Bronx Masquerade

Eva Walters 

EN 499D*01

Dr. Ellis 

7 February 2024 

Blog Post: Final Third of Bronx Masquerade 

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes details the story of eighteen high schoolers as they learn about each other’s struggles and opinions through the process of sharing poems within their english class. The format of the novel allows readers to learn about each one of the characters through their poems and their interactions with one another. Through the sharing of each other's poems at the Open Mike Fridays, created by their teacher Mr. Ward, the students learn about the harmful effects of stereotypes and the impact of treating each other negatively. At the end of the novel, the students are invited to share some of their poems at a school assembly. During the assembly, Tyrone, the main narrator of the novel, shares how the class impacted him. Tyrone states, “...I feel like, even though the people in our class are all different colors and some of you speak a different language and everything, I feel like we connected. I feel like I know you now. You know what I’m saying? I feel like we’re not as different as I thought.’” (Kindle-86%). At the very end of the novel, there is an epilogue from the author. In the epilogue, readers are introduced to a new character, Mai Tren, a half-black, half-Vietnamese student who just recently moved to the United States. Mai describes that since arriving at the school, she has experienced cruel treatment from other students about the way she looked. Mai also was a victim of racial stereotyping, and even told to “‘Go back where [she] came from’” (Kindle-87%). I thought that this added epilogue and experiences of Mai were very interesting in contrast to the rest of the novel. Through Tyrone’s eyes specifically, we see the students learn about the harmfulness of their words and the effects of using stereotypes on each other, but when Mai arrives, she is subjected to the same troubles. Mai attends the assembly and witnesses the way that the classmates interact with each other, and hopes to be in the same poetry class next year. Overall, I thought that this was an interesting point to add to the novel and shows how society still needs to continue to work towards combating racial stereotypes and making assumptions based on looks. 

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