Analysis Of Fourth Of July By Audre Lorde

This woman is very selfish and does not agree with the plans that her son has made for their relaxing getaway. When her grandson tells her that she should say home if she does not want to go to Florida, the witty granddaughter named June Star replies, " `She wouldn't stay home to be queen for a day' " (385). This shows that the grandmother always has to put her two cents into everything. In addition to the grandmother's idea of running into the Misfit, who has escaped from the penitentiary she states, " `I wouldn't take my children in any direction with a criminal like that aloose in it. ... ... middle of paper ... ..., is asked to take the mother and June Star to the woods.

To ask these questions at this point in time were unthinkable to her mother and most anyone else she associated with. She was just a young black girl and should keep her concerns to herself. Moody clearly portrays herself as someone unwilling to accept society in its condition from a very early age, which obviously foreshadows her involvement in the activist?s community. I would argue that the mentality of African-Americans to... ... middle of paper ... ...ndmother would not let her in her house for fear that she might cause trouble! At her mother?s birthday party no one would really speak with her, afraid of what she might say.

Ivon’s rebellious personality caused so many problems with her family. Her mother, Lydia, blamed her for her father’s alcoholism, leading to his death that has nothing to do with her being lesbian or different. This apparent hatred has made the mother to be embarrassed of Ivon and calls her various horrendous names, “How do you think I feel? Es una vergüenza” (Gaspar 66). She does not visit her hometown of El Paso, Texas just to avoid her mother.

Duncan-Richards 5 Susan struggled to get out of the culturally defined norms in the society. She wanted her marriage to be different but instead it wasn’t. Her traditional marriage drove her insane. Her marriage was lack of communication which caused her to distance herself from her family secretly. She escaped to room nineteen as Ozsert , S (2004) “A Passage to Freedom” stated by Khun Zhao (2012) the room is “a shelter from housework, children and unfaithful husband.

Therefore, it shows that Lorde has to stand up for herself in order to go to the dining car. The essay reflects on when Lorde and her family visit a store, they were told to leave the store which made them feel excluded from the crowd. The author writes, “My mother and father believed that they could best protect their children from the realities of race in America and the fact of the American racism by never giving them name, much less discussing their nature. We were told we must never trust white people, but why was never explained, nor the nature of their ill will” (Lorde, 240). The quote explains that Lorde’s parents thought they can protect their child in United States from the racism, however, they had to go through it and face racism in their daily life.

No one should ever be put into a situation where they face being told they are not good enough. In the other essay, “The Fourth of July,” a different type of discrimination was discussed, racism. Lorde’s family, which is African American, was faced with discrimination on a vacation to Washington D.C. They took the trip because Wilkinson 2 Lorde’s sister Phyllis could not go on her senior class to Washington. “The nuns had given her back her deposit in private, explaining to her that the class, all of whom were white, except Phyllis, would be staying in a hotel where Phyllis ‘would not be happy,’ Daddy explained to her, also in private, that they did not rent rooms to Negroes” (Lorde 202).

In the essay “The Fourth of July,” Audre Lorde shares a story about a young black girl who struggles to find the answers to why her parents did not explain why things are the way they are. In the story, the young girl and her family, which consists of her older sister and her parents, are taking a trip to Washington D.C. They are taking this trip because her sister, Phyllis, did not get a chance to go when her class went in 8th grade because she is black and they would not let her stay in the hotel. Her father told her that they would take a family trip later on so she would not be upset. However, this trip was not just a normal family vacation; it was an eye opening experience for Lorde.

In both “The Fourth of July” and “Black Men and Public Space” the narrators did one very important thing; they expressed how the encounter made the narrator feel. This is crucial because it almost allows the reader to share the feeling of helplessness that was felt. In “The Fourth of July”, Lorde explained how she truly did not understand why the family was treated differently. She tells of her parents’ fruitless effort to shield their children from the harsh realities of Jim Crow by planning out virtually the whole trip. The highlight of the story is when the narrator expresses both anger and confusion at the fact that her family was denied seated service at an ice cream parlor because they were black.

In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee introduces the three main prejudices or discrimination. The first one is the discrimination on the gender. Women are supposed to be wearing dresses and cannot be in the jury. Secondly, individuals are discriminated based on their social status. Aunt Alexandra doesn’t allow Walter to come in their home for dinner because he is a Cunningham.

As she grew older, Emily began to distance herself from society, and gradually the public reciprocated. Her overbearing father controlling her life and pushing everyone away ultimately contributed to the acceleration of her mental instability and sense of control which led to Emily’s gradual isolation from society. Emily’s peculiar personality and aura, mainly her sense of control and unwavering independence that she developed from her father, frightened other civilians. When certain women asked the Baptist minister to go to Emily’s house to discuss her marriage with Homer, readers can gather he was very afraid, “He would never divulge what happened during that interview, but he refused to go back again” (Faulkner, 378). Furthermore, when she went to purchase poison from store, she was asked by the druggist to clarify its purpose, but she refused, “Miss Emily just stared at him, her head tilted back in order to look him eye for eye, until he looked away and went and got the arsenic and wrapped it up.” (Faulkner, 377).