The Double Nature of Rachel's Grandmother

When Rachel first moves in with her grandmother and aunt, she is flooded with new information about her African American background. Before this time, Rachel had not considered that this part of her ethnicity was so vastly different from the Danish part of her ethnicity that she understood so well. Once Rachel moves to Oregon she is faced with the fact that she is biracial; a fact that she never considered before this time. The minute she arrives at her grandmothers she is told, in both insidious and obvious ways, that she must embrace her African American heritage and forget about her Danish past. Her grandmother plays a very large role in relaying this message. For example, the gift she receives from grandma upon her arrival is a pair of black raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Also, her grandma does not acknowledge Rachel's Danish mother. She does not have a single picture of her, and won't even utter her name or make reference to her. Its as if Nella did not even exist in grandma's mind. Lastly, grandma embraces all the parts of Rachel that reflect her African American ethnicity, such as her hair. In these subtle ways grandma is sending Rachel a very strong message; although she is biracial, she must embrace her black heritage and deny her Danish background. Once Rachel begins school this message is further reinforced by her classmates in a much more direct manner.

Grandma showed Rachel that although she is of biracial decent, she cannot culturally be both black and Danish. Rachel must choose one ethnicity, and grandma made it very clear which choice she should make. Although grandma is so adamant about denying Rachel's eastern European decent, in certain instances grandma both acts in ways and encourages her family to act in ways that would be considered "white" by their community's standards. For example, grandma was the first black person to own a house in their Portland Oregon neighborhood. Rather than remain content in their Texas home, she decided to integrate herself and her family into a predominantly white neighborhood. Grandma also encouraged Loretta to play tennis; which was considered a white sport at this time, and her son to play piano; which was considered to be a white instrument. These behaviors by grandma markedly conflict with the message she is trying to send Rachel. Grandma's hypocritical actions further Rachel's identity confusion as well as cause Rachel's view of the world to become based on race.

Cailee Januszkiewicz-1