"I'm Not Dying With You Tonigh" Book Analysis Essay

Gilly Segal and Kimberly Jones's I'm Not Dying With You Tonight tell the story of Lena and Campbell, two young girls who couldn't be more different. Campbell is white and starting her senior year of high school in a predominantly black school after living almost all of her life in a predominantly white area. On the other hand, Lena has lived most of her life in which the majority of her community is black. The two have never met before, but that doesn't matter when they go to a night football game, and everything is turned upside down. The town is up in flames with the chaos that originated from race riots and civil disturbance from Black Lives Matter and Anti-Black Lives Matter protestors. Lena and Campbell must work together to keep each other safe and sound while also learning about their different perspectives about growing up Black and White. The multiple points of view stood out and aroused my curiosity while reading this book because it was interesting to see the mindsets of two different characters put in the same situation. Campbell’s experience growing up White was just as notable as Lena’s experience growing up Black through the character’s thoughts and actions. This book touched on what divides and brings people together because of the multiple points of view. Also, it was interesting to read the two different points of view because there were two authors, Kimberly Jones wrote Lena’s chapters in the first person, and Gilly Segal wrote Kimberly’s chapters. This book raised questions about stereotypes, discrimination, and how the two work hand in hand. The topic of stereotypes influenced my research questions, as it was a common theme in the book. So, with the themes and topics of this book in mind, I questioned the following: how do stereotypes and discrimination affect mental health?

By description, stereotypes are often untrue, inaccurate views of particular groups of individuals with a specific characteristic. There is a certain level of complicatedness to stereotypes according to Erin Beeghly the author of “What’s Wrong with Stereotypes?”  They are often persuasive because they thrive in psychological and cultural existence. Stereotypes are often difficult to break down because people will unintentionally look for evidence to support their false claims, which adds to the complexity. Stereotypes are mostly harmful, and these harmful stereotypes affect mental health negatively. Even so, stereotypes can affect people directly and indirectly. False beliefs establish when people pay attention to or care solely about the negative aspects of another. False assumptions about a group of ethically bad people can lead to ignorance, which can lead to moral failure. (Beeghly.) Moral failure is the disregard for the principles of right and wrong; people with moral failure are not as concerned about the mental health of others, so even though most stereotypes are harmful due to the inaccurate information they hold, someone with moral failure would not see these stereotypes as harmful. This ignorance alone impacts the mental health of people negatively. Stereotypes impact people directly by causing division between groups of people. The division between people can often lead to poor mental health. Another factor as to how stereotypes affect mental health is that when these false beliefs are accepted, they are sometimes used to justify limited or poor employment and other opportunities. When people lack access to or possess the bare requirements as a result of work issues, stress levels rise, causing mental health to deteriorate.

Racism, discrimination, and stereotypes are all associated with harmful effects on people overall, and the study Kristen Rogers, author of “Youth Who Experienced Discrimination Had Higher Risk for Mental Problems, Study Finds,” research supports the statement that people who get discriminated against are more likely to develop mental health problems than the average person. Prejudice of any form, particularly racial discrimination, has been linked to unfavorable mental health outcomes in studies. Anxiety, high-stress levels, depression, and substance use are some mental health problems someone could develop if people are commonly discriminated against.  Insecurity is raised when people get discriminated against, and it certainly doesn’t help that most of the time, people get discriminated against appearances, such as the color of one’s skin, which is something the person benign discriminated against cannot change about themselves. (Rogers.) Insecurities are one of the few ways discrimination indirectly affects the well-being of others mentally because insecurities feed into low-self esteem, which can lead to things such as depression or anxiety.

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight juggles topics from racial stereotypes to discrimination through the idea of the book. There are quite a few examples of how some of the assumptions made by Campbell made Lena feel uncomfortable and upset. As mentioned in the novel I’m Not Dying With You Tonight, Campbell is wary of Lena’s neighborhood because she deemed the area more violent and dangerous. It is an area with many black people, and Campbell is more nervous around black people because of the stereotypes she believed about the majority of black people being violent and dangerous. The stereotypes and assumptions made Lena upset with Cambell for going off of only false truth, rather than meeting the people and finding out they are kind, respectable people. Though Lena was understanding enough to brush past the assumptions Cambell made due to her upbringing in an almost all-white area, Lena’s feelings were affected negatively. This factor could lead to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, being self-conscious about the assumptions others make with no facts to back them up.

Discrimination and its ties to mental health problems are faced beyond the book I’m Not Dying With You Tonight as it affects people in real life. People of color can face racial discrimination through others believing in certain stereotypes. These stereotypes can cause racial discrimination, and the discrimination people of color face can lead from not being able to get certain jobs to individuals not wanting to associate with people of color. When people of color are left out of certain things or feel unimportant and uncomfortable because of their skin color, this can lead to insecurities, ultimately leading to mental health problems as severe as suicide. Education and open discussions about race-related among people in the world can aid in avoiding racial stereotypes, ultimately leading to a civil and healthy society.