I WAS ONCE MISS AMERICA

In Roxane Gay’s I Once Was Miss America, Gay revisits her childhood and her love for a book series. This book series, Sweet Valley High has impacted her perspective on the world around her. As a child, Gay did not fit within her class, hence she had to look up to fictional people or Vanessa Williams, as a way to validate her awkwardness. Gay as a child was an outsider and wanted desperately to fit in with the popular kids. By reading these books, Gay was able to identify with one of the main characters, Jessica Wakefield. She wanted her peers to embrace her and accept her like Jessica. She believed that she and Jessica Wakefield shared many attributes. As a minority, Gay faced exclusion and discrimination because she was Haitian and her parents “spoke funny”. Gay was very different from her classmates, her appearance was different from the norm, and because of this she became a target for teasing. To get through this she would try to find similarities between her and characters, and even Vanessa Williams. She looked up to Vanessa Williams because, she was the first black woman to wear the Miss America crown. She thought if Vanessa could be Miss America, then she could be Miss America as well. This is important, because this is seen in modern day society. Many kids look up to athletes, celebrities, and notable people. They aspire to become like their idols; kids would emulate everything they do. Children use fictional characters or well known figures to navigate their world.Roxane Gay utilizes Sweet Valley High series to depict how she overcame her childhood struggles of isolation.