Book Review Sample on Caucasia: Danzy Senna's Fictional Exploration of Race & Discrimination

Introduction

Caucasia is the fictional and bildungsroman creation of Danzy Senna, first published in 1998. Senna, the author of the book, is a famous novelist with Caucasia being her first fictional novel. She spent her early life and probably most of it in Boston. She studied at Brookline High School before moving to Stanford University and later on, the University of California, where she developed her writing career. In this novel, Senna explores the theme of race and racial discrimination in a unique way. She examines the aspect of race and racial indifference by focusing on Birdie Lee and Cole, who serves as multiracial characters in the text. The two girls are a representation of the perfect multiracial families in the United States. They are born as a crossbreed of the Caucasian and an African American. Senna sets the novel in the 1970s society of Boston during the turbulent period. Because of the unique nature that Senna employs in Caucasia, a review of the story is critically essential.

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Topics Affecting People

Generally, Senna weaves the sensitive topics affecting people such as adolescence, political movement, telescopic philanthropy, and the aspect of personal identity and how it relates to cultural understanding and race. A critical analysis of the novel reveals that Senna uses the characters that portray her heroic nature. The characters are on a mission-driven by passion and aspiration of saving the world. They thus begin by embracing their very footsteps with salvation. Through the characters, complex truths of how individuals forge identities, how much of the personal selves one can choose, and the role that the society plays in selecting the identities for people based on skin color and social status and class. The provocative nature of the novel, its brilliance, and the high-level suspense raises essential questions on the identity of people and race. Therefore, though centered on race, Birdie’s struggles with race and identity demonstrate the complex nature of the novel.

Multi-Generations

Caucasia is a novel that cuts across multi-generations. However, it primarily targets American youths who focus on listless sex and enjoy music and junk foods. It best suit readers that are interested in the high-level curiosity, particularly through the lunacy that exists in racial discrimination in the American community. Senna accurately portrays Birdie Lee as the most peculiar and believable character for communicating the themes which resonate with the target audiences’ desire. Thus, it would be safe to say that Senna purposefully attacks racial and structural inequality in the United States in a way that is neither offensive nor fragile. The exploration of the matter of racial indifference from the white and black girls’ standpoint clearly enhances the communication of the ultimate theme of the story.

Senna’s early life in Boston reflects in the novel. She demonstrates a significant understanding of the aspect of race as a result of her life experiences, specifically the 1970’s political environment and the roles that it played in personal identification. Since Caucasia is more of a personal experience reflecting on the life of Senna, it would be safe to say that she concludes that identity and racial characterization is the most significant concern of any piece of literature examining the lives of Americans. The conflicts that the author explores through the depiction of an interracial family attempting to escape the FBI affirms that she has a negative attitude towards the whole racial theme. Senna, in Caucasia, not only focus on inter-race familial ties, but also examine old-age, and its role. The close-knit structures of the story indicate that the authors use critical analysis and vivid descriptions of the events and characters to achieve the ultimate goal of the text. Despite the greatness of the structure of the story, Senna has used an approach that seems rather fierce, complicated, and humane. By so doing, she fails to address the unique and most critical nature of inter-race in the United States. In other words, she leaves out the reality of race, indifference, and personal identity in the United States.

The novel strategically ends with Senna achieving the goal of race through the popular concept of mixed marriages. The characters throughout the novel work knit the minor and major themes. The characterization of the individuals, particularly the main characters and undergoes through a series of developments, thereby enhancing the attainment of the core thesis of the author. Through Cole’s and Birdie’s development and the ultimate end of the novel, one can ascertain that Senna’s ambitions in the portrayal of interracial lifestyle and identities are achieved. A critical examination of the book reveals that Seena takes a central position when addressing the theme of racial indifference.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, Seena, in Caucasia, employs the use of the thematic and dramatic approach in a fictional creation that explores the twisted nature of American interracial families. In the novel, she portrays her characters, particularly the two sisters, as a clear representation of the individuals struggling with identities. Additionally, her use of heritage, identity, and loyalty, and combining that with the indifference arising from skin color makes the book worth reading. Unlike other authors who take either side of the racial divide and hence biased, Seena remains outstanding and maintains a noble course. Therefore, the book is convincing both to the supporters and those opposing racial discrimination.