Identical backgrounds, separate futures
Makayla Bech, Staff Writer
February 11, 2022
A standalone town named Mallard hides within Louisiana. Hidden within the normal geographic regions, the town is only known to those who know it. It is a town of color, however a town that does not accept color. The 1960s in America saw an outrage of racism that seemed to never dwindle down. There was an overreaching theme of white supremacy in society, and even those of color believed in it. “The only difference between lying and acting was if the audience was in on it.” With that said, the people of Mallard married light. Then their kids married lightly. Being light was the hope scattered around this town of color. To deny their true culture, to be a town in white not black. Being dark was a curse and a disrespect towards the history of Mallard. Desiree and Stella Vignes were born into Mallard in the late 60s. They were born light. Lighter than many, while still being innate in black genetics. There was no denying the fact that all the Mallard population consisted of colored people; however, as decades of pretending to deny their genetics carried on, pretending quickly turned into believing that they were white. Desiree and Stella were born six minutes apart. They stormed the town with their beauty and were praised for the light undertones of their skin. They were treated with respect and fit in perfectly with the rest of the town. However, there was never life outside of Mallard. The four walls of the town were all they ever knew. The church where they would pray on Sundays, the schoolhouse where children of all ages learned, the bar that sat at the town entrance and the same roads that led them back to their mother’s porch every night. Desiree and Stella shared the ultimate twin relationship. Desiree being the one to speak up and Stella being the one to contain shyness and laying low. Still, with all the acceptance and normalcy that surrounded the pair, leaving Mallard was all that the girls, especially Desiree, desired.
After escaping Mallard in plain sight, the twins found themselves in the big city of New Orleans. Life continued in their childhood town as it always would, their absence seeming less obscure as the years passed. Life became robust in busy schedules and independent apartments in a city that was unfamiliar and full of surprises. The girls found work, found friends, and discovered who they were outside of their childhood confinement. With all the new freedom and relishing beneath the bright lights of the city, the injustice towards them persisted. Reinvention was still necessary. The desire to be white stayed strong. Stella received the opportunity to turn her life into a new route. She became whiter, not allowing the sun to bathe within her skin. She began to blend in with the swarm of colorless crowds. She adored the lack of stares, and sat in white sections, drank from white water fountains. Stella Vignes was no longer light, she was white. With that, she became an entirely new person. Someone that needed to stand alone, which meant that Desiree could not be in association with her. With black ink staining into parchment, and the letters that she drew, Stella said goodbye to her twin sister and before Desiree returned home from work, Stella was gone.
Forty years will pass until the twins see each other once more. Stella travels along her route of marrying a white man and raises a daughter with him. The family lives in a rich, white community and Stella hides within her secret and spreads racism throughout the neighborhood when a black family moves in across the street. Life for Stella is exactly as she wanted it. She basked in her white privileged community and lived with the comforts of light skin. However, Desiree led a less simple life. She did not hide the pigments of her skin, in fact she seemed proud of her color as the book carried on. She married a black man and had a black daughter. It is through conflict and misfortune that Desiree found herself backtracking due to an unsafe marriage and brought herself and her daughter back to Mallard. Déjà vu carried deeply within Desiree’s soul as she returned to her childhood town of people ashamed of her heritage. She was concerned that her daughter would face the even more identity insecurities that she faced as a child. Years continue to pass while Stella and Desiree are absent of each other; however, it is when the daughters of the separated twins cross paths that the plot truly begins to thicken.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett clearly illustrates the state of the United States in the 20th century and the suppression that people of color continue to face today. This New York Times bestseller hit the shelves of the bookstore and people indulged in a story of racial issues, suppression, and coming to terms with identity. Through the characters of Desiree and Stella Vignes, Bennett constructs a novel immense in emotion. Reflecting on what I read and learned from this book, it is truly eye opening to see the injustices that people of color face and the suppression that they feel for themselves and their own race. It is baffling how society has taken something as simple as the complexion of skin and used it to suppress groups of people and praise another group. As someone who has lived with white privilege and grown up in a white household, I and many others will never know what it is like to be suppressed due to being born a color other than white. After reading this novel I think that it is more important than ever to stand against the societal constructs that tell us our worth based on color. I am tired of seeing innocent people being harmed and harassed due to their skin and it is time to finally put an end to this suppression.