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A Litany For Survival By Audrey Lorde

436 Words2 Pages

Rasim Zekiri
Katherine Welch
Hon. Literary Genres
26 Jan 2023 “A Litany for Survival” By Audrey Lorde is a poem that is meant to convey the difficulty for those who are marginalized in society to thrive. Especially when all the bets are stacked against them. This poem which was featured in the novel “The Patron Saints of Nothing” was found as a remnant of Jun, the cousin of the main protagonist of the story, at their aunt's home. This poem builds upon the theme of the story which is the fight for truth and justice against an oppressive system, which lines up with the theme of survival despite having the odds stacked against you in the poem by Audrey Lorde. The poem rings similar to Juns own beliefs of speaking up for the disenfranchised and the marginalized. With the Lorde's poem calling people to fight for their survival as it reminds the reader that, “We were never meant to survive”. This alludes to the book building upon the theme within the novel …show more content…

And in “The Patron Saints of Nothing” Jun joins those who are hurt by the corrupt system of Duterte's Philippines and begins a website and countless social media pages where he shows all of those who had been affected by the drug war. And despite most likely receiving countless threats from the government causing him to run away from his new home and girlfriend. He continued to fight for the oppressed knowing it is a never ending fight up until his death at the hands of the police justifying his death as being part of the crusade against drugs. Despite this Jun's sister, Grace, continues Juns fight on social media as seen on page 240 Grace says, “ I am doing this to honor him”. This shows the spirit of fighting for those who can't continue on in his sister's courage and in Lordes words, “So it is better to speak” despite knowing, “we were never meant to

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