Writing made eternal

 

In brown girl dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson offers a motif of storytelling, such that storytelling is the means by which stories, messages, and memories are made eternal and infinite.  In the second half of the work, readers find that Jacqueline originally struggles with writing--as excited as she is to have a composition book, she can't seem to find her confidence in writing.  Perhaps she doesn't know what to write about, or she struggles with writing as a form of expression.  Perhaps she is even afraid to write about something knowing that through writing the story will be made permanent.  

She contrasts the easy nature of speaking with writing: "When I speak, the words come pouring out of me.  The story wakes up and walks all over the room...But as I bend over my composition notebook, only my name comes quickly" (217).  Despite her initial struggle, Woodson finds the importance of writing as a means to remember, as writing brings stories and words into the time--eternal and engraved in memory.  In Writing 2, she describes recording song lyrics: "I am writing the lyrics down, trying to catch each word before it's gone...writing down words...tucking themselves into my memory" (221-222).  Writing and reading help her learn, while also allowing her to capture special literary and musical moments.  She finds, too, that capturing moments in writing also applies to her identity.  For example, in Late Autumn, she is asked to write her name on the board, and writes it in print as "Jacqueline" and in cursive as "Jackie" because she does not know how to write "q" in cursive.  Her teacher asks if she would like to be called Jackie, and she nods, lying.  She unintentionally wrote her identity into being, which signifies the eternal nature of writing.

Lastly, in A Writer, Woodson identifies herself for the first time as a writer after her teacher's encouragement.  Although her mother did not want her to write about their family, Jacqueline uses her inspirations to develop eternal stories.  She hints at the idea that writing memorializes and encourages revolutions, as inscription keeps dreams and advocacy alive: "My hands freeze on the thin white pages.  Like Blacks, Ms. Vivo, too, is part of a revolution" (311).  Her poem on page 312 captures an identity in time taking part in revolution, reminding her audience that significant moments like revolution never die in time, but that they are brought alive and remembered through writing.