The world today can sometimes be a hard place to live, or at least live in comfort. Whether it be through the fault of bullies, or an even more wide spread problem such as racism, it is nearly impossible to live a day in the world today and feel like it was only full of happiness and good times. Due to this widespread problem of racism, often times we tend to see authors go with the grain and ignore it, continuously writing as if nothing bad happens in the world. Fortunately, Claudia Rankine, is not one of these authors. Rankine manages to paint a vivid picture of a life of hardships in her lyric Citizen: An American Lyric. In this lyric Claudia Rankine shows that she truly has a very interesting and not commonly used approach to some literary …show more content…
Claudia Rankine uses the second person point of view in Citizen: An American Lyric, and because of this choice it creates some moments that lead the reader to think critically about what is going on. One example of this can be found on page 66 when Rankine writes, “What else to liken yourself to an animal, the ruminant kind?” (Rankine) This quote in the context of the lyric puts the reader into a position where they feel how much words and actions that they think nothing of, can make people of color feel both segregated and alone. Incorporating this point of view into a rhetorical question also forces the reader to think about the problems at hand as if it is directly happening to them. However, Rankine not only uses the word “you” to make her lyric second person, but quite possibly the most moving and memorable moment of the book includes other pronouns of the second person point of view. In a quote that reads, “I they he she we you turn only to discover the encounter to be alien to this place.” (Rankine) Rankine shows that through the use of many different pronouns she is capable of including everyone in the story, thus pulling them in and giving them a sense of involvement is what is happening. This use of “you” and other pronouns is what makes Claudia Rankine’s writing style nearly unmatched in drawing readers in and actually making them care about real world problems. However, point of view is not the only literary tool that Rankine has on showcase is Citizen: An American
Many people have given up trying and others have adjusted to the way that they have to live and their sense of being human still is nearly gone. So many people who are African Americans that come from poverty are still stuck there because they don’t know what else to do any they are or have been in jail. If this story were to have happened 100 years ago that whole family would have been killed or put in an asylum and tortured. Although they are still tortured by this sentence and although time is surely taking its time in changing things, a lot has changed and without these stories or poems a lot of this change wouldn’t have
Ranikine’s addresses the light upon the failed judicial systems, micro aggressions, pain and agony faced by the black people, white privilege, and all the racial and institutional discrimination as well as the police brutality and injustice against the blacks; The book exposes that, even after the abolition of slavery, how the racism still existed and felt by the colored community in the form of recently emerged ‘Micro aggressions in this modern world’.
In the novel Song Yet Sung by McBride’s has suggested that once limitation is placed on an individual, such as race and gender, Individuals then face hindrance to the privileges and access to the American dream. McBride’s idea of limitation is prominent during the time of slavery for African Americans, as these same limitations are present during the twenty first century.
The people of the society portrayed in the stories take the notion of perfection and equality to the extreme. In "The Unknown Citizen", the Auden uses sarcasm to express an obsessive and mindless state that only know its citizens by numbers and letters, and evaluates their worth with statisti...
Within the course of two decades these three novels deal with racism, diversity of people and similar economic status. The writers raise awareness of the oppression of the African American communities and the long lasting struggles that these folks had to endure to survive.
In America, every citizen is guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although each person is given these rights, it is how each person uses them that defines how successful they will be in America. There are several obstacles that some Americans face on their pursuit of happiness. In this country’s past, Americans lived by a very specific set of beliefs that valued the importance of hard work, faith, and family. As time progressed and America began to evolve as a nation, this capitalistic society no longer devoted itself to family and faith but rather success, and the pursuit of prosperity. The shift from dependence on tradition towards a society that values success and how people struggle to b successful when society makes it difficult marks a common theme in Lorraine Hansberry’s play, A Raisin in the Sun. Two of the main characters in this story Lena Younger (Mama) and her son Walter Lee directly reflect the shift from tradition to a focus on success and capital and the struggles they face in regards to racism. Mama and Walter Lee’s contrasting values about the American dream and the way in which they pursue their own dreams while facing racism exemplifies the shift from valuing tradition like in previous generations in America, to valuing success and prosperity like in more current generations.
Discrimination and prejudice actions in American society is prominent with no hint of extinction. In the book “Sông I Sing” by Bao Phi, he depicts and highlights racism in his poems. The poet outlines stereotypes, prejudices, discrimination along with reference to white privilege. This two time Minnesota slam champion injects his passionate feelings of his views of other people into his poems. He advocates that racism shouldn’t exist in American society. Bao Phi is semi descriptive on the stories and brings his poems alive to visualize the content through words. This poet illustrates the effects of prejudice on people in American society who do not feel freedom based on skin color. All of his poems are deemed excellent not just because Phi
The female, adolescent speaker helps the audience realize the prejudice that is present in a “melting-pot” neighborhood in Queens during the year 1983. With the setting placed in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, the poem allows the audience to examine the experience of a young immigrant girl, and the inequality that is present during this time. Julia Alvarez in “Queens, 1963” employs poetic tools such as diction, figurative language, and irony to teach the reader that even though America is a place founded upon people who were strangers to the land, it is now home to immigrants to claim intolerance for other foreigners, despite the roots of America’s founding.
In On the Subway, Sharon Olds brings the world of a black man and a white woman into proximity. The demeanor of the white woman helps develop both portraits in the poem. The life of a white woman seems to be sweet and easy, but according to her, there are still reasons to feel scared, and threatened. In contrast, the life of a black man is painted as nothing sweet or easy. A black man faces more disadvantages than a white women, which makes his life more challenging. He’s seen as a threat. Moreover, the author brings insight to the racial tension between the two races by using simile, imagery, and tone. Through the author’s literary techniques, the reader can vividly see how this racial tension leads a white woman to view a black man.
The poem also focuses on what life was like in the sixties. It tells of black freedom marches in the South how they effected one family. It told of how our peace officers reacted to marches with clubs, hoses, guns, and jail. They were fierce and wild and a black child would be no match for them. The mother refused to let her child march in the wild streets of Birmingham and sent her to the safest place that no harm would become of her daughter.
By coming into the country, other races are denied of superiority and are exposed to an already “racialized society”. (pp.78) Oppression also comes into place with hierarchy, such as the “Bonds of Sisterhood” by Romero that portrays a difference between African American servants and housewives. It sets up an inequality between both women, showing inferiority over African American woman. One last reading that has emerged and captivated attention is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson expresses oppression in one of his own narratives when he was discriminated by two S.W.A.T officers. He describes his experience terrifying yet shocking since he had done nothing wrong. He was accused of a burglary based on the color of his skin because he lived in a white neighborhood. Not only that, but he was also investigated and searched which violated his rights. This unlawful act portrayed the ignorances for complex, multiple, and cross cutting relationships because Stevenson was an educated lawyer; yet, was seen different by the two officers in his own residence. Overall, Stevenson’s book has captured attention since it has given an experience of what he went
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
Who has the role of the victim in a civilization overrun with ethnic prejudices and discrimination? Native Son, a novel by Richard Wright, focuses on the effects of racism on the oppressors and the oppressed. The novel establishes the notion that in an ethnically prejudiced society, discrimination can, and will, come from anywhere, and most significant incidents do nothing but only contribute to its decline. The protagonist lives in a world of inescapable inferiority - in a society where he will never be allowed to succeed or be able to live up its seemingly high standards simply because he is a black man. Bigger is a pitiful product of American imperialism and exploitation. Bigger embodies one of humankind’s greatest tragedies of how mass oppression pervades all aspects of the lives of the oppressed as well as the oppressor, creating a complex world of misunderstanding, ignorance, pain, and suffering. Wright eloquently exploits this theme of racism and allows the reader to truly feel how the pressure and racism affects the feelings, thoughts, self-image, and life of a black person.
Claudia Rankine book Citizen: An American Lyric which details out the struggles, aggression, and obstacles of black life in America. The expressive use of “so, so sorry”
In the year of 1917, Countee Cullen began writing poems over the struggles that he experienced through the civil rights movement. During this time, the black race was facing problems with white supremacy and racial violence. Three of Countee Cullen’s poem that greatly stand out to me are “Tableau”, “A Brown Girl Dead”, and also “Incident”. All three of the poems just so happen to revolve around civil rights issues. Specifically, the poem “Tableau” speaks out to me not only personally but also through literature. In this poem, Cullen speaks of racial issues between those who don’t always get to have an important say in the subject - children.