Brown Girl Dreaming

Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers, and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay. 

Scaffolded/Short-Answer Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the below bulleted outlines. Cite details from the play over the course of your response that serve as examples and support.

1. One of the opening poems in the book, “other people’s memory,” shows how Woodson’s early self-concept was defined by others.

• How does Woodson shift toward defining herself in her own terms over the course of the book? (topic sentence)
• In what ways does Woodson’s desire to define herself manifest throughout the book?
• How does this relate to the overall themes of the memoir?

2. Names are an important part of Woodson’s memoir, and her desire to become a writer begins with writing her own name.

• Why are names significant to Woodson? (topic sentence)
• What specific moments in the book call attention to names, and what do they mean?
• How are names tied to Woodson’s desire to write down her family history and her own journey?

3. Throughout the memoir, Woodson identifies with various figures in the civil rights movement.

• How does Woodson’s own journey draw from the history going on around her? (topic sentence)
• What does each figure represent to her and her growth?
• How does Woodson think of herself in relation to these figures at the end of the memoir?

Full Essay Assignments

Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.

1. Throughout the memoir, Woodson returns to the title “How to Listen” for haikus that relate to family, memory, and her experiences growing up. Taking these poems as a thematic throughline, make a case for what Woodson is trying to say about the relationship between memory and listening. Please refer to the text for support.

2. The “dreaming” in the title of Brown Girl Dreaming is a deliberate evocation of Martin Luther King’s language in his “I Have a Dream” speech. How is Woodson’s life an example of King’s dream? How does the memoir use the link between Woodson’s experiences as a young Black woman and her desire to be a writer to explore the difficulties of growing up in the first generation after King and the civil rights movement?

3. Woodson’s move to New York City brings welcome differences as well as new challenges. Compare and contrast Woodson’s time in the South and her time in New York; what fundamental differences are there in the community? How do these differences change Woodson’s life? How do her two homes reflect different figures or aspects of the civil rights movement that Woodson identifies within her poems?