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Representation Of Women In Literature
Representation Of Women In Literature
Essays about feminism in literature
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Teju Cole’s “Live Update” and Audre Lorde’s “Power” most powerfully use figurative language to persuade others to fight against injustice. The poem “Live Update” talks about the injustices regarding gun violence. In the poem this is specifically shown by the quote, “They are dead now./ They and their various views on the matter,/ swallowed up suddenly by darkness, “ (12-14). The use of end-stopped allows the reader to pause and realize the effects of gun violence. For example the quote mentioned “their various views on the matter” meaning it did not matter whether the victim of gun violence supported guns or not they were still victims which creates a sense of anger and sadness within the reader. Also, because of the connotations with darkness …show more content…
This is shown in the quote,” I am trapped on a dessert of raw gunshot wounds/ and a dead child dragging his shattered black/ face off the edge of my sleep/ blood from his punctured cheeks and shoulders”(5-8). The use of enjambment creates a feeling of suffocation among the reader. The reader feels just a bit of what minorities feel each and every day when they deal with racism. Also the metaphor of “a desert of raw gunshot wounds” helps the reader to understand how it feels to be a minority. The desert can be compared to a place where minorities feel alone and outnumbered, and can not relate to others. Therefore in a way the poet is also creating an image for the reader. Lorde also writes, “raping an 85 year old white woman/ who is somebody’s mother/ and as i beat her senseless and set a torch to her bed/ a greek chorus will be singing ¾ time” (51-54). The image that Audre Lorde created emphasizes the amount of injustice there is between two races. She shows the reader how it is okay to kill an innocent African American ,yet revolting to rape “an 85 year old white woman”. The poet’s choice to choose the white women is more impactful to the reader rather than a white man being shot, which allows the reader to remember the injustice of how these crimes are
This imagery has to do with aggression that the narrator alleges God of perpetrating against the victim of this lynching. The narrator claims that “you (God) dug your nails in his ribs” and “pierced knives into his breast,” (Yehoash 107 line 24-26). These lines discuss the victims body as if it were violated by God, and the harm caused to the body was a result of Gods actions. This is a very contentious claim made by the author as he uses this imagery to parallel a crucifixion and blame a higher power. The textual echo has traversed from describing an anonymous body in harm, to explaining that harm has lead to death, to finally finding somebody to blame for that death. This textual echo both helps the reader to visual the victim of this lynching, while also understanding the train of thought that the author is going through in this
The top piece gives a more somber feeling, with the black face staring blankly forward, showing no emotion. The portion of Ntozake Shange’s poem, no more love poems #3, lady in blue, for which the piece was painted, states “we deal wit emotion too much/ so why don’t we go on ahead, & be white then/”. This blank, emotionless stare shows the expectations for black women to be stoic, whereas it is acceptable for white women to display emotion without being labeled as overreacting or crazy. The ropes, tied around the woman’s waist, signify the restrictions this places on black women; at the bottom of the piece, the ropes appear to be loosening slightly, representing women breaking free of these constraints placed on them by
As mentioned earlier, Jordan uses forceful and aggressive language, but combines the aggression with thought-provoking metaphors, images and similes. This combination is what makes Poem about My Rights stand out to me. The images and metaphors add a touch of eloquence to, what would have otherwise been thought of as, a hateful rant. The combination keeps readers fixated. It is as if she was hammering away at our collective consciousness with a surgeon’s scalpel - blunt force, but with elegant precision.
Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, tells a story of Lorde’s childhood in Harlem through herself discovery and her acceptance of her dark skin color, a lesbian and most importantly, her being a woman in the 1950’s. As with her other works, Audre’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name was artistically produced which could be read as a poetic song. Audre introduces her early life experience of prejudice and self discovery to her audience to locate her position and status in her world. While growing up, Lorde could not describe what it meant to be different; she did not have the word to express her indifference she felt in the world. Lorde’s parents, especially her mother chose to ignore racism and protected their children from the shadow of racism by ne...
In her eulogy for Coretta Scott King, Maya Angelou uses figurative language and repetition to compel the audience to follow King’s example of peaceful yet strong advocacy of human rights.
The story “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde demonstrates that she comes across a realization that she had to speak up for her rights and independence when she visited the capital city of the United States, Washington, D.C. Lorde explains how she was frustrated with the situation that occurred in Washington, D.C., which shows that she had learned the reality of the society. She writes about many things that she came across during the trip to Washington D.C. in the summer vacation. In the essay, the meanings of independence for Lorde are to fight for it and to speak up for the rights that they deserve. Lorde and her family visit many places in the capital city where they were told to leave the place because black people were not allowed there.
As Kendrick entered the stage shackled to his black comrades with a soulful saxophone playing in the background, it is obvious that the imagery of imprisonment was a commentary on incarceration in America and its similarities with slavery. By amplifying this modern twist on slavery, Kendrick provokes American viewers to reflect on the struggles that black Americans still go through today. At the start of his performance he goes on to rap “I’m African-American — I’m African” as if he was correcting himself. This isn’t surprising as black identity is hard to establish in a country that implicitly detests you, but explicitly fetishizes your culture. Stuart Hall discusses this in his text when he states, “’the primitive is a modern problem, a crisis in cultural identity’…the modernist construction of primitivism, the fetishistic recognition and disavowal of the primitive difference” (Hall 125). There is no wonder why Kendrick, like many African-Americans, finds comfort in placing his identity with the mother land rather than his true country of origin. How can the black multitude stand in solidarity with a country who will continuously praise black culture but refuse to recognize the black struggle? Kendrick Lamar then conjures imagery of Africa, where he danced and rapped in front of a raging bonfire, one of the most powerful imagery included in his entire performance. One can interpret
An elegance in word choice that evokes a vivid image. It would take a quite a bit of this essay to completely analyze this essay, so to break it down very briefly. It portrays a positive image of blackness as opposed to darkness and the color black normally being connected with evil, sorrow, and negativity. The poem as a whole connects blackness with positivity through its use of intricate, beautiful words and images.
The theme throughout the two poems "A Black Man Talks of Reaping" and "From the Dark Tower" is the idea that African American live in an unjust
Therefore, Morrison beings to bring to light the effects violence was having on the individuals who saw these atrocities happening in their community, but believed justice could only be served by perpetrating those same violent acts that were done to them against their oppressors. In turn, Morrison writes, “What that means is that a black man is a victim of a crime only when a white man says he is. Only then. If there was anything like or near justice and courts when a cracker kills a Negro, there wouldn’t have to be no Seven Days. But there ain’t; so we are.”(160). As a result, when Morrison utilizes the spondee “black man,” which enhances the connotation of the word “victim,” she has used the character Guitar as a representation of the views an individual of color had when it came America’s court system. Thus, Guitar signifies the justice that the black community was hoping to experience after de-segregation, but unfortunately never received due to racism still thriving in America. Therefore, it’s within this Chapter that we see the character Guitar represent a battle between fighting for justice, and the psychological effects racism had on the way some of the members of the black community thought justice should be served within America. Which in turn, fueled an individual of color to commit violent acts against their oppressors. The alliteration in the words “cracker kills” intensifies the hateful tone to the connotation of the word “Negro.” Additionally, the connotation of the words “justice” and “courts” adds an ominous image to the spondee “Seven Days.” Further, illustrating that the destructive nature found within racism had unfortunately turned those individuals of color who sought justice for their community into oppressors by believing that justice and violence are one in the
The song that I choose to do this assignment on is Fight the Power by Public Enemy. Fight the Power was written in 1989 and quickly became a street anthem for millions of youths. It reflects with issues dealing with both the Civil Rights Movement and to remind everyone that they too have Constitutional Rights. This particular song is about empowerment but also fighting the abuse of power that is given to the law enforcement agencies. It gave citizens of the U.S a more modern outlook on the many struggles that not only the African American community is up against but the other minority groups as well. The song’s message was eventually supposed to bring people together and make the world a better place, even though some teens saw it as a way
Hip Hop was, at its inception, a means for African Americans to tell their unaltered story. Towards the mid-’90s however, the genre began to be way more salse conscious than it ever was before. Artists, such as Nas for example, began to stray from their genuine and authentic selves to start making music about drugs, violence, and sex because that was what pushed their sales to the corporate level. This album was Lauryn Hill coming to re-educate the people in an attempt to bring them back to the root of Hip Hop. This poem focuses on many different themes, however this focuses on religion. In the poem Mystery of Iniquity the writer Lauryn Hill examines religion to illustrate racial discrimination, corrupting and crooked
We want “poem that kill”. Here Baraka is using Synecdoche a figurative form to refer to human (black) “stinking whores” he want the reader to know that poem become a powerful and important object so he can use to teach a lesson to the enemy. Moreover, here he writes about his wish to have “poems that wrestle cops into alleys/ /and take their weapons, leaving them dead with tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland”. Author wishes they could undo the role of power so African- Americans take control over the white and black and those from the other side of the world can return to their country where they belong so we can have some kind of peace right here. If only they can reverse that power, it would be a much easier for us. In addition, it sounds like an imaginary fiction of the African-Americans uprising. Baraka says “Knockoff poems for dope selling wops or slick half white//politicians Airplane poems, rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr….tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuh rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr… Setting fire and death to whities ass”. Right there the author is referring to enemy as whities that letting them know black people do care, by using weak syllable follow by a strong syllable that is the way Amiri is using an imaginary gun to kill his enemy. He is also telling the white audience, I dare you to try to comprehend it. He used the words as gun to shoot somebody or the enemy. Well words can be hurtful when you take into
Author brings alive plentiful of images “whatever race you be” (10), “black or white” (9), in one world all should be shared and treated equally. Other images describe the beauty and purity of the new dream world: “peace its paths adorn” (4), no more of ‘greed sapping the soul’, and the ‘loving and joyful earth’. By drawing an image the ‘sapping of soul’ and the ‘avarice blighting our day’ author elicits graphic imagery, to bring on the repulsive feelings, as those are characteristic that stain us all, “whatever race you be” (10). Toward the end of poem (line 14) the ugly images are replaced with a simile: a picture of beautiful, ever-present, unbiased joy, compared to the beauty and uniqueness of a “like a pearl” (14). A pearl is something only white, rich people may have had, definitely not the poor black folks, and so it is with the joy, which poor blacks could only dream of. In line 6 author uses the taste imagery, ascribing ‘sweetness’ to the ‘freedom’ , perhaps because everybody would know how sweets taste and make one feel, and because of racism, black people would have no experience, what freedom is like, so the “sweet” is closest that they may
This is portrayed when “I’ve got oil wells/Pumping in my living room.” This is metaphorically rising in discipline and power. The ‘oil’ has links to race and suffering she has surpassed in order for her to gain more capability and domination. Enjambment is used here to put emphasis on ‘Pumping’ which conveys wealth and strength. Pumping has connotations of confidence and pride and enjambment is what highlights this. Additionally, she states she walks “like I’ve got oil wells/Pumping in my living room.” This simile demonstrates she has self-confidence and dignity and as though she were rich enough to own oil wells at home. “Gold mines” illustrates her image at home which was traditionally a woman’s workplace into a place of productivity and justice. Notwithstanding, Harrison uses enjambment to display romance; this is shown when “one of the flirtatious ploys/when a girl’s dark shape is fancied by a boy’s.” This indicates romance with the use of ‘flirtatious ploys’ and ‘fancied’. The consistent use of ‘dark shape’ portrays the characters lost in the world and unsure of their personalities and influence. Harrison’s purpose here is to hesitate and resist from reality by portraying this forbidden and mysterious love. On the whole, enjambment can be compared from one poem to the other: in Still I Rise it is used for prestige and command,