Yoruba Girl Dancing by Simi Bedford

The book Yoruba Girl Dancing starts out with Remi talking about her family and her Nigerian culture. Remi is a 6 year old girl that lives in Lagos, Nigeria. At the back of the house there is a large courtyard that had a well in the center. A total of thirty people lived in the house. Grandma and Grandpa have been separated for 15 years and never seen each other although they live in the same house. Remi’s aunts, maids, servants, foster children, relatives lived in the house also.  In the beginning of the story we immediately see that Remi’s relationship with her grandparents is very tight and close. Her grandfather serves as a father to her because she states how her dad doesn’t appreciate her for who she is. Her grandmother is very caring and loving but she also is strict and she punishes Remi if she had done something wrong. Remi’s parents arrive in Lagos for the weeding of Remi’s aunt. When they arrive Remi is very excited to see her mother and her brother, Tunji, and because she is one of the bridesmaids for the weeding. The streets were closed and police had to guard the house because it was a big party that took the whole night. Days after the wedding, Grandpa dies. This brings mourn to every single member of the family even Grandma. One day after Remi had just ate lunch with her brother and was resting, she was called by her mother to her room. When she arrived there her mother told her that her father had signed her up for boarding school in England and she is to leave with her Bigmama who is her step grandmother. They boarded the ship left Nigeria for good. In the ship ride Remi was so homesick that she screamed all night crying for her family. A day later Remi sees land and she knows that she has arrived to London. She then goes to her Uncle Theo’s and Aunt Betty’s house. When Remi enters her new school she was with other two kids. Her mentor introduced her to some kids in her grade. When Remi went to her dorm room everybody look at her weird because she was black and they had never seen a black person before. The first week of school for Remi was bad. She was cknstatly teased upon and she was made fun of a lot. They especially made fun of her skintone. One specific girl made fun of her by sane specific girl made fun of her by saying “The black comes off,’ she declared in a voice of doom, ‘if you touch her the black will rub off on you and very soon you will be black all over too” (Bedford 86). After a while the girls at the school change their attitude to Remi. They start to become friendlier to Remi. She also tries to change her heritage and she tells her friends that she is a representative for her country but she truly and English girl. Her classmates tell her not to change and to be who she is, but Remi refuses and states that she is an English girl. Remi one day is told that her parents are coming to visit her in England and Remi becomes very happy. When her parents arrive, they take her out of Chilcott Manor School and they transfer her to Dove House School.  Remi takes time getting familiar to her new school. She meets two of her best friends Phoebe Vincent, and Herr SchÖfbeck.  Remi goes to Germany for a little while and she goes back to England. Remi is now done with high school and she is looking forward to go to college. She decided to apply to London University, but doesn’t know if she got accepted. She also falls in love with Akin Williams. She mentions that she had met him in her aunts weeding way back in the beginning. The story ends with Remi and her husband going to a party.

Quote: “This is not the inspiration he’d intended, but even Gerald might have had a problem knocking the block off Chilcott Manor. Besides, as Aunty Mavis said, I was English now” (Bedford 123).

Reaction: This quote is where I think Remi becomes different. She sees herself in a different way now then she did when she came here. It seems to me that she has lost her identity and she it seems to me that she has lost her identity and she trying to become someone that isn’t her. The other bad thing is that her aunt supports her to be another person. She ends the quote by saying that her aunt told her to be person that she is not. This is a big turning point for Remi and she doesn’t realize it for a long time. In the beginning we see that Remi was defending her self and her skin color and her nationality but here we see how she’s forgotten about where she came from and who she truly is.