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Essay Brainstorm - Coggle Diagram

- - - - “With no one pitching in any information, I figured I was just a brown-white guy”
      - Page 17
      - Within this quote there is a distinct use of irony taking place through the way Garnet contrasts the fact that he doesn't understand his own identity, but he is already comfortable with labeling himself as “just a brown-white guy”. This is also ironic through the way it blends two different races into one, suggesting that Garnet still has a significant struggle to seek his true identity. Within this piece of irony there is a case of assimilation and cultural misinterpretation in foster care, and through this, we figure out Garnet’s inner thoughts. Garnet was someone who was raised within the indigenous culture, encouraged to embrace the complexities of his identity and show the world his sincere personality. However, this incident clearly shows the character development that he is going through because of the way his inner thoughts are changing from being proud of his own identity, to changing the way he thinks and acts in order to fit into the culture that the foster care desires.
- - - - “It didn't seem to matter to Lonnie that I was Indian and it certainly didn't matter to me that he was black” Page 28
      - Analysis
        
        This was when Lonnie and Garnet became friends and it's a significant development in the story and his character development. Within this quote there is a clear identification of acceptance from Lonnie towards Garnet, and Garnet was shocked towards this as he was treated as an inferior for his entire life. Within his foster care experience Garnet was convinced that his indigenous background was a liability and not something that should represent his identity. However, Lonnie accepted Garnet’s indigenous background and encouraged him to embrace it, and later on in the story he ended up meeting Lonnie's family and relatives who also accepted his identity. This is a crucial development in the plot because of the way Garnet comes to the realization of his indigenous identity needing to be reformed and the pursuit of learning his culture expedited and truly started in this sequence. We can also look at this through the critical race lens, this is because of how there is a distinct case of color-blindness taking place. Color-Blindness is the idea that ignoring or overlooking racial and ethnic differences promotes racial harmony. In this case, Lonnie uses this strategy in order to promote racial harmony and look beyond the skin color or indigenous background of Garnet, and see him for who he truly is, which is a normal human being, like every other race that exists.
  - - - “ Funny that I always felt I was being threatened on the streets of them cities even though I thought of them as home all the time. But that morning, feeling that door close behind me, knowing there probably wasn't another human being for miles and miles, no one knowing for sure were I was, no gun, no outside world security, felt like the safest place in the world to me”
    - - Relate to critical race theroy