How we cite our quotes: Paragraph
Quote #7
"Well," I say. "Dee."
"No Mama," she says. "Not 'Dee,' Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo!"
"What happened to 'Dee'?' I wanted to know.
"She's dead," Wangero said. "I couldn't bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me." (24-27)
Let the revolution begin. Is Dee's name change an effective way to fight racial oppression?
Quote #8
"You don't have to call me by [the name Wangero] if you don't want to," said Wangero.
"Why shouldn't I?" I asked. "If that's what you want us to call you, we'll call you." (38-39).
If Dee was just changing her name to try and shock her mother, she majorly failed. Do you think the narrator admires Dee's attempts to celebrate her African roots? Or is she just humoring the kid?
Quote #9
You must belong to those beef-cattle people down the road," I said. They said "Asalamalakim" when they met you, too, but they didn't shake hands. Always too busy: feeding the cattle, fixing the fences, putting up salt-lick shelters, throwing down hay. When the white folks poisoned some of the herd the men stayed up all night with rifles in their hands. (43)
Hakim-a-barber ends up distancing himself from these people when he tells the narrator that farming and raising cattle "isn't his style." What does this tell us about him?