The narrative selected for this analysis is, “I Became her Target” by Rodger Wilkins. The story is about Wilkins’s childhood experiences being the only black student in a white-dominated suburban school. Wilkins talks about his favorite teacher, Dorothy Bean, and how she helped him to change the perception of other students towards him. Additionally, the teacher helped the narrator by asking challenging and critical questions. Therefore, the essay shows the important role that a teacher plays in the lives of their students. As a newcomer, Roger Wilkins recounts his dark experiences when he was twelve years (Wilkins, 2022). As a new kid in the school, he was the subject of discrimination from his white neighbors and classmates. However, when he met Dorothy Bean, it marked a turning point in his life because she was the one who gave attention to this ignored child.
Roger Wilkins wrote this essay against the backdrop of discrimination that he suffered in his new school. He was narrating his history and the impact that it had on his formative years. The purpose of this article was to bring out the historical problem of racial discrimination that is rooted in American society. The audience of this story is policymakers, students, parents, and school administrators to take charge of their institutions. The clause that made me make an educated guess is, “on the morning after having read our first assignment, she asked me the first question. I later came to know that in Grand Rapids, she was viewed as a very liberal person who believed, among other things, that Negroes were equal” (Wilkins, 2022). The author was vivid and arranged the information in chronological order. He started with the first day he joined school, discrimination, how he met teacher Bean and how the perceptions of the students changed. His story is very similar to that of many black students in the country. The author chose the chronological organization to give readers the sequence of events as they happened in real time. The part that relate to my story is where he met a caring teacher because I was in a similar situation when I changed schools and fellow students mocked me.
Roger Wilkins story is that one of struggle and strife against all odds. As a black kid in an all-white school, he became the center of ridicule from both the teachers and the students. It shows that while the surrounding might be not welcoming, there is always someone who is supportive and manages to rise up and change people’s attitudes and perceptions.
Reference
Wilkins, R. (2022). I became her target. In J. Langan McGraw-Hill Education & L. Albright, College Writing Skills with Readings (11th ed., pp. 653–655). McGraw-Hill Education.