Brown Girl, Brownstones

In December 1939, the United States enters World War II when Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. Despite the entire community’s investment in the war, the Boyce family is less engaged in politics. The war finally becomes a reality for Selina when her body begins to mirror the “upheaval” (58) of war; her first period comes and her breasts begin to develop.

On Saturdays, Silla puts the girls to work in the kitchen preparing ingredients for the Barbadian specialty foods Silla sells to her friends and neighbors. These acquaintances talk about the war, hand out unsolicited parenting advice to Silla (she should take her children to church if she doesn’t like their behavior, for example), debate whether they owe the United States as black immigrants, and talk about whether obeah (a folk religion from the Caribbean) works. Ina hates these conversations with the first-generation immigrants, but Selina enjoys them because she finds her “mother’s power with words” (63) intriguing; it’s a power she seeks for herself when she tries to create poetry at school.

One Saturday, Silla snaps after her friends talk about how many Barbadians are buying houses. She tells her friends that no matter what, she plans to sell Deighton’s land. The intensity of her promise casts a pall on everyone in the kitchen, and her friends must intervene when Silla threatens harm to Selina if she tells Deighton about her plans.