ipl-logo

Racism In Claudia Rankine's Poem Citizen

965 Words4 Pages

The excerpt from Claudia Rankine’s poem Citizen chronicles several instances of modern everyday racism that the narrator faces. Rankine uses her own experiences to demonstrate the microagressions and racism that African Americans face every day. While some African American individuals try to change parts of their world, other people who do not face the same oppression do not understand that it needs to be changed. Throughout the poem, the narrator’s character growth is marked by her willingness to stand up for herself and her race.
In the first section, the narrator describes a time when she did not stand up for herself. When the man complains that his dean is making him hire someone of color when there are so many other good writers out there, …show more content…

She says she “wants time to function as a power wash”, and remove the memory of the ride from her mind before she enters her house. This stanza shows how distressed the narrator feels about the comment, proving that her method of coping is not viable, and that she cannot let go of the small instances of racism she experiences. Her attempts to ignore times when she is offended do not work, and in that regard, are little better than John Henryism. She still does not confront racism, which would allow her some closure on the matter, but rather than fight against …show more content…

The woman recalls how she told the man who pushed her son to apologize, a sentiment that the narrator sympathizes with, saying that she wants “the black child pushed to the ground to be seen, to be helped to his feet and be brushed off” showing what she would do in this situation. “The beautiful thing is that a group of men began to stand behind me like a fleet of bodyguards, she says, like newly found uncles and brothers” showing that because of the racism she experienced, a group of people united to protect her and her son. This is very different from the confrontation in Starbucks, when the narrator stands alone, and people seem to side more with the man’s racist comments than with her

Show More
Related

Southland Jackie Ishida Analysis

940 Words | 4 Pages

She is reminded of the violence that torn not only communities apart but families as well. How the social norms of the day restricted people’s lives and held them in the balance of life and death. Her grandfathers past life, her grandmother cultural silence about the internment and husband’s affair, the police brutality that cause the death of 4 young black teenagers. Even her own inner conflicts with her sexuality and Japanese heritage. She starts to see the world around her with a different

Read More

Letter From A Birmingham Jail By Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

1280 Words | 6 Pages

As of the year 2016, there are an estimated 324,118,787 people living in America. 324,118,787 people consider themselves to be Americans and 324,118,787 people have decided that America really is worthy enough to be called home. These people, whether they were born within the country or emigrated from another country, comingle in this melting pot of a nation, sharing grocery stores and hospitals and neighborhoods and all the ideologies that make up American society, and each of these people have their own lives and opinions and personal beliefs. All of these people, all (roughly) 324,118,787 of them, fall under the definition of an American – a person who lives in America, because there is simply no other way to define what an American is when

Read More

The Pursuit Of Dreams In Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

824 Words | 4 Pages

The pursuit of dreams has played a big role in self-fulfillment and internal development and in many ways, an individual 's reactions to the perceived and real obstacles blocking the path to a dream define the very character of that person. This theme is evident in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is about the search for identity. A woman of a mixed ethnicity resides in several communities, each playing an important role and serve as crucial influences on her life. During the story, she endures two failed relationships and one good relationship, dealing with disappointment, death, the wrath of nature and life’s unpredictability.

Read More

Metaphors In In Search Of Our Mother's Garden

854 Words | 4 Pages

Metaphors are an influential piece to the literary world due to, “the process of using symbols to know reality occurs”, stated by rhetoric Sonja Foss in Metaphoric Criticism. The significance of this, implies metaphors are “central to thought and to our knowledge and expectation of reality” (Foss 188). Although others may see metaphors as a difficult expression. Metaphors provide the ability to view a specific content and relate to connect with involvement, a physical connection to view the context with clarity. As so used in Alice Walker’s literary piece, In Search Of Our Mothers’ Gardens.

Read More

Equal Opportunities In America

558 Words | 3 Pages

And I can see from the outside in, driven by the old voices of childhood and lost in anger and fear.” This quote explains how a child could be effected with racist comments. Although it happened when she was a child, the racist comments came back to her because that’s what she believes she was. This ties in with Americans having equal opportunities because it shows how one could be affected by racism. If the American government was to restrict every race

Read More

Summary Of Se Habla Espanol By Barrientos

678 Words | 3 Pages

This quote is important because in the beginning she was feeling like the only colored person and then it moved to how she felt out of place at times. But in the end she sees that she has always been one. This narrative agrees with how I understand race, because we are all one.

Read More

Rosa Parks Rhetorical Analysis Essay

455 Words | 2 Pages

The Unforgettable Rosa Parks Icon, Oprah Winfrey, in her eulogy, Rosa Parks Eulogy, acknowledges Rosa Parks bravery and contribution to the African Americans and herself. Winfrey’s purpose is to describe the heroic attribution of Rosa Parks that will never be forgotten. She utilizes figurative language, an appreciative and admirable tone, and pathos to depict the impact Parks had on their lives.

Read More

Comparing Letter From Birmingham Jail And Notes Of A Native Son

2399 Words | 10 Pages

Racism and racial inequality was extremely prevalent in America during the 1950’s and 1960’s. James Baldwin shows how racism can poison and make a person bitter in his essay “Notes of a Native Son”. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “A Letter from Birmingham Jail” also exposes the negative effects of racism, but he also writes about how to combat racism. Both texts show that the violence and hatred caused from racism form a cycle that never ends because hatred and violence keeps being fed into it. The actions of the characters in “Notes of a Native Son” can be explain by “A Letter from Birmingham Jail”, and when the two texts are paired together the racism that is shown in James Baldwin’s essay can be solved by the plan Dr. King proposes in his

Read More

Character Analysis Of Roberta In Recitatif By Toni Morrison

576 Words | 3 Pages

We know that she has insecurities because of the false accusations about Twyla kicking Maggie. In the weeks to follow Roberta and Twyla protest on opposite sides of the civil rights movement. It is here that we find out that Roberta might be the white character and Twyla may be the african american. This is significant because it shows the mysterious ways that the author is used to develop Robertas

Read More

Racism Exposed In Octavia E. Butler's Kindred

670 Words | 3 Pages

Dana goes back in time during the slave days where racism was very common, and this piece of evidence shows how rude people of color were treated. Butler draws on that experience to convey the universal theme that racism happened frequently in the past, but it’s still occurring today. Through this novel, Butler speaks to the reader with the message that racism is something that continues, and will keep on continuing for a long time. The words“ job and white” show a negative connotation, and implies that people of color did not have very pleasant lives before. Dana experienced time traveling to the past, which lead to an external conflict of dealing with racism and slavery.

Read More

Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric

1333 Words | 6 Pages

Claudia Rankine a renown poet, uses her novel “Citizen: An American Lyric” to discuss issues of race and imagination. Claudia Rankine is an absolute master of poetry and uses her gripping accounts of racism, through poetry to share a deep message. Claudia Rankine uses poetry to correlate directly to accounts of racism making Citizen a profound experience to read. Not only is this poetic novel a vision of her world through her eyes, Rankine uses the experiences of Americans whose color has rendered them invisible to the many who are privileged enough to be blind and not note racism as a large issue in America. Claudia Rankine articulates the use of you and further emphasizes the larger meaning of the title Citizen and recognizing that word through societal issues.

Read More

Racism In Short Story

1350 Words | 6 Pages

(pg.3). This quote shows just how the questions were affecting her. The Norton’s were asking her questions that she had no idea how to answer because she was unsure of what they meant. The questions made her feel uncomfortable and hurt, however, they kept asking Carole about her race. Another example of racism in this short story is how close minded Betty is towards the idea of mixed children in this world.

Read More

Flannery O Connor's Use Of Setting Analysis

724 Words | 3 Pages

The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.

Read More

Flannery O Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find

1142 Words | 5 Pages

Her final act towards the Misfit was not out of charity, but in attempt to save herself. Set in the South in the 1950s, the grandmother dutily satisfied the stereotypes that blossomed within her generation. She speaks of the older days, when children were more respectful, and good men were easier to find. However, she never expresses what defines a good man, which suggests her unsteady moral foundation. The grandmother also explicitly articulates the racism that was unfortunately common in the South, ironically prevalent in the religious and upper middle class circles like the ones she belonged to.

Read More

The Help Movie Analysis

3436 Words | 14 Pages

A young college graduate, Skeeter, returns home to be with her ailing mother, and in her ambition to succeed as a writer, turns to the black maids she knows. Skeeter is determined to collect their oral histories and write about a culture that values social facade and ignores the human dignity of many members of the community. Two maids, Aibileen and Minny, agree to share their stories, stories of struggle and daily humiliation, of hard work and low pay, of fear for themselves. It is a time of change, when

Read More

More about Racism In Claudia Rankine's Poem Citizen

Related Topics

Open Document