Comparison "what Its like to Be a Black Girl" and Child of the Americas

Comparison "Child of the America's" and "What it's like to be a black girl"

Tina Klingensmith

ENG 125 Introduction to Literature

Instructor Klein

February 18, 2013

Comparison: "Child of the Americas" and "What it's like to be a black girl"

The two literary poems that I am comparing in this essay are "Child of the Americas", by Aurora Morales and "What it's like to be a black girl", by Patricia Smith. Both of these poem focus on the soul and spirit of two African American girls, who are from different minority cultures. Both girls have been afflicted by the ignorant views of America regarding their very different cultures. The negative views by the Americans helped shaped their perception of themselves.

These two young ladies want to be accepted in the society that they live in. In "what it's like to be a black girl" she wants to change her appearance to fit in with what is considered to be normal. In "Child of the Americas" this young lady wants to embrace her heritage and stills wants everyone to accept her.

According to Charles, Simic, there is a simple answer to the question, what is poetry? Poetry is everything the poet sees. (Clugston, 2010) In the paragraphs to follow, I am going to show how society has a role in how a person views themselves. In the two poems I have chosen, 2 girls, one with light brown skin and the other with dark skin tell how their lives are similar in the case of prejudice, and how they conform to society differently. The two poems are important because they deal with racism and discrimination issues which occurred prior to the civil rights era and how they exist today.

Let us take a look at the poem written by Patricia Smith, "What it's like to be a Black Girl". This poem is about a 9 year old black girl, whose body is changing. She is becoming a black women. She does everything that she can to change her appearance to fix everything that society says is wrong with her. She straightens her hair, she dyes it blonde. She wares blue contacts to change the color of her dark eyes. She wants to look like blonde hair, blue eyed white girls.

Puberty is usually defined by the biological changes a young girl or boy's body undertakes around the age of 9 and up. "It's being 9 years old and feeling like you're not finished, writes Smith, "like your edges are wild, like there's something, everything , wrong."(Smith) puberty is something that all young children must deal with, but Smiths subject seems to also have the added pressures of racially jagged society. (collegetermpaper.com) Where for her, "it's flame and fists and life according to Motown" (Smith) meaning the sights and sounds of racial slurs and fighting, along with the rhythmic blues of Motown music. Just the transition of going from a girl to a women is hard enough, without the added pressures of being accepted due to a person hair, color of skin, and taste in music. (collegetermpaper.com).

Now let's take a look at Aurora Levins Morales," Child of the Americas." This poem is about an American who came from a mixture