Summary Of Danzy Senna's Caucasia
Music in Caucasia
In Caucasia, Danzy Senna tells the tale of two young girls, Cole and Birdie. The products of a biracial couple, they struggle with the growing racial tensions in 1970’s America. The sisters share an inseparable bond, always speaking to each other in their own language, Elemeno. “What was the point of surviving if you had to disappear? [Birdie] said it aloud” (8). She soon learns, much like the Elemenos, that she would have to learn to change form in order to survive.
Music is a reoccurring element that Senna weaves into her writing. As we follow Birdie throughout her story, not only will we see her change, but the music around her changes as well. Her story begins in the 1970’s, the era of funk music, a style of music where African American musicians blended elements of jazz, soul and …show more content…
Soon, they learn to embrace their black culture, picking up Ebonics, and changing their appearance to match their African American peers. Here is where the reader will notice the music Senna subtly incorporates into her novel. Earth, Wind, & Fire, Al Green, James Brown, all famous African American musicians during that time period. These musicians were iconic figures in the African American community, influencing many other funk and R&B artists at the time.
From her mother’s need to go underground, Birdie finds herself in New Hampshire. A new name, a new story, a new life, she is forced to change herself into a white, Jewish girl in order to live in this all-white town. Alongside her transformation, she is exposed to a different type of music that she compares to “trashcans rolling down a hill.” (170) Birdie explains that disco was not the type of music that people in this town listen to. Although she was not used to it, she took up classic rock bands, such as the Rolling Stones and Hall and Oates, in order to fit
In Caucasia, Danzy Senna tells the tale of two young girls, Cole and Birdie. The products of a biracial couple, they struggle with the growing racial tensions in 1970’s America. The sisters share an inseparable bond, always speaking to each other in their own language, Elemeno. “What was the point of surviving if you had to disappear? [Birdie] said it aloud” (8). She soon learns, much like the Elemenos, that she would have to learn to change form in order to survive.
Music is a reoccurring element that Senna weaves into her writing. As we follow Birdie throughout her story, not only will we see her change, but the music around her changes as well. Her story begins in the 1970’s, the era of funk music, a style of music where African American musicians blended elements of jazz, soul and …show more content…
Soon, they learn to embrace their black culture, picking up Ebonics, and changing their appearance to match their African American peers. Here is where the reader will notice the music Senna subtly incorporates into her novel. Earth, Wind, & Fire, Al Green, James Brown, all famous African American musicians during that time period. These musicians were iconic figures in the African American community, influencing many other funk and R&B artists at the time.
From her mother’s need to go underground, Birdie finds herself in New Hampshire. A new name, a new story, a new life, she is forced to change herself into a white, Jewish girl in order to live in this all-white town. Alongside her transformation, she is exposed to a different type of music that she compares to “trashcans rolling down a hill.” (170) Birdie explains that disco was not the type of music that people in this town listen to. Although she was not used to it, she took up classic rock bands, such as the Rolling Stones and Hall and Oates, in order to fit