Beauty Queens Race Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph), For Prologue: (P.Paragraph), For Epilogue: (E.Paragraph), For footnotes: (Chapter.F.Paragraph)

Quote #4

"They were here. My people talk about it still. How they came to drill and mine. They violated the land and tested products on the animals. Made them very sick, killed a lot of them." (15.12)

The Corporation didn't think of the land as belonging to the people who lived there, because they didn't see them as good enough to negotiate with. They just took the land from them. Classic colonialist move.

Quote #5

Instead, she sat through countless DVR-ed episodes of the Girl with Attitude who came in to swivel her head, snap out a one-liner, and fall back like a background singer. They had one thing in common, though—they were all light-skinned. (16.13)

There's more than one level of messed-up in what Nicole is forced to watch. It's messed up that Black girls can only get background parts, and that the only girls getting parts at all are lighter-skinned. No wonder Nicole is so nervous she bites her nails.

Quote #6

"They want the Indian girl whose parents sacrificed everything to give her the American dream. They don't want some Valley girl whose parents, like, shop at Nordstrom and have a housekeeper named Maria. They want Princess Priya. That's the story they were looking for. That's the story that makes them feel good. That's the story that wins every time. So that's the story I gave them." (16.70)

Sheesh, so much for being genuine. Why do you think an immigrant story makes the audience feel good? Why does Shanti believe it so much that she lies about her own history?