Just Walk On By Brent Staples Analysis
Brent Staples, in his literary essay “Just Walk On By”, uses a variety of rhetorical strategies. The devices he uses throughout his essay effectively engage the audience in a series of his own personal anecdotes and thoughts. He specifically shifts the reader 's perspective towards the unvoiced and the judged. Within the essay, Staples manipulates several rhetorical strategies, such as perspective and metaphor, in order to emphasize the damage stereotypes have caused against the mindsets and perceptions of society as a whole. Staples illustrates how the nature of stereotypes can affect how we perceive others around us in either an excessively admirable light or, in his and many other cases, as barbaric or antagonistic. In his introductory paragraph, he begins his anecdote with seemingly vicious words: “My first victim was a woman” (Staples 542). This …show more content…
By specifically choosing to identify this woman as his “first victim”, he makes himself out to be a villain at first glance. He takes on the perspective of something much more dangerous than the simple street-walking insomniac he actually was. If he had introduced this paragraph using different or more mild word choice, it would lose its initial threatening impression and fail to hold any proper significance to his claim. The first impression of the essay disguises the truth; his appearance, character. No sooner than in the second paragraph do we get a glimpse of his personality in actuality: “[I’m] a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken-let alone hold it to a person’s throat” (Staples 542). He uses a more humorous route to admit to the audience of his harmless nature, shifting the perspective drastically from a stalking ominous figure to a misunderstood soft hearted person. Most omnivores are familiar with the task of cutting up raw meats to prepare for meals, and by stating the
Brent Staples Just Walk On Summary
604 Words | 3 PagesRacism existed for quite a long period of time, from slavery to this current era. Black males were historically perceived as slaves, criminals, and rebels by other races. Regardless of what other races perceive of black males, there are some that act opposite of those perceptions, and Brent Staples proves this in his essay "Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power to Alter Public Space" by listing the stereotypical perceptions of black males, actual behaviors of black males, and stating what he, a black male himself, feels and does in response to those perceptions. Past actions of black males had altered how some of the other races viewed them, causing misjudgment. Staples were a victim of this misjudgment in 1973-74 when he was 22.
Whistling Vivaldi Reflection
222 Words | 1 PagesAfter I have finished the book, Whistling Vivaldi, my outlook, on the stereotype threat in the United States, is broadened. Although the book, itself, is quite repetitive, each experiment depicts the clearer understanding of what Steele desires to convey to the readers. There is a significant point made that I, honestly, have never paid close attention to before. Steele (2011) remarks that “if we don’t take that part of the journey, we won’t get there at all” (217).
Brownies By ZZ Packer: Literary Analysis
2386 Words | 10 PagesLiterary Analysis Essay William Howard The short story that I chose for my literary analysis essay is “Brownies” By ZZ Packer. This fictional short story had a powerful meaning because it focused on how racial stereotyping can cause a lot of problems even among young girls who were attending a Girl Scouts camp. “Brownies” also showed how stereotyping can actually be harmful and can sometimes lead to hurtful consequences for the person who is the victim of it and for the person is guilty of stereotyping someone. I decided to do my analysis of this short story using the historical context element because of the long history of problems between the Black and White races in this country according to our history books, including
Stereotypes In Brent Staples's 'Just Walk On By'
1129 Words | 5 PagesThe message Staples wants to convey in his essay is that almost all people have to carry the burden of the stereotype they have, and he pushes this message through his use of ethos and pathos. Staples pushes his message through ethos by his use of expert testimony. One of the writers he quotes is Norman Podhoretz and his essay “My Negro Problem-And Ours”. Describing the fear he had while growing up, Podhoretz writes about how much
Rhetorical Devices In 'Just Walk On By' By Brent Staples
1013 Words | 5 PagesStaples uses imagery, so the reader can picture it when reading his work, and to help create a sort of dark and lonely tone. The character uses several personal experiences which use a large amount of imagery. This is better shown when staples writes “ As a softy who is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken- let alone hold it to a person’s throat……”(542), The character feels as though he is being judged for being a certain color when really he is afraid himself of getting hurt; he is also very humble and shy because he is afraid to even harm something that isn’t alive. When being treated as guilty and wrong, shame will follow; the character feels shameful that the lady is afraid of him when he has done nothing wrong.
Analysis Of Just Walk On By Brent Staples
934 Words | 4 PagesIn the reading Just Walk on By by Brent Staples, the topic of racial stereotypes surfaces from the man who gets racially profiled quite often as he explains his personal experiences. The author bluntly tries to pass the message that racially judging people is wrong and explaining how it makes the other party ,african americans, feel. When analyzing Staples’ message his rhetorical strategies play a huge role into how his message is perceived. He uses influential diction allowing each word to give an impact unmatched by any white man who tried to convey a black man’s thought process. Staples also appeals to his credibility with the obvious observation that he is a black man talking about his real life experiences.
Rhetorical Analysis Of Just Walk On By, By Brent Staples
1244 Words | 5 PagesBy using such a unique story with eye-catching phrases as the introduction of his article, Staples evokes the emotion of fear and unsettledness that soon proceeds to a feeling of relief, yet in a way that 's melancholic.
Summary Of Just Walk On By Brent Staples
756 Words | 4 PagesThe message that Brent Staples is trying to convey to the audience in his essay Just Walk On By, is that as a society we have positive and negative preconceived thoughts of other people who are of either the same or different race and gender. For Staples, this means that as a tall black man he has to deal with being seen as deadly and threatening to people who don’t know him. These people let their fear of biased opinions of black men think that all tall, black, and athletic men are going to attack them. Brent uses his stories of people’s fear and judgement of him, to allow the reader to both understand what the people were feeling and how he felt being judged. Brent Staples’ persona helps the message through the use of strong diction.
Summary Of Just Walk On By Black Men And Public Space
1166 Words | 5 PagesThe women’s racism caused her reaction of “running in earnest,” “worried glances” and her eventual getaway, exemplifying the prejudice of a black male. He further demonstrates his “ability to alter public space” when just crossing “in front of a car stopped at a traffic light.” He hears the “thunk” of the driver locking their car regardless of them being “black, white, male, or female.” Staples understands the world is dangerous and people have the right to fear those around them, however, he continues to endure discrimination. But I am the person making those judgements.
Summary Of Just Walk On By A Black Man Ponders His Power To Alter Public Space
840 Words | 4 PagesThat it is reality and not just a concept based off of racism. Within these anecdotes Staples uses hyperbole to create suspense and kind of overstate the real issue at hand in order to show how terrible his position truly is. Such as in the opening sentence, “My first victim was a woman - white, well dressed, probably in her early twenties…(542)”. The woman is not an actual “victim” to any physical harm. Nothing happened to her except she feared for possibly her life.
Mr. T-By Terrance Hayes Analysis
586 Words | 3 PagesIn Terrance Hayes’s poem “Mr. T-,” the speaker presents the actor Laurence Tureaud, also known as Mr. T, as a sellout and an unfavorable role model for the African American youth for constantly playing negative, stereotypical roles for a black man in order to achieve success in Hollywood. The speaker also characterizes Mr. T as enormous and simple-minded with a demeanor similar to an animal’s to further his mockery of Mr. T’s career. The speaker begins his commentary on the actor’s career by suggesting that The A-Team, the show Mr. T stars in, is racist by mentioning how he is “Sometimes drugged / & duffled (by white men) in a cockpit,” which seems to draw illusions to white men capturing and transporting slaves to new territories during the time of the slave trade (4-5).
Rhetorical Analysis Of Just Walk On By
1164 Words | 5 PagesHis point of view is that of a man who feels that he has done wrong, when in reality, it is society that has done the wrongdoing. Staples knows that the stereotypes that he faces for being black are wrong but also understands that he has to accept them. His opening lines in the essay are “My first victim was a woman” (Staples 542). This simple line initially makes Staples look like a killer. He makes the reader view him this way initially as it is the way that he views himself.
Identities Wd Valgardson Summary
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To Kill A Mockingbird Essay Examples
749 Words | 3 PagesTKAM Mini-Research Paper Everyday, people are judged by the way they look or act. They are judged because people are either ignorant or too lazy to find out who a person really is on the inside. Some have tried to help this issue by saying, “don’t judge a book by its cover”, however the act of stereotyping this theme is evident in today’s society. It was also evident during the Great Depression and in the plot of the novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. In both real life and in the novel, and it is not until someone walks in another's shoes that they know what their life is actually like.
The Pros And Cons Of Stereotypes In Rain Man
1954 Words | 8 PagesIn today’s society, individuals and groups are labeled with either positive or negative stereotypes. People encounter stereotypes everyday and everywhere. It is the picture people paint in their minds when approaching a group or individual when in fact it may be different in reality. Stereotypes affect a person’s way of living and thinking either in a negative or positive way. Stereotypes are based on truth but in an exaggerated way, while misconceptions are formed from having stereotypes.
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