INT Essay 2 (I\'m Not Dying With You Tonight) PDF

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Essay describing the book "I'm Not Dying With You Tonight"...

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I’m Not With You Tonight Essay Professor Morrill-Ragusea September 22, 2019 Mark Berndt In the book, “I’m Not Dying With You Tonight” by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal, there are many arguments being proposed. These quarrels all come together to reveal two different points of view on the same story. The main argument of this story is showing how race effects perception of everyday life. This is shown through the opinions, interests, and fears of the two main characters, Lena and Campbell. One extremely common way race effects the perspective of the characters in this story is the way they view law enforcement. When the fight at the high school football game breaks out, police show up to attempt to break it up and deescalate the situation, but it only makes matters much worse. When the police first arrive, Campbell is full of relief and proclaims “It’s gonna be okay”, while Lena knows matters are only going to get worse and says, “Oh now shit’s about to get real” (Segal 38). These statements contradict each other because Lena and Campbell have had different experiences with law enforcement, which has affected their perception on how “helpful” police can be. Lena has much more experience with the local law enforcement than Campbell does, due to Campbell moving to the area recently, and Lena’s point is proven to be correct when Campbell witnesses one of the officers as he “elbows a girl in the chest.” She then states that she “didn’t see what she was doing other than running in his direction” (Segal 44). Another example of their differentiating opinion on the helpfulness of law enforcement is revealed when they attempt to leave the portables. Campbell describes the parking lot as being “choked by cop cars and fire engines and ambulances, teeming with police and first responders”

(Segal 90). Campbell attempts to cross the parking lot, which seems harmless to her, but Lena refuses. Campbell describes Lena as seeing her face “twisted in panic” and “freaking out harder than she did in the concession stand when they were shooting” (Segal 91). Although their race does change their perception on law enforcement, it is not entirely because of their race that they act this way. Lena displays these fears because of the experiences she has faced because of her race. She is not merely born to dislike the police, but she fears them due to the horrors she has experienced by them because of their customary brutality and racism directed towards African Americans. Another habitual way the race of the characters affects their perception is how they refer to certain locations and the feeling associated with those locations. One prime example of this is the way Campbell refers to First Avenue, which is the only route that isn’t blockaded by police to get away from the school where the first riot broke out. When Lena suggests taking that route, Campbell refers to it as going “through the ghetto” due to its high crime rate (Segal 93). Despite the fact that to her, the term is meant to be seen as offensive, she subconsciously uses it because her race has placed her into situations in which this word is not seen as offensive, but merely a term she has grown up around. An additional instance of this refers to when Lena spots her cousin Marcus in an empty parking lot. When Lena suggests going over to the lot to greet Marcus, she notices that Campbell’s “hands are shaking” and that “her words do not match up with her face” (Jones 114). Campbell is fearful because she has never been placed in this setting before, and everything she has heard about settings like this one are most likely unsettling. One familiar way race effects the everyday life of these characters is the languages they speak. Both characters communicate in their different ways due to the fact that they were raised differently and have grown up around two different cultures and two different ways of

communicating. The use of Ebonics is important to African American culture, and Lena speaks in this manner because it is what she has grown up around, not just because of her race. Throughout this story, race effecting our perception of events is heavily displayed. The characters are exposed to the many different values and opinions they hold, and It is obvious that the authors are trying to prove the differences of perceptions that race commonly causes. Although race may cause these different views, it is not a direct cause, but a cause due to the different experiences and cultures their races bring.

References Segal, Gilly, and Kimberly Jones. Im Not Dying With You Tonight. Sourcebooks Fire, 2019....