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Chapter 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Hate Race, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Racial Discrimination in Australia
Racism, Childhood, and Loss of Innocence
Race and Beauty Standards
Injustice and Complicity
The Power of Words
Summary
Analysis
Maxine’s parents both have a fear of water, which Maxine theorizes might be connected to the generational trauma of the Atlantic slave trade. Even so, Bordeaux and Cleopatra enroll their children in swimming lessons, although all three of them hate the lessons. At the end of summer, each of them gets to choose an extracurricular sport for the term, but they have to commit to it for the entire term. One semester, Cecelia and Maxine choose gymnastics at the YMCA. Maxine struggles with the class due to the instructor constantly instructing her to tuck in her backside, which she is physically unable to do due to her body shape. This embarrasses her, and she begins to dread going to the classes. She feels something is wrong with her body.
In addition to her insecurity around her Blackness, Maxine’s experience in gymnastics class shows her burgeoning body image issues. In particular, her instructor’s insistence on focusing on her backside leads her to become hyper-aware of her body shape, a difficult position to be in during gymnastics lessons specifically due to how exposed her body is. This anecdote shows the process by which young girls are taught to dislike their own bodies.
Themes
Maxine eventually admits to Cleopatra that she does not want to go to gymnastics due to her issues pulling in her bottom. Cleopatra, trying to hide her amusement, reassures Maxine that there’s nothing wrong with her body, but she tells her that she has to commit to the classes through the end of term. Maxine knows she won’t be able to bear six more weeks of her instructor’s focus on her body, so she deliberately shows up to class in baggy clothing, claiming that her leotard is in the wash. The instructor is displeased, but she does not comment on Maxine’s bottom for the rest of class. Maxine decides to destroy or hide her leotard, as she knows Cleopatra won’t want to buy her a new one. As a result, she’ll be able to wear shorts and t-shirts to class and avoid the unwanted comments.
Although Maxine is not able to fully get out of the gymnastics classes, her actions here show her ability to take things into her own hands. Rather than directly disobeying her mother and skipping gymnastics class—a move that would almost certainly lead to her getting into trouble—she finds a more subtle solution to her problem by drawing her teacher’s attention away from her body. By doing this, Maxine shows an ability to bend the rules just enough to weather the unfair conditions she’s been put in without drawing undue attention to herself.
Themes
