From reading If You Come Softly, some of her children's picture books in class, and hearing about other people's experiences with Woodson novels, it is apparent that she has some major themes that come through in her writings. In class we compared and contrasted If You Came Softly with I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This. In I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, a Black girl and a White girl become friends, which causes issues. It tackles tough topics such as interracial relationships, income level, sexual abuse, death, and abandonment. If You Come Softly tackles many of the same issues: interracial relationships, death, abandonment, homosexuality, and police brutality. Here is what I have gathered about Woodson from discussing and reading her work.-Common themes she likes to tackle are:
1. Tough/controversial topics
2. Power struggle between races (Specifically Black and White)
3. Conflict between races (Friendships, relationships)
4. Abandonment (Split families, mothers leaving, family members dying)
5. Sad endings! (Death, etc)
6. Death and its affects
That being said, I think she is a great writer and obviously is informed and understands the work that goes into writing about darker topics. It makes me wonder what her life was like growing up that made her decide to be an author of such controversial work. While I can appreciate her themes, I would like to read a story with a different tone and style, which I'm sure does exist. That is probably her trademark though so, what can I say? It was definitely an experience and I commend her for writing about things that are taboo or difficult to talk about.
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