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35 pages 1 hour read

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Brownies

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 2003

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Character Analysis

Laurel/“Snot”

Referred to as Snot for most of the story, Laurel is the story’s narrator and a member of the black Brownie troop at Camp Crescendo. She lives in an all-black suburb south of Atlanta. As the narrator, Laurel is more of an observer than an actor, recording the thoughts and words of those around her more often than actually making a decision or voicing an opinion. She does, however, act as the voice of reason atcertainpoints in the story, trying to convince Arnetta and Octavia that they are wrong about Troop 909 being racists (though her urgings fall on deaf ears), and later, trying to make a point about racism through her account of her father and the Mennonites at the story’s conclusion. 

Arnetta

Arnetta is the unspoken leader of Snot’s Brownie troop. A bully and a tyrant, it’s Arnetta who first spreads the false rumor that one of the members of Troop 909 has called Daphne a ni****. Arnetta believes her own perception of events to be entirely correct, and in this manner, may be viewed as narcissistic. Even once it’s discovered that Arnetta is wrong about Troop 909, she keeps trying to accuse 909’s members of being racist.Snot describes Arnett’s voice as “somehow both regal and vulgar at once” (7).

Daphne

Daphne is a member of Snot’s Brownie troop. Snot describes her voice as “petite and tinkly” (5), and Daphne rarely speaks in the story. Daphne writes the prize-winning poem for the girls’ school’s Langston Hughes Day celebration; her prize is a journal, which Daphne gives to Snot at the end of the story. While Daphne is quiet throughout the narrative, it’s her indecision or ambiguity that allows the story's plot to unfold. Not only does she remain silent in the face of Arnetta’s lie about the 909 troop’s use of a racial slur, Daphne also avoids going to the restroom to confront the 909 troop. Her inability to get involvedisultimately multi-faceted, as, were Daphne able to tell the truth about Arnetta’s lie, the situation with Troop 909 would not have happened. Furthermore, Snot depicts Daphne as especially poor compared to the other girls in the troop, and her meekness and inability to get involved may be in part a result of her socioeconomic status. 

Octavia

If Arnetta is the figurative president of Snot’s Brownie troop, Octavia is the vice president. The daughter of Mrs. Hedy, Octavia holds a fair amount of clout among the girls in the troop but plays second fiddle to Arnetta. Largely, her personality, actions and reactions to events and opinions are analogous to Arnetta’s.

Janice

Janice is another member of the Brownie troop Snot is in. She is described as overtly rural in comparison to the rest of the girls: “[her] country accent was laughable, her looks homely, her jumpy acrobatics embarrassing to behold” (8). While Arnetta and Octavia make fun of her, Janice is a willing crony to their plans to beat up the girls in Troop 909. After Daphne refuses to order the assault on the 909 girls, it’s Janice who steps in to say that it should happen.

Mrs. Hedy

Mrs. Hedy is the parent helper for Troop 909 and Octavia’s mother. She is concerned about her marriage to her husband and escapes these concerns by having the girls sing Brownie songs to her. 

Mrs. Margolin

Mrs. Margolin is the troop leader for Snot’s Brownie troop. She dresses in a showy fashion and is religious. According to Snot, Mrs. Margolin views “the position of troop leader as an evangelical post” (2). 

The Troop 909 Leader

Described as “a white woman with the severe pageboy hairdo of an Ancient Egyptian” (10), the Troop 909 leader remains nameless and functions as counterpart to Mrs. Margolin. She’s a presence in the story from early on, but only speaks after the narrative’s moment of climax, to explain the disabilities of the girls in Troop 909 and assure Mrs. Margolin and everyone else that the girls are not racist. 

Troop 909

Troop 909, the white Brownie troop, is comprised of developmentally-disabled white girls. There is the “big girl,” who is implicitly the leader of the group, a girl who never speaks, and a girl who seems unaware of Snot’s Brownie troop’s intention to harm them, among others. The leader of Troop 909 explains that some of the girls are echolalic, effectively parroting phrases they hear. One of the girls emphatically denies that they are “retarded,” the word they are called by Snot’s Brownie troop during the encounter in the bathroom.

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