“What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl” is a poem by Patricia Smith. The poem is about the experiences of black girls and women, and how they are often misunderstood or marginalized by society.
The poem starts with the speaker saying that she is “not cute” and “not sweet.” She says that she is “savage” and “wild,” and that her hair is “nappy.” She goes on to say that she is often seen as angry, even when she isn’t, and that people are always telling her to smile more.
The poem continues with the speaker talking about how she is always asked to speak for her entire race, and how people expect her to be perfect.
When analyzing the poem What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl by Patricia Smith and the short story Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, it is evident that both pieces highlight the challenges of life between different ethnicities. Even though The Poem What Its like to be a black girl is more recent than Country Lovers, they were written during two different time frames and therefore their stories are unique within those specific contexts.
The poem is about a black girl in today’s society and how she is looked down upon because of her skin color. The poem goes into detail about the struggles that black girl faces on a daily basis. The poem also touches on the topics of beauty standards and how they are different for white girls and black girls. The poem concludes with the black girl saying that she is proud to be a black girl despite all the hardships that come along with it.
The short story Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer is set in South Africa during Apartheid. The story is about a white boy named Paulus who falls in love with a black girl named Thebedi. Their relationship is forbidden so they must keep it a secret. Throughout the story, the two main characters must deal with the difficulties that come with their different ethnic backgrounds. The story ends with Paulus and Thebedi getting caught and Paulus being sent to jail.
Both the poem and the short story are great examples of the difficulties that come with being in a relationship with someone from a different ethnic background. The poem What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl by Patricia Smith is more recent than the short story Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer, but both stories are relevant in today’s society. The poem is about a black girl in today’s society and how she is looked down upon because of her skin color.
The poem goes into detail about the struggles that black girl faces on a daily basis. The poem also touches on the topics of beauty standards and how they are different for white girls and black girls. The poem concludes with the black girl saying that she is proud to be a black girl despite all the hardships that come along with it.
The short story Country Lovers by Nadine Gordimer is set in South Africa during Apartheid. The story is about a white boy named Paulus who falls in love with a black girl named Thebedi. Their relationship is forbidden so they must keep it a secret. Throughout the story, the two main characters must deal with the difficulties that come with their different ethnic backgrounds. The story ends with Paulus and Thebedi getting caught and Paulus being sent to jail.
Both the poem and short story explore love, or the sensation of love. The short story reads, “One summer afternoon when there was water flowing there and it was very hot she waded in as they used to do when they were children, her dress bunched modestly and tucked into the legs of her pants.”
The schoolgirls he swam with at neighboring farms’ dams or pools wore bikinis, but the sight of their bellies and thighs in sunlight had never made him feel what he felt now. The girl came up the bank and sat beside him, water droplets beading off her dark legs being the only points of light in the earth-smelling deep shade.”
The poem states, “I loved my baby sister so. / Taught her to use a pot. / I was six when Momma died, / And Daddy didn’t care a lot, / So I became the grown-up fast, / As best a child could be./ But even then it wasn’t enough—/ They took my baby girl from me.”(Smith 25-32) Both poem and short story show love in different lights the poem being more dark as she had to take care of her younger sister at such a young age and the short story is more playful and loving.
In the poem Smith also discusses hair which is something that is normalized in society, “I’d watch my sisters comb their hair / For hours every day,/ And wonder how they could stand it—/ The endless pulling, prodding, pain./ They’d straighten it with grease and hot combs / ‘Til it lay like a shroud.”(Smith 33-38) This poem is important as it discusses the hardships that Black women go through on a daily basis, from having to take care of siblings at young age to conforming to society norms. These poem and short story are just examples of the great works by Patricia Smith.
Patricia Smith is a renowned poet and Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work often explores the experiences of black girls and women. In her poem “What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl,” Smith delves into the realities of what it’s like to grow up black and female in America. She discusses the pressure to conform to societal norms, the struggles of dealing with racism and discrimination, and the strength it takes to be a black woman in today’s world.
Smith’s poem is powerful and relatable, offering insight into the lives of black girls and women everywhere. It is an important work that highlights the unique experiences of black girls and women in America.
