A Warm Golden Brown Analysis

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The short story: ‘A Warm Golden Brown’ written by Alexander Reid explores the important theme of racial prejudice. Two young and innocent children playing contentedly together, but the overhang of racism still shines though. Mrs Preedy, Ben’s mother is a very racist woman and forbids Ben from playing with Daisy. Mrs Preedy is conveyed to be a racist tyrant, but also hypocritical as she covers her skin in fake tan to darken her skin tone. Reid’s effective title has positive connotations, the words ‘‘warm’’ and ‘’golden’’ suggest that Reid likes the colour of Daisy’s skin tone and shows empathy towards the coloured community. Thus, Reid’s purpose is to portray a clear anti-racist message. He skilfully conveys this through the devices of fiction…show more content…
At the start of the story Ben and Daisy play happily together, even though Ben is wary of his mum catching them together he is still able to enjoy Daisy’s company. This highlights that without being influenced by his mother Ben would have freely played with Daisy and never minded what colour her skin was. However Ben is uneasy around because of his mother’s racist behaviour, he knows that his mother will do if Daisy is caught in the garden with him. He therefore confesses to Daisy that he is not allowed be playing with a ‘’nigger’’. This racial language is disgusting and should not be said by a young boy, but it goes to show that Ben has inherited some of his mother’s racism. On the other hand Daisy is extremely hurt and distressed by Ben’s language towards her. Her innocent mind cannot comprehend why Ben would say such a thing, even if he was purely influenced by his mother. Mrs Preedy is very involved in her son’s life and prevents him from making his own decisions because of her racial views. She made it impossible for him to become friends with Daisy only because of her coloured skin tone. Ironically at the end of the story Mrs Preedy applies fake tan to cover her pale skin and make it darker. This shows that Mrs Preedy is a very nasty racist person that mentally hurts both Ben and
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