The Black Girl- Gabby

I really did not enjoy this film, but that is primarily because I am not a fan of older films. But besides that, I just really could not stand the characters. Diuana struck me as a typical young woman who wants money, but doing a job that she actually wants. Now, she did sign up to watch children, which wasn't all that she was doing. So, I can understand why she was getting angry at having to cook and clean for her mistress when the children were not even there. What I do not understand though, is instead of just thinking about "why am I doing this," "where are the children," why the heck didn't she just open her mouth and say something? She is after all, free. It's not like they could beat her for asking a question or pointing out what her job is supposed to be. Like another student said, she just seems bratty throughout the film. Instead of being an adult and speaking up, she acts like a child. She stays in bed, locks herself in the bathroom and then ignores the child (who she was waiting for the whole time). I understand that she was tired of being treated like a slave, but the bottom line is that she wasn't a slave. She was an employee and like other employees, you can quit. Her suicide made me angry because I felt like that was the easy way out. Suicide to me is just so selfish, I fully understand that victims of suicide are driven to it because of psychological disturbances in their minds but we do not see that in Diuana. Instead we see a young woman who just wont take a stand for what she wants. So instead she kills herself, as one big "F you" to her employers. But what does that solve? Probably nothing, at least in my opinion. Yes, she is finally, truly "free;" but at this cost, she may as well have just quit and asked to go back home. As far as the mask goes, I think that she gave it to her mistress because it was something special and she wanted to show her gratitude towards getting the job. But in the end, she takes it back as if to say, "you don't deserve my gratitude anymore." She leaves it behind of course, along with her photos, as a constant reminder of all she left behind and all she gave up.