Workbook for The Vanishing Half: A Novel by Brit Bennett E-Book

MaxHelp Workbooks

• Herausgeber: MaxHelp
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

Any reader can use this workbook for The Vanishing Half:  A Novel by Brit Bennett and find immediate help in applying its major lessons.

The Vanishing Half, Britt Bernett's newest historical fiction, tells about the story of the Vignes twin sisters. They will always be identical, but everything gradually changes after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen. It's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different from becoming adults; it also affected their families, communities, and racial identities. Ten years later, one sister moves back to the same southern town she passed to escape once before, to live with her black daughter. The other secretly passes for white, with her white husband not knowing anything about her past. Still, even separated as by  many miles as  many lies, the twins' fates remain in a tight knot. What will happen to the future generation when both their daughters' storylines cross paths?
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett became a #1 New York Times Bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. Entertainment Weekly praised the book, writing how the story is "an accomplished, affecting novel."

Do you want to apply the major lessons to your daily life? The goal of this workbook is to help even the any reader apply what may be the most critical lessons found in The Vanishing Half:  A Novel by Brit Bennett.
Results have shown that learning is retained best through repeated hands-on applications. With Max Help Workbooks, readers will be able to find distilled information with applicable engaging exercise worksheets to maximize learning.

Don’t Miss the Following Content:

• Succinct breakdown of the book categorized into major lessons
• Read and use the exercises yourself or as a group
• Easy-to-understand analysis of each lessons distilled for even the newest of readers
• Simple and practical worksheets to further reader’s application
• Quiz questions as a resource to be used for yourself or others

Book is on sale now. Get your copy now and take out a pencil, pen, or whatever digital technology to annotate, implement and make changes manifest. And don’t forget to have fun - that’ll also keep you learning.

Disclaimer: This workbook is meant to further application as an unofficial companion guide of the original work and is not affiliated with, or intended to replace the original work in any way. We encourage readers to purchase the original work prior to purchasing this copy.

Leseprobe

Workbook for

The Vanishing Half:

A Novel

Brit Bennett

MaxHelp WorkBooks

Table of Contents

Title Page

The Alice Network

1. Book Abstract: The Vanishing Half

Please note: This is a summary and workbook not meant to replace the original work. If you have not yet read the original work, please do before purchasing this unofficial publication.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or retransmitted, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher. Copyright © 2020 by Max Help Books. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer: Terms of Use: Product names, logos, brands, and other trademarks featured or referred to within this publication are the property of their respective trademark holders and are not affiliated with this publication. The information in this book is meant for educational and entertainment purposes only, and the publisher and author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of these contents and disclaim all warranties such as warranties of fitness for a particular purpose.  This is an unofficial summary and analytical review meant for educational and entertainment purposes only and has not been authorized, approved, licensed, or endorsed by the original book's author or publisher and any of their licensees or affiliates.

How to Use This Workbook for Enhanced Application

Complete beginners can begin using this workbook for The Vanishing Half: A Novel by Brit Bennett to get immediate help of the major lessons found in this book.

The goal of this workbook is to help even the newest readers to begin applying major lessons from Tribe of Mentors: Short Life Advice from the Best in the World by Timothy Ferris. Results have shown us that learning is retained better through repeated real-life applications.

By using this workbook, readers will find categorized lessons that we believed were major in defining the crucial messages of the author in the book. There are questions devoted both for self or corporate usage and actionable steps through charts and analysis tables to stimulate a continued engagement with the main lessons in the book.

Take out a pencil, pen, or whatever digital technology you would put to use to jot down, implement, and make happen. And don’t forget to have fun - that’ll also keep you learning.

Table of Contents

1. Book Abstract: The Vanishing Half

2. About the Author: Brit Bennett

3. Important Notes About This Book

4. Beyond its Publication

5. Quiz Questions

6. Quiz Answers

7. Gift: Bonus Bestselling Workbooks

Book Abstract for The Vanishing Half

In an interview, Bennett revealed how she wanted to write a book in a time and a place where binaries are vital, where a town is in a "weird liminal racial space" between the black and white. The author told that in the Jim Crow society, everything is about binaries.

In Brit Bennett's propulsive new novel, The Vanishing Half, she takes the theme she explored in her unforgettable essay, I Don't Know What to Do With Good White People, to a startling new place. Partly set in a fictitious town in the Jim Crow South, the historical tale offers a critique of whiteness from the view of someone who qualifies for white by choice — a choice driven by an understandable passion for the privilege, financial stability, and security. Stella Vignes lives in a town solely inhabited by black people who strive to marry lighter, Mallard, Louisiana. It was so their children will be "like a cup of coffee steadily diluted with cream," adding more perfection to a Negro. One night as a kid, she and her twin sister catch how white men lynched their father. As teenagers, such trauma leads them in dramatically diverse directions; one sister wedded with the darkest man she can find, the other escapes to live and pass among good white people.

In the most remarkable stories about passing, Bennett points out—the protagonists sequentially face society's judgment. Stella suffers from something more complex and depressing. Bennett is engaged in passing as it both reveals and strengthens the stratagem of race. According to Bennett, the characters who pass usually end up bolstering the hierarchies they are conceivably destabilizing. The stress within passing stories for her is between the idea of destabilizing race and then reaffirming race simultaneously.

In an interview, Bennett revealed how she wanted to write a book in a time and a place where binaries are vital, where a town is in a "weird liminal racial space" between the black and white. The author told that in the Jim Crow society, everything is about binaries. She pondered, "So what does it mean to be outside of that binary?" Bennett was interested in the idea that such a "liminal third space" was portable, that it was something the characters brought with them even when they left the town and moved to other places.

The idea of a performing race raises fascinating questions for Bennett—asking the purpose of living in a country built on racial hierarchies when categories are permeable. "We don't know people's gender or their race; we just make these assumptions." She then added how social, political, and economic implications come from these assumptions people are making. The author asserts that when people say race or gender is a social construct, others think what they're saying is that those things are non-existent. What she meant is how people think about race is not natural or inherent or inevitable. Bennett claims that these are ideas constructed and agreed upon by people over time that we have reinforced and developed "There's nothing inevitable about these categories."

According to Bennett, her road to publication was a lot smoother than many writers', significantly a lot of black writers. She wrote the Jezebel essay as she finished her MFA, and it led her to her agent. Bennett was working on The Mothers at the time, and they were able to sell the book as she was leaving her MFA in the spring. They had interest from many different editors and received a preempt before they went to auction.

The author hopes it's a moment of reckoning for the book world. She hopes the heightened focus on the racial inequities within the publishing industry is not just this capitalist moment—"We've seen this influx of antiracist reading lists.' Bennett then clarified that her novel is not How to Be An Antiracist nor White Fragility—"It's not something I wrote to teach people anything." Still, even with consideration, the author knows there's been a rush of support for the book because of the discussions that are currently happening about how it's crucial to read about black people. She also thinks one should read fiction by black people "because these books are good," and not because those books can help a person be better. Bennett revealed that she would always cringe a bit at such discourse: reading a book by a black person is not like eating "broccoli."

Bennett doesn't want current white readers to separate themselves from the book's characters. She said that's what is at risk when having white characters who are very obviously biased cartoonishly—"Nobody thinks of themselves as a bigot, so people see that, and they're just like, well, that's not me." Bennett said the book's characters are pleasant. She claims they have values that are much more alike to most contemporary white American readers. Such characteristics made her confident in saying that it wouldn't allow the reader to look away.

Workbook Exercises

Discussion Prompt 1: The murder of Desiree and Stella's father is presented as a horrific crime that sees no justice. Such a tragedy made an impact on the sisters in different ways. Desiree seems to bury it, but Stella is very traumatized. Why do you think Stella made such a significant decision to throw everything away and discard a huge part of who she is?

Discussion Prompt 2: Did Stella "vanish" from her true self as the title suggests? If so, when did it start? If not, why?

Discussion Prompt 3: Discuss "acting" as a theme in the book. Do you believe Kennedy was influenced by the history of her mother to be an actress? Was Reese acting? At what point in your life do you feel like acting?

Discussion Prompt 4: Discuss "exposure" as a theme in the book. For example, Stella and Reese are often scared of exposure, and Reese is a photographer exposing the film to the light. What can you say about this?