Character Development in Bronx

In ELA, we recently finished reading Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes. Bronx Masquerade takes place in Mr. Ward’s class. The students in his class recently started their Harlem Renaissance unit, and one student suggests that the class should write poems and read them out to their peers every week. Through these poems and the multiple points of view in the story, the author shows how different characters develop throughout Bronx Masquerade.

One character that’s used to show how the point of view can develop characters would be Diondra Jordan. In the beginning of the book, Diondra tells the reader of her struggle in terms of how most people judge her by her looks, “I’m 6 feet tall… and he (Her father) figures the height is wasted on me since I don’t share his dreams of me going to the WNBA...I’m an artist, like Raul. The difference is, I don’t tell anybody… The Jolly Green Giant jokes are bad enough” (25-26). Most of the other students in her school and even her father judge her by her height. Due to this, she gets made fun of and she hides her true passions from others, due to her fear of being made fun of.

Later in the story, Diondra decides to open up to her classmates and we see her mature as a result. She gains confidence in her art, she decides to go against her father’s wishes and she decides to pursue a career in art by planning to go to an art school, “I was still upset about my father throwing a fit when he found my art school brochures last night… I’ve made up my mind, If I can get into art school, I’m going” (152). The author shows the reader how Diondra matures throughout the story, she decides to buck up and pursue her dreams, rather than listening to suggestions from others. Diondra developed as a character from the beginning by using her new confidence to pursue her passion, she probably wouldn’t have decided to do this at the beginning of the story.

Another element of the story that Nikki Grimes uses to develop characters is setting. One character developed through the setting is Tyrone Bittings. His defeatist attitude comes from the circumstances of his childhood, his father died early due to the violence in his hometown, “School ain’t nothing but a joke… They might as well go blow smoke up somebody else’s you-know-what, ‘cause a Black Man’s got no chances in this country. Here I am one of the kids who I know whose daddy didn’t skip out on him, and he didn’t even make it to 30… Life is cold. Future?... I could use me some future” (7-8). The setting of the story affects one of the characters in Bronx Masquerade by shaping their personality through certain circumstances and challenges.

In the story, Tyrone is also affected by conflict/circumstances. Due to Open Mike Fridays in Mr. Ward’s class, Tyrone has the chance to express himself through rap rather than wasting away in his own attitude. In the beginning of the book, Tyrone doesn’t care about his future, but later on he realizes how important school is for his life and decides to stay in it so he can pursue his passion in Hip-hop, “School ain't nothing but a joke” (7), “I’ve been thinking about hooking up with some guys who want to start a band.” (165).  The circumstances of the story affect Tyrone by giving him the ability to grow as a character

In Bronx, the reader gets to see both prose writing from a character and their poetry. Certain characters display a big difference between their writing, one of them is Diondra Jordan.

Diondra’s poems tend to be less conservative and talks to society less than her prose writing. Compare her prose, “If only I was as bold as Raul… I think I’ll paint myself in front of an easel. Then I could hang it in Mr. Ward’s class. See if anybody notices” (26).

In her prose, she tends to talk about only herself, she never really talks to others. She talks about what she’s feeling like, what she’s going to do, but she never seems to direct her words to others.

After her writing, we see her poem. It’s directed to the class,

“If I stood on tiptoe

Reached up and sculpted

Mountains from clouds

Would you laugh out loud?

…

Would you still laugh?...” (27).  Her poetry more directly adresses her classmates. This makes her appear more confident in her poetry compared to her normal text. In terms of structure, Diondra uses repetition to emphasize her point. She avoids repetition in her writing, it makes her seem more closed.

In conclusion, Nikki Grimes develops the characters through several things, like setting, the point of view, and even other characters.