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'Black Men In Public Space'

1668 Words7 Pages

“Black Men and Public Space” is a short story about racism. This story is interesting because it is told by the point of view of a black male and his life experiences. ‘Black Men in Public Space” shows how racisms is a never ending drain on society. Racism is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “a belief that race is the primary of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race”. There are always two sides to every story, in this case, a black boy and white people. “Black Men and Public Space” explores how black people cope with racism and how they are so easily judged no matter what they are doing or wearing. Staples starts the story with “My first victim- “ (Staples, 338) which immediately …show more content…

As he states, “young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence. Yet these truths are no solace against the kind of alienation that comes of being ever the suspect, a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact.” (Staples, 338) Even though he is statically more likely to hurt you doesn’t mean that it takes away the sting of these predations not wanting to make eye contact, or them crossing the street to avid him. While it is true that black people are more likely to attack, there are risks that other races will hurt a …show more content…

Staples also used the literary tools such as imagery, hyperbole, and onomatopoeias. For example, imagery "to take a knife to raw chicken" (Staples 338) - The quote makes the reader think about the act of cutting into a raw chicken and how Staples personality is not violent. Hyperbole "who is barely able to take a knife to raw chicken" (Staples, 338) - This is an hyperbole because he is exaggerating how he can “barley” hurt a dead raw animal, he does this to show once again how he is not the violent type. people. Onomatopoeia- "thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk" (Staples 338) The sound lest the reader know that Staples is aware of what they are doing, it also helps the readers to be in the same situation as him when he uses these literary

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