Mamas strict control over her childrens language seems to have worked, as the children are considered to be very polite. So she began to make her own. When Hope is ten years old, he sings onstage for the first time in a school play. As Jacqueline grows up, storytelling will continue to be a source of catharsis and control for her when facing not only racial alienation, but also grief and pain. Meanwhile, Jacquelines ability to control her own narrative has empowered her to reconcile her relationship with place (she now feels at home in the North and mentally visits the South of her memories), and has given her tools to think about race and racial justice. She spent her early childhood in Greenville, South Carolina, and moved to Brooklyn, New York, when she was seven years old. As Jacqueline grows, and consequently writes, reads, and learns more, Woodson begins to play more with the style of the poems. As Jacqueline copies Langston Hughess work, Woodson displays Jacqueline taking on a kind of apprenticeship, learning from master writers while adding her own touch. But Woodson did not find herself dealing with a readily lucrative asset: Because of predatory lending that targeted black homeowners, she says, her mother died owing $300,000, and the house was in foreclosure. In this poem, memory is a problem for Jacqueline. The dedication in her novel Another Brooklyn is: "For Bushwick (1970-1990) In Memory", marking the loss of people and culture that occurs when the hipsters and the money move in. As Hope is typically so quiet, his performance is especially impressive. Complete your free account to request a guide. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. Jacqueline asks to take on the responsibility of writing a skit for her church, continuing to find spaces to exercise her talent. That year, I wrote a story and my teacher said This is really good. Before that I had written a poem about Martin Luther King that was, I guess, so good no one believed I wrote it. (including. Jacquelines worries that Maria will choose Diana over her as a best friend are dispelled in this poem. For Jacqueline, the pleasure in reading lies in committing the stories to memory, which highlights the relationship that Jacqueline cherishes between memory, writing, and storytelling. PDF downloads of all 1725 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. She thinks about writing as a medium of infinite possibility. Woodson further emphasizes the distance between Jack and Mama when she describes how Jack does not go with the family to Greenville. He was sent to live with his aunt in Nelsonville, where he was "the only brown boy in an all-white school" (14). Jacqueline Woodson I used to say I'd be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when I grew up but even as I said these things, I knew what made me happiest was writing.