Silent Speech in Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name Even though, she was born on February 18 1934 as Audrey Geraldine Lorde, her name quickly changed to Audre Lorde; “I did not like the tail of the Y hanging down below the line in Audrey” (Lorde 24). She was only 4 years old when she made this decision, already marking her head-strong character, which Audre Lorde possessed throughout her turbulent life. Not only was Audre Lorde a fervent civil rights activist, but also a devout feminist, however she described herself as; “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” and “dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing the injustices of racism, sexism, and homophobia” (Poetry Foundation). Most of Lorde’s poetry and critical essays are focussed on black female identity, feminism, civil rights issues or a combination of these issues. Moreover, Lorde states in Sister Otsider: Essays and Speeches that; “Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world.” (Lorde 115). In 1982 Audre Lorde’s biomythography (a combination of history, biography, and myth) was published as Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, in which the author addresses all of the previously mentioned issues in a deeply personal manner; “The poet describes how she sought and found the powerful sources of her own language” (Barale 71).
Feminist scholar Audre Lorde has thoroughly documented this phenomenon, having been on the receiving end of white feminist scapegoating more than once. In her speech "The Uses of Anger," which she delivered at a 1981 National Women's Studies Association Conference, Lorde recounts the the times she's been dismissed as "angry" for bringing critiques of racism into predominantly white feminist spaces.
Christina Rossetti's Echo and Audre Lordes Echoes can both be identified as lyric poems; short poems interested in expressing emotions as oppose to narrative. They explore similar feelings of loss however present these feelings in different ways. Audre Lorde was a: Caribbean American poet, radical feminist and civil rights activist, her overwhelming background can be identified in her poetry, allowing the reader to gain exclusive insight into her thoughts and ideas. The speaker in her poem Echoes adopts a unique voice, subtle in nature and yet powerful. The speaker speaks on behalf of minorities that are inaudible to society, and uses the poem Echoes to express feelings on the situation.
Allie Nease Mrs. Phillips ENG 102- JM1 4 February 2023 Poetry Summary and Response In the poem “Who Said It Was Simple” by Audre Lorde, she discusses past issues that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. For starters, Lorde starts off the poem with a metaphor, “there are so many roots to the tree of anger that sometimes the branches shatter before they bear” (Lorde lines 2-3). This line suggests anger comes from many different sources, which can make it hard to deal with. Additionally, the poem portrays issues like sexism, racism, and feminism.
This source was written in 1542, and this speech was given to the people of the country of Spain. The Martolome De Las Casas, the lord Prince of Spains don Felipe gave this speech to the people. Giving this speech, the Prince shows how horrid the idea of the Christians killing and destroying the Indies. The Christians represent the English and the Indies are the Indians. The Christians invaded North America and stole the Indians’ gold, food, and killed a multitude of them: “The cause for which the Christians have slain and destroyed so many and such infinite numbers of souls, has been simply to get, as their ultimate end, the Indians’ gold of them, and to stuff themselves with riches in a very few days, and to raise themselves to high estates...
First though the use of anecdotes and rhetorical questions to show how the white people are always the ones who benefit from anything. First, Lorde uses a rhetorical question and asked, " But is it my manner that sustains her from hearing, or the threat of a message that her life may change?"(1) Furthermore, this shows that the white people are not really concerned with the other people but instead about their own life and benefits being affected in which shows that they are nonchalant about the problems about that other women of color have to face. In addition, Lorde also uses an anecdote when she states that a white woman once advised her that, " '...
From her sheltered beginnings in Eatonville, Florida it seemed that her obstacle was being free to be who she was unapologetically. The woman who had appeared on the cover of the Saturday Review and who during her lifetime had been the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship, two Guggenheims, and Honorary Doctor of Letters Degree from Morgan State College, an Anisfeld-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations, the Howard University Distinguished Alumni Award, Bethune-Cookman College’s Award for Education and Human Relations, was buried in an unmarked grave at Fort Pierce’s segregated cemetery, the Garden of Heavenly Rest (King 11). Nearly forgotten, Hurston would not be properly honored and revered for her works and contributions until years after her death. Although, at the time of her death in 1960, Hurston has published more books than any other black woman in America (History.com). Leading a full life, her pain and struggles never filtered into her works.
Historically, black women do not conform to the dominant discourse in education, similarly, Gilroy argues that black struggles for educational opportunities are a ‘resistance to domination’. Despite Hortense’s previous education in Jamaica, she is considered inferior in London, due to the fact she cannot prosper or obtain a job due to the racial attitudes which were prevalent in 1950’s
In the essay “DEAR YOUNG LADIES WHO LOVE CHRIS BROWN SO MUCH, THEY WOULD LET HIM BEAT THEM” the fact that she supports women’s rights’ and women empowerment shows itself in her emotions, context, and ideas in her argument. In the essay “DEAR YOUNG LADIES WHO LOVE CHRIS BROWN SO MUCH, THEY WOULD LET HIM BEAT THEM” she often speaks how men can get away with abusing women and how we shouldn’t let it happen and how we failed. Gay lets the audience know the disappointment she has in these women and the men in this society. In the essay, the majority of the time she is addressing the audience speaks about how these women “who believe that they love Chris Brown so much they’d let him beat them any day “shouldn’t settle for this or even joke about domestic abuse or wish for it. She talks about the difference between consent and Abuse.
Hurston and Janie both endured oppression during their lives based upon their race and gender however, their strong wills propelled them threw unforeseen obstacle. Zora Neale Hurston was a phenomenal African American woman whom despite her rough childhood would become one of the most profound authors of the century. Throughout her lifetime she was the, “Recipient of two Guggenheims and the author of four novels, a dozen short stories, two musicals, two books on black mythology, dozens of essays, and a prizewinning autobiography” (Gates 4). Hurston had to overcome numerous obstacles because of her gender, economic status, and racial identity. Hurston was born in 1891 in Notasulga, Alabama but grew up in Eatonville, Florida.
The argument over a woman’s right to choose over the life of an unborn baby has been a prevalent issue in America for many years. As a birth control activist, Margaret Sanger is recognized for her devotion to the pro-choice side of the debate as she has worked to provide sex education and legalize birth control. As part of her pro-choice movement, Sanger delivered a speech at the Sixth International Neo-Malthusian and Birth Control Conference in March of 1925. This speech is called “The Children’s Era,” in which she explains how she wants the twentieth century to become the “century of the child.” Margaret Sanger uses pathos throughout her speech as she brings up many of the negative possibilities that unplanned parenthood can bring for both children and parents.
The novel Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde describes her exploration and self-refection as a woman coming of age in the 50s, and life from then on. Throughout her journey she encountered numerous women who would change who she was as a person as well as her thoughts about the world in which she lived. They unknowingly forced self-growth and self-reflection on Audre, molding into this woman she had always hoped to become. With each woman she’d care for, came a piece of them that Lorde would carry with her forever. In the novel Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, Audre Lorde expresses and links the women who had shaped her into the person, friend, and lover she had always strived to be, Zami.
Not everyone born free and equal, as the constitution says, but everyone made equal . . . A book is a loaded gun in the house next door. Burn it. Take the shot from the weapon. Breach man’s mind.”
When I first heard “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, it was because Beyoncé samples Adichie’s speech. Though it was a small and heavily edited, it made me pressed “repeat” on my IPhone because her verse alone made me love the song. After the fifth or sixth time listening to the song, I had to google Adichie’s lyrics: “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful.
Peter Singer’s explains throughout history in the United States, everyone wasn’t always equal. Although today we believe all should be treated equal when it comes to different races, sexes, and other characteristics. Singer examples how all races and sexes are treated equally and he called this principle the act of “moral principle of equality” (1), but he explains that some individuals are still ethnocentric today. The argument of equality explains if one believes their race or skin color is support, they are racist. Those who believe that males are dominant to females are sexist.
“Their dark skin, their gender, their economic status… none of these were acceptable excuses for not giving the fullest limitation to their imagination and ambition...” this quote signifies that no matter what’s the color of your skin, race, gender, or your economic status both sexes are destined for success using your knowledge and your creativity. Men are not the only superior race but also women, their determination and their ambitions allows them to accomplish certain tasks that is set for