A Really Good Brown Girl

Book Review

Kelsey Brown

September 27, 2011

A Really Good Brown Girl, Marilyn Dumont, Brick Books, London, Ontario. 1996.

APA Entry:

Entry #66, A Really Good Brown Girl, Marilyn Dumont. ISBN 0919626769, Grades 9-12. Subject: ELA, Themes: Poetry

I chose to read this book because I am fond of poetry, and I would like to begin thinking about how I would teach a poetry unit to a class. I have read some of Marilyn Dumont’s work before in university English classes, so I thought that I would have a head start at understanding her poetry. I thought that her style would be approachable to high school students, so I decided to look at her poetry collection.

Summary:

This book is a collection of Dumont’s poetry under four headings: Squaw Poems, What More than Dance, White Noise, and Made of Water. Her poems are modern, and mostly free verse. She covers many issues such as assimilation, racial prejudice, abuse, spirituality, family, and being a minority.

Quotes:

“I won an award that year for most improved student. I learned to follow really well.”
“I’d be so god-damned respectable that white people would feel slovenly in my presence.”
“this land is not/just a platform for my dance”
“and you know, John/after all that shuffling us around to suit the settlers/we’re still here and Metis”
“one wrong sound and you’re shelved in the Native Literature section/resistance writing/a mad Indian”
“Never list the troubles of my eight brothers and sisters before hearing mine”

Grade: Grades 9-12 Subject: ELA

GLO 1. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to explore thoughts, ideas, feelings, and experiences

Ie. Students will analyze and comprehend Marilyn Dumont’s poetry to better understand her background and experiences.

GLO 2. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print, and other media texts

Ie. Students will reflect on Marilyn Dumont’s poetry and how it represents the lives of Native Americans

GLO 4. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to enhance the clarity and artistry of communication

Ie. Students will create visual representations of Marilyn Dumont’s poetry.

GLO 5. Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to celebrate and build community

Ie. Students will share their opinions and responses to the issues of Aboriginals that are shown in Marilyn Dumont’s poetry.

Reflection:

One of the poems I liked the most in this collection was “Memoirs of a Really Good Brown Girl”. It describes in detail how the poet was encouraged to assimilate into Western culture during her experiences at school. She is conditioned to want to be like the white girls. It also tells of the moment when she denied her own heritage for fear of being ostracized from her classmates. I really like the ending though, when the poet stands up for herself in front of a university classroom; this shows how she has changed from the little girl who didn’t speak for fear of sounding different from the rest of the class.

“Helen Betty Osborne” was an effective and unsettling poem. The poem continually compares Native women to beasts or animals. This refers to the attitude of the time, when Aboriginals were considered “less than” European people, and therefore easier to mistreat. It actually makes me sick to think that anyone could consider another person “beasts of burden”. And although there may be laws now that give Aboriginal people equal rights, there are still people who think they are lesser than white people, and that is a sad thing.

As a whole I found this collection of poems to be very well written and accessible. They are very personal pieces of work, and invite the reader into the poet’s life. I think that this would be a great resource for any high school English classroom. Marilyn Dumont discusses many important issues through her poetry, and it would be very beneficial for students to see them through her eyes.

Additional Thoughts:

This book has the potential to influence students. Marilyn represents the Metis people, who have a unique background and story to tell. Especially in Manitoba it is common to have Metis students in classrooms, and this resource may interest them because of the heritage of the author. The poems are also intensely personal, it is like reading the poet’s diary, and because of its personal nature students are more likely to respect it. They can see modern issues through someone else’s eyes, and therefore come to understand another viewpoint.

The issues Marilyn Dumont talks about in her poetry could also be the basis for class discussion. The topics of crime, verbal abuse, racism, family, social expectations, and spirituality are all problems that everyone struggles with, regardless of heritage. Getting students to voice their opinions and brainstorm possible solutions to these problems is a great way of getting them engaged in the class and helping them think for themselves.

I would highly recommend this book for high school classrooms.