Grandmothers Victory: An Insightful Analysis - Book Report/Review Example

The author of the paper tells that claiming the story “Grandmother’s Victory” as an address to racism would not be fair. The story is rather an account depicting the insecurity of people from a certain race against the other race. The story has been written by the author Maya who has rather acted as a protagonist of the story as well. She has been shown to live with her grandmother who she called Momma mostly throughout the widened coast of the novel. Both Momma and Maya had been projected in the story as being discriminated against by white girls who came to the store each day where Momma undertook canning in the dry season.

Throughout the novel, it is much easier to note that Momma has tried her level best to ignore the discriminatory sentences spoken by the white girls. Common symbols have been used to note the discrimination in the story. For instance, the Easter dress that Momma tries to rework on for Maya is an evident symbol showing discrimination. It is in the sense that Maya considered a used material by white. Earlier, before getting ready for Easter, Maya thought that she would look beautiful and in this way, she will be able to redefine beauty as being black.

But she realizes that she is merely wearing a dress that was thrown out by whites. This dress is a symbol that is eminent throughout the novel. In order to retaliate against the discriminatory words spoken by the whites, Momma always tried to keep herself calm. Maya has referred to this act of Momma to dignity as a synonym. This can be noted as a metaphor devises of literature where the author has connected and compared one’s ability with another phenomenon. Momma or namely Mrs. Handerson always hummed a tune whenever she witnessed the white girls.

Maya, the narrator has shown her inability to control the aggression that she had on her mind. Maya saw Momma many times ignoring the white ladies so perfectly that she always had to get amazed. This is why the narrator keeps on calling Mrs. Handerson a synonym of dignity. This is connected to the moral of the story projected through the character of Momma that in case one has to go through racial discrimination then he or she should not forget the value of self-respect. Dignity is much needed in case one wants to win against those who are unreasonable and racists.

The word dignity can also be noted to define the personality of Momma who was aware of her power but she rather chose to avoid using it against the white girls. Momma with dignity told the narrator many times that she was not afraid of the young white ladies but the sister. The author has transferred the pain and loss that blacks had to suffer through her writing. For instance, Maya notes, ”My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree.

One more woman ambushed and raped. . . . This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. only a little higher than the apes”. Through this quotation, it is much easier to note that the author has used the device of a simile which allows the reader to observe that the author rather claims black to be more like aliens because it is the way they were being treated by Americans during the 1930s.