Bronx Masquerade

Bronx Masquerade

By Nikki Grimes

 

Bibliography

Grimes, Nikki. Bronx Masquerade. New York: Dial Books, 2002. ISBN: 0803725698

Plot Summary and Critical Analysis

When Wesley “Bad Boy” Boone is assigned an essay on the poetry of The Harlem Renaissance, he instead brings in a poem that he has written, which his teacher, Mr. Wards asks him to read to the class.  This is the beginning of what will become open-mike Fridays in Mr. Ward’s English class.  The stories of the 18 young people are told in 18 different voices through both poetry and prose by Nikki Grimes.  There is also a Greek chorus of sorts, in the person of Tyrone Bittings, who believes that there is no future for him or for black people until the poems of his classmates, and then his own poems, give him hope and power over his own destiny.

Each poem is preceded by first person narrative giving us a window into the, often, difficult lives of the characters. This is followed by a poem written by the character and read in class.  Tyrone’s first poem, written in a rap style, talks about the dangers of everyday life, ends on a hopeful note when he writes:

Still you can chill and celebrate

All that’s great about life, like music

And the tick-tick-tick of time

Which is equal parts yours and mine

To make of the world what we will

But first say no to coke and smoke.

Say not to police brutality

And causing fatality.

Say no to race hate.

Don’t underestimate the power of love.

But most of all

Take two poems

And call me

In the morning.

Even at this early stage of the book, Tyrone is moved by the artistic expression of his friend. Wesley.  The simple act of creation and performance has instilled in this character a sense of possibility and hope, which will only grow as the book progresses.

Chankara Troupe who comes to school sporting what she calls a “Johnny-mark” named after the guy who smacked her the night before.  In her prose section she talks about how she threw him out when he pushed her to have sex and hit her.  Her poem, written in free verse concerns coming downstairs in the middle of the night to find her sister, bruised and limping from a beating she had taken from her boyfriend.  The poem is about how she won’t let herself be treated like her sister.

“He’ll never do it again,”

She swears

But he will, because

She’ll let him.

Now, me?

I’ve got no use

For lame excuses

Or imitation love

That packs

A punch.

 

Raul Ramirez, a painter who uses Mr. Ward’s desk to do his artwork writes about growing up Puerto Rican in the Bronx and about how he wants to smash the stereotypes writing in his prose section “we are not all banditos like they show on TV, munching cuchfritos and sipping beer through chipped teeth.  Instead, he wants to paint the beauty of “los ninos” and his Mami and the way his friends turn a street into dance floor.  His poem is about throwing out the old stereotypes but keeping the mask

Why make it easy for you to choose whether I am Zorro or el bandito when I am neither, he writes in his “Z” shaped poem.

Diondra is a tall girl and everyone expects her to be into sports, but she isn’t.  “I’m an artist, like Raul. The difference is, I don’t tell anybody.  I refuse to give them new reasons to laugh at me.”

Her poem, “if”  written in a more traditional four line stanza rhyming scheme is lovely and moving.

If I dipped my brush in starlight

Painted a ribbon of night

On your windowsill

Would you still laugh?

Her insecurity is in full display, and her urge to convey her talent is powerful.  This is one of my favorite poems in the book.  It doesn’t have a sophisticated form, and the content is simple, yet powerful, but the fear of rejection is powerful and out there for all to see.

As the open-mike Friday’s continue and more of the student’s are emboldened to share their poems, we meet and learn about Devon Hope, a star basketball player who wants to be so much more; Lupe Algarin, a daydreamer, who thinks that having a baby will fill the hole in her life and give her someone that will love her.

We meet Gloria, who is already a single mother and learn the folly of Lupe’s dream.  She views her youth as over now as she writes in her poem “Message to a Friend”

The crashing sound

Of years lost

Shattered in her ears,

And new fears emerged

From the looking glass

Sometimes I wonder

If she’ll ever sing again.

Janelle Battle is overweight, and suffers the teasing and taunts of her classmates, but opens up in her poem and finds some acceptance; the Anglo girl who transferred in from a rich neighborhood after her mother died feels alone rather than unique, but find she has the death of a mother in common with Porscha Johnson, an African-American girl who also lost her mother.  There are far too many characters to detail every one, but the need for acceptance and love and happiness, or even just survival runs through each story and each poem.

The way that Nikkie Grimes is able to capture the voices, in poetry and prose, of so many different characters is wonderful, the Prose-Poetry format that she uses is extremely effective in showing the way that the poems come from the lives of the poets.  Using Tyrone as a wrap-around narrator is very effective in showing, in microcosm, the positive changes in attitude, self-esteem, and general life outlook of all of the characters.  As Tyrone progresses through the book from someone who see no hope for a brighter future, to a young man who has learned through writing and performing poetry and getting to know his classmate through poetry, that his future is his to build, the same progression can be seen in many of the characters.

Self expression, in the form of poetry and the performance of poetry transforms the lives of the young characters in a way that is quite beautiful and moving.  Ms Grimes is positing here that, through art, through self-expression, through creation, and learning to understand one another, we can become the master’s of our own fates.  That this lesson is learned in Bronx classroom, where the odds are stacked against the characters from the start, is nothing short of spectacular.

Her major accomplishment in this book is making those who are not in the same situation as the characters see and understand that message as well.  My high school days were spent in a small North Texas, 99% white high school, and yet through the stories and poetry, I was able to relate directly to the universal aspects of the human experience. 

As a high school student, the love of poetry and literature transformed my life, and led me from my graduating class of 31 to the 50,000 student campus of The University of Texas, where this small-town boy grew to love poetry even more.  If a message that poetry and literature and love can transform lives can appeal to fictional group of Bronx high school students and to 1980’s Texas teen, then the appeal is pretty close to universal. 

Grimes work is poetic, in the prose and poetry sections of the book.  The language of the book moved with the natural rhythms of young life and love and heartbreak and triumph and the relationship between the stories and the poems was executed with clarity but without obviousness.

I was moved by this book and I highly recommend it to those who would seek to use literature to enrich lives in the classroom, in the library, or at home.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: …flowing, rhythmic portrait of the diversity and individuality of teen characters in a classroom in Anywhere, U.S.A. Each teen's story is told by combining his or her poetry with snippets of narration. Readers meet Tyrone, an aspiring songwriter who sees no use for school; Lupe, who thinks that becoming a mother would give her the love she lacks in her life; and Janelle, who is struggling with her body image. As their stories unfold and intertwine with those of their classmates, readers are able to observe changes in them and watch the group evolve into a more cohesive unit.

Booklist:  Tyrone Bittings doesn't believe in a future: "Life is cold . . . What I've got is right here, right now, with my homeys." But an English-class open mike changes everything. Grimes' first novel since Jazmin's Notebook (1998) comprises brief monologues in the voices of students and their poems. Funny and painful, awkward and abstract, the poems talk about race, abuse, parental love, neglect, death, and body image ("Don't any of these girls like the way they look?" asks Tyrone). Most of all, they try to reveal the individuals beyond the stereotypes.

Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner

Connections

This book is ideal for having students perform.  Have each student take a character, read aloud the prose and the poetry section for that character and have them explain what they think the character is saying about their lives.

Have the entire class perform the book as a play

Discuss the challenges of growing up in an inner-city school district

Ask students which character they most relate to and why.

Ask how they feel about Tyrone and his role in the book.

Have students write poems of their own to perform in class.