Ghost Children Essay

934 Words4 Pages
Ghost Children by D. Winston Brown Author’s Background: D. Winston Brown is an African American author from Birmingham, Alabama. He created this short story called Ghost Children from his own personal experiences growing up and how it affected his family life. There is limited information about Brown on the web. I wish I could locate more about his past and am interested in reading more of his essays. Story Summary: The setting of this essay takes place in Alabama, mainly in a bright, shiny, red car. The main character is a teenager of a colored race facing anger towards society and the inequalities in the United States. Brown relates to his past being a “nigger” and how to protect, preserve, and prove his “manhood.” He also compares the experience of gun power in the past versus the current usages of gun power. Unfortunately, either way, it is to preserve their “manhood.” Critique: Ghost Children is a nonfiction essay written in first person narration and focuses primarily on African American racism. In this essay, Brown relates his personal hardships of being a minority of a colored race. The story itself was fairly easy to follow and he clearly addresses his point. It is manifestly meticulous. It makes the reader want to read more. He focuses on the anger created by racism within the American society and proves his point by telling his own life story about protecting his “manhood.” It exposes anger, revenge, and violence as the solution in facing the racial society to preserving his “manhood.” The gun symbolizes the past and the present. It is a symbol to describe how and why the author reacted the way he did. It shows how powerful and defensive a gun can be and over time how it currently serves for different purposes. People abuse the privilege of owning a gun. The story eventually comes to a conclusion alluding everyone matures differently
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