Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans

These stories deal with many issues that we see today for modern black females that are faced with similar pressures and influences by society for simply being black and female. The race and gender of these characters are not neutral factors, but rather these factors contribute to how others treat them, how they see themselves, and the choices that they make. While the characters in this book do their part to navigate their decisions, it is easy to see external forces that influence their attitudes and actions in each story. We are able to see how society's racial perceptions still influence our characters, and how it aids in creating this insider/outsider predicament.

While Danielle Evans may not agree with labeling the within her stories as specifically 'insider' or 'outsider', she does explain that these stories are a modern experience of how 'my generation's blackness is different from my parent's blackness'. The author, Danielle Evans, refers to her stories as giving attention to characters that are trying to be heard above all the noise, and she does this by giving multiple perspectives from a variety of characters that range in age, sex, and background.Īll of the main characters in this book are at crossroads, or coming of age experience in their lives, and often find themselves caught between the insider and outsider roles that society has dictated in their situation. Before you Suffocate your own Fool Self is a book composed of eight short stories that deal with a variety of characters undergoing a wide range of experiences in a contemporary time period.

Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans