares with Jackie and her family.
While Jackie is initially unhappy in New York, she begins to feel more settled when her uncle, Robert, moves to the city. However, her grandparents are arguably the relatives with whom she shares the most love.
Jackie's love for her youngest sibling, Roman, is evidenced by her dedicating her summer to looking after him after he gets sick with lead poisoning.