Symbolism In Packer's 'Brownies'

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In this story “Brownies” at the very beginning you soon find out that it is not going to be the sweet, good, friendly girls you would think you would be reading about with a title like “Brownies”. When Laurel says in the beginning of the story “By our second day at Camp Crescendo the girls in my Brownie troop had decided to kick the asses of each and every girl in Brownie Troop 909” (Packer 301). This was good it gave an exciting spin on the story right from the beginning and made you want to keep reading. There are a lot of symbols in this story that give good clues that help you want to understand and get deeply involved with the story. Daphne wrote a poem in the story for Langston Hughes Day that drew Laurel’s attention. The poem read “You are my father, the veteran when you cry in the dark it rains and rains in my heart” the first lines in that poem “You are my father, the veteran” (Packer 303) had a deep connection with Laurel and she repeated them in her head. This is a symbol in the story it shows that Laurel and Daphne our different than the other Brownie troops in the way they think. This symbol can also tell you why Daphne and Laurel both are alike in some ways in how neither of them…show more content…
We find out when Laurel said her and her dad ran into some white people dressed like puritans but they were actually Mennonites she says “They’re these people who, if you ask them to do a favor, like paint your porch or something, they have to do it. It’s their rules” (Packer 312). Laurel explained that her father asked them to do just that and paint his porch for him and they did it just like Laurel said they would do. Arnetta then asks Laurel “Why” “would someone pick a porch? If they’ll do anything why not make them the whole house? Why not ask for a hundred bucks?” (Packer

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