THE NEW GIRL

« Allison’s reaction shows that she is prejudiced, intolerant, narrow-minded, contemptuous and full of hatred: “ Her eyes were drawn into slits… (l.

23) – … the hatred I had seen on Allison’s face . (l.

26) – Allison spat back, ‘I don’t play with niggers.’” (l.

29) We can notice that the narrator says that he “avoided the girl’s eyes” (l.

27).

The explanation is that he must have felt ashamed of himself.

He didn’t want to be aggressive towards the black girl, but as he wanted to keep Allison as his friend, he imitated herwithout realizing what he was doing. This passage is full of hatred and racist feelings.

Indeed, as soon as Allison saw the little black girl, she became aggressive and uttered very offensive, cruel words.

She insulted her. She didn’t even try to get to know the little girl or make friends with her.

Allison’s attitude shows how prejudiced and intolerant she was.

In the first passage, however, she looked like an ordinary little girl who was having fun playing with her friend.

The atmosphere was peaceful and friendly then. The girl must have felt scared and taken aback by the two white children’s attitude towards her.

She probably did not understand why Allison had been so mean to her, and why the narrator, who had been so nice at first, had suddenly become so aggressive. The narrator watched the little black girl go back home.

Then, a few moments later, as he was still watching her house, he saw a brown hand pull back the curtains a little and he realized that the girl’s mother was looking at them. Part 3. In this part, the narrator, who apparently hasn’t fully understood what has just happened, asks Allison who the girl was.

In her answer (l 39-40), Allison shows that she is clearly under her mother’s influence and her words reflect her mother’s intolerance and narrow-mindedness. She just keeps repeating her mother’s words without being able to explain them to the narrator.

She cannot think for herself. When the narrator said “Niggers are stupid.

Maybe they’ll move.” (l.

43), he definitely sided with Allison.

He must have been influenced by her.

He did so to show that, as Allison’s friend, he thought like her and had the same opinions about black people.

Today, he must feel remorseful about what he did.

He must feel guilty because he knows that what he and Allison did was wrong. Conclusion. This text shows that a few years after the Civil Rights Movement racist feelings were still common place (banals) in the south of the USA.

It also shows that children, who are innocent at first as the narrator’s initial reaction shows, can be perverted by the adults’ intolereance, like Allison who has been contaminated by her mother’s racism.. »