The Test

The Test by Angelica Gibbs, is a short story about how white people treats black people. The story is most about one woman called Marian. She is in a situation where the issue of power abuse turns up.
The Test is about a black woman, Marian. She just graduated from college, and she wants her driver’s license. She has failed before, and fears that it will happen again. But Mrs Ericson is with her, as support. Marian is Mrs Ericson’s household, and she needs her driver’s license in order to drive Mrs Ericson’s children to school. She failed the first driver’s license test, because the white inspector made up mistakes she had made while she was driving. This time the inspector is also white and he keeps flatten her about her race while she is trying to pass. He calls her Mandy or Mandy-Lou, and acts surprised when she says she graduated last year. But in the end Marian talks back and says, “Damn you!”. And she fails the test.
The Main theme in The Test is racism, which fit perfectly with the settings. The setting is in The United States of America, where racism is a big part of their past.
In the beginning, we as a reader cannot be sure that the text is about a black and white woman, but in the first page, line 5, there is a confirmation. “They probably do like it better if a white person shows up with you”. Already in this sentence there is a principle, for the racist attitude in the American population. Another sentence that is characterized by racism is in page 2, line 53 “Old enough to have quite a flock of pickaninnies, eh?”. It proofs that the inspector is racist. Without dialogue we have no way of finding racism.
Marian is a very strong and brave person. She is clever and graduated last year, but she cannot move on her life, because her skin is black. She works for Mrs Ericson as a household/housekeeper. The relationship between Mrs Ericson