Betsey Brown Responses

1. What scene or passage can you best identify with? 
The scene I can best identify with is the one where all the kids are running around while Bernice was there. There was so much yelling and trouble, and it seemed a lot like how my family is. There's always some sort of noise in our house.
2. What character would you most like to spend time with? Why?
I'd like to spend time with Greer. He seems like an interesting person, with his job as a doctor and his quizzes in the morning and his playing drums while leading the kids in a line for a quiz. He seems like an interesting father figure.
3. What scene or character in the book has bothered you? Why?
There are two characters that bother me a lot: Betsey and Vida. Vida is always complaining about something, and Betsey is just a terrible character overall. She caused Bernice to be fired because she told her mother about how Betsey climbed trees, and Betsey didn't like that. And then she went and played it off by acting all kind when she had caused all of the trouble, and her mother just assumed that since Betsey is such a "perfect" girl that she couldn't have done anything. In short, Betsey is manipulative and very annoying.
4. Comment about Shange's use of standard English grammar. Why do you think she purposefully plays with syntax, spelling, and sentence construction?
I really hate the grammar. I don't see why Shange could have conceivably thought that it was a good idea to use grammar that's as bad as the grammar in this book. It irks me to read this book because I keep trying to correct the grammar the best that I can in my head.
5. Predict the ending of the book. What major events will happen to Betsy? To Jane?
I'm guessing that Betsey will probably fall in love. She'll continue to be an absolutely horrible character, and I see no way that her character could be redeemed unless she was completely changed. Jane, on the other hand, will probably finally see Betsey for the manipulative person she is, and will probably go insane.
6. Which characters seem to contrast? Which seem to compare? What does this tell you about how an author uses characters?
The characters that contrast are Vida and Greer. Vida hates just about everything that Greer is, and she seems to make that very evident. The ones that compare are Jane and Regina. Both of them really want to take care of the children, and they are willing to do almost anything for them.