"Another Way Home"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how author Ronne Hartfield is a biracial individual who was raised through one of America's most difficult time periods. More specifically, the paper explains that Hartfield bases her memoir "Another Way Home: The Tangled Roots of Race in One Chicago Family", on her's and her mother's experiences and that the novel was Hartfield's attempt to simply present her biracial family's history and prove that families such as hers lived in a positive existence despite racial hardships. The paper looks at how Hartfield constructs the argument that the scarcity of mixed race triumphs in public view gives America a biased opinion of biracial families. The paper also examines how Hartfield claims that family can play an influential role in one's life, and how her family and their home place come together to shape her identity.

From the Paper:

"In the prologue of Hartfield's book, Hartfield makes an argument about the scarcity of success stories by minority races during the race struggles in the first half of the twentieth century. She supports her argument by stating "What strikes me is the dearth of stories about the ordinary lives of the vast number of people of color who have occupied the zone of mixed race with ease and sanity for several generations," and further defends her argument by summarizing that "Narratives of emotional and social health in black families continue to be less available than stories supporting the idea that simply to be black in America is to be pathological." (XV). Hartfield is arguing that even though the American public can't read or watch the progression of minority families, their progression is taking place; thus, the reason for her memoirs. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hartfield, Ronne. Another Way Home: The Tangles Roots of Race In One Chicago Family. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.
• Hooks, Bell. "Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics." Boston: South End Press, 1990.
• Miville, et al. "Chameleon Changes: An Exploration of Racial Identity Themes of Multiracial People." Journal of Counseling Psychology. 52.4 (2005). 507-516

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