Woodson,
Jacqueline. 1998. IF YOU COME SOFTLY. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 0399231129
SUMMARY
Set in the
cities of Harlem and Brooklyn, fifteen-year-olds Jeremiah and Ellie meet at the
elite high school Percy Academy. Jeremiah,
the son of a famous film-making father and a successfully published mother,
tries to fit into his new school, playing basketball and hanging out with his
friends. Life seems strange until he
meets Ellie, the daughter of an often absent, but hard-working father, and a
mother who has already abandoned the family twice. Though they both come from different worlds-
Jeremiah is African-American while Ellie is Caucasian and Jewish- they both take on the struggles of overcoming
the prejudice and stereotypes interracial couples face while simultaneously
finding their own identities.
CRITICAL
ANALYSIS:
Woodson's
complicated story offers many cultural markers that bring to light the major
differences between the African-American and Caucasian cultures, and the
continual struggle for equality and acceptance.
The first two sentences of the story set a hard tone for the upcoming
obstacles Jeremiah will face, as it begins with "Jeremiah was black. He could feel it." Readers learn about the different kinds of
black in Brooklyn, as Woodson describes the varying skin tones as "light-skinned"
and "dark-skinned." Jeremiah's
grandmother often warned him to not be "too black" because it would
cause a lot of problems. Attention is
also given to the different types of hairstyles, as Jeremiah describes his
friends as "nappy-headed, curly-headed, bald-headed brothers." Jeremiah is also described as having dread
locks that are "thick and black and spiraling" over his shoulders. Authenticity is also seen in his friends'
names, which he refers to as "The Three Black Musketeers": Carlton,
Rayshon, and Kennedy.
Jeremiah
describes the environment of his new elite-prep school Percy Academy as being
"much whiter" than Brooklyn Tech, the school he transferred from, and
notices "all the white faces surrounding him." He even questions what he's doing at a school
"with all these white boys around him." Language use also plays a role throughout
Woodson's novel. Jeremiah and his friends
call each other "homeboys" and "brothers", and refer to
their neighborhood as "the hood."
Woodson even comments on Jeremiah's feelings as his fellow white
classmates try talking like him, writing "He hated when white guys tried to sound black."
Ellie is a
Jewish Caucasian female student who feels an immediate connection when she runs
into Jeremiah in the Percy hallways. Woodson
brings Ellie's Jewish faith to light at various points of the story, citing the
family's preparations for the Hanukkah and Yom Kippur holidays, going to
temple, and wearing a Star of David necklace.
Readers also learn that Ellie's older sister, Anne, has a girlfriend
named Stacey, and committed their lives to each other in a commitment ceremony
months before. For some readers, this
may be the first time they encounter a homosexual character in a story.
As Jeremiah
and Ellie's romance begins to bloom, the effects of racism and others'
prejudice are brought to readers attention.
As the two become more affectionate in public, holding hands and
kissing, they are often met with stares and are eyed suspiciously. Ellie describes "people stare, trying to
figure it all out or something."
She also comments that students at school do not know how to react to
the interracial couple, saying "It was strong, the way students seemed to
turn away from us." They often
here derogatory remarks from passersby, saying things like "jungle
fever" and "who turned out the lights?" As the couple grow together, Ellie asks
Jeremiah "You think it will always be like this?" and comments
"how stupid the world could be sometimes." This struggle for equality and acceptance is
one many readers may or may not be familiar with, but Woodson does a wonderful
job of bringing it to the forefront for discussion and thought.
Not only do
Jeremiah and Ellie face struggles from the outside world, but also from within
their own families. When Ellie tells her
sister, Anne, that Jeremiah is African-American, Anne's stunned reaction is
revealed to readers: "She didn't say anything. I could feel the air between us getting
weird." When Anne tries to explain
her concern that it must be hard to have a girlfriend or boyfriend of a
different race, Ellie angrily ends the conversation, and a rift between the two
is born. Jeremiah, on the other hand,
has a father who tells him "You're a black man, you're a warrior." He says of Caucasians "They don't know
they're white. They know what everybody
else is, but they don't know they're white." Readers gather from these comments that these
two different worlds are often at odds with one another, with racial
inequalities and discrimination prevalent in both worlds. As Jeremiah's father boldly states
"Times are not different".
Readers realize that the effects of racism still echo even in today's
world.
Readers also
learn of both characters' path to self identity as they step out into the existing world. Jeremiah struggles with the mixed messages he
gets from his friends, family, classmates, and even himself, as he tries to
figure out who he is: "But sometimes looking in that mirror, he had no
idea who he was or why he was in this world." Meanwhile, Ellie struggles to make sense of
society's expectations and her family's own perspectives. In an honest admission to confides to
Jeremiah "I used to think my family would accept anybody...No matter what
color they were. I'm not so sure of that
now...It scares me. If they have it in
them, to not like somebody because of their color- then I might have it in
me." Ellie reflects what perhaps
many readers may fear- that deep down that seed of prejudice exists in all of
us. This will let readers reflect on
their own attitudes and perceptions of those that may be of different
ethnicities and cultures.
REVIEWS AND
AWARDS
COOPERATIVE
CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTER CHOICES: "A quiet, beautifully etched
portrait of a first love that is shattered by the racism, If You Come Softly
traces the relationship of two teens whose lives intertwine for a short but
life-changing time."
KIRKUS:
"In a meditative interracial love story with a wrenching climactic twist,
Woodson (The House You Pass on the Way, 1997, etc.) offers an appealing pair of
teenagers and plenty of intellectual grist, before ending her story with a
senseless act of violence."
PUBLISHER'S
WEEKLY: " Once again, Woodson handles delicate, even explosive subject
matter with exceptional clarity, surety and depth. In this contemporary story
about an interracial romance, she seems to slip effortlessly into the skins of
both her main characters, Ellie, an upper-middle-class white girl who has just
transferred to Percy, an elite New York City prep school, and Jeremiah, one of
her few African American classmates, whose parents (a movie producer and a
famous writer) have just separated."
CONNECTIONS
* Have
students read other novels written by Jacqueline Woodson.
Woodson,
Jacqueline. COMING ON HOME SOON. ISBN 0399237488
Woodson,
Jacqueline. I HADN'T MEANT TO TELL YOU.
ISBN 0142405558
Woodson,
Jacqueline. FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF
MELANIN SUN. ISBN 0590458817
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