ipl-logo

Citizen By Claudia Rankine Essay

592 Words3 Pages

A recurring theme in the book Citizen by Claudia Rankine is the erasure of African Americans in society and their own identities. On page 77 of the book, Rankine tells a story of someone who is presumably African American at a grocery store. A man cuts in front of them and then the cashier points out that they were in front of him. The man apologizes and says “Oh my God, I didn’t see you…I really didn’t see you”. This may suggest that since black people tend to be erased in society, other people cannot see them. On page 146 of the book, Rankine explains that “the worst injury is feeling you don’t belong so much to you.” I can infer that Rankine feels like she doesn’t belong to herself because people are not only erasing African-Americans, but the African American identity. Overall, I believe the book brought very real issues about racism in America to light. However, I felt like I didn’t take away a larger lesson from it because I felt that I already knew a good amount about the topics that were presented by Rankine. But even though I could already understand the social issues and struggles of the African-American community, I still believe that other people who don’t know as much as I do can take away some insightful information from the book. A good example of how Rankine brings light to the issues of …show more content…

For example, Rankine writes, “And yes, I want to interrupt to tell him her us you me I don’t know how to end what doesn’t have an ending”. This part was confusing and hard to read because she didn’t use punctuations in that sentence. Then she continues with, “Tell me a story, he says, wrapping his arms around me.” She does not establish who “he” is which confused me. Although I understand that those parts are supposed to be poetic, it’s still hard to read between the lines and I believe it went over many readers’

Show More
Related
1718 Words | 7 Pages

This book made me realize racial issues that are occurring in today’s society were a lot worse that they appeared to be. Overall, the book was worth the read, as it got me to think and reflect on today’s society. I don’t believe that there were many gaps in the authors analysis as it shockingly clear that Black Canadians have in the past and even still today experience discrimination, and racism. Conclusion

Read More
990 Words | 4 Pages

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is a non fiction book written by Michelle Alexander, a well known civil rights lawyer, is a book that every American citizen should read. Alexander’s book cover is of three metal bars and two strong black hands holding them tightly. The book spent multiple weeks on The New York Times bestsellers list and has a foreword written by Cornel West, he is a well known and respected social activist. The book discuss how the new system of oppression for people of color in the United States is mass incarceration. Jim Crow laws were a systematic way to segregate and discriminate against black people.

Read More
887 Words | 4 Pages

Coates often applied information from historians to prove his point. Coates use the speech of the senator “The two great divisions of Society are not rich and poor, but white and black.” (Coates 18). The African American doesn’t have freedom and rights in America. This show that in America race is more important than the economic status of a person.

Read More
1041 Words | 5 Pages

When one examines Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, immediately one notices the duality of being black in society. Ellison uses the narrator to highlight his invisibility in society, although African-Americans have brought forth so many advances. This statement best represents the novel as the narrator examines his location (geography), his social identity, historical legacies of America, and the ontological starting point for African-Americans. The “odyssey” that the narrators partakes in reflects the same journey that many African-Americans have been drug through for generations.

Read More
1782 Words | 8 Pages

Racism is still a very prominent issue in America today. Yes, it has improved from the days of slavery, and we do have a black president; but society is nowhere near equal, and that is not acceptable. White Privilege by Paula Rothenberg truly opened my eyes to the extent of the social injustice on African Americans. Many people are implicitly racist, meaning that they are unaware of their racism. And in fact, just by being white, one is oppressing another race because the privilege and respect that comes with the skin color.

Read More
485 Words | 2 Pages

What was never presented was the point of view from the African Americans because it was seemingly dismissed. It was eye-opening to read about the experience from an African’s perspective because it brought a whole new light to my understanding of what it meant to be a slave and the struggles black Americans face here in the US, even

Read More
1385 Words | 6 Pages

In the book, there are significant racial tensions and racial divisions in society. Young Black women like Lauren, the primary character, must find their way in a society where they face prejudice and marginalization. In the story, racism is shown as a persistent menace in a society where one's character or aptitudes are more often evaluated than the color of one's skin. Unfortunately, this is a problem that persists in modern culture. The work emphasizes the consequences of institutionalized racism, which persists today.

Read More
494 Words | 2 Pages

Many people forget that African Americans in this country have been enslaved for longer than they have been free. Coates reminds his son to not forget their important history and that they will continuously struggle for freedom over their own bodies. They must learn to live within a black body. These struggles can be seen in the racial profiling and brutality among police officers in cases such as Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and countless of others. He goes on to describe his childhood and how fear was the root of black existence.

Read More
1483 Words | 6 Pages

In Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man, the writer explores with the notion of invisibility as well as related ideas of blindness and sight. The novel covers a lot of the social problems that African-Americans faced in the early twentieth century. One of the problems that the black folk faced was being figuratively invisible to the white community which lead to oppression. By focusing on no more than two episodes from this novel I will elaborate on the manner in which invisibility is illustrated and how sight and blindness is linked to this figurative notion of invisibility. In the novel, invisibility can be seen in a positive or a negative light.

Read More
316 Words | 2 Pages

As a black person in America, I have come to realize that there are many other people that see my race as inferior. It is often difficult to consider this thought in my everyday life and after reading Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates has demonstrated that I am not the only black person in America who feels this way. The most powerful message that I encountered in this story is the fact that I come into this world with the world already against me and I am constantly trying to find who I am versus what others perceive of me. Being black in America forces individuals to change their natural being to try and live up to the standards of others. The American standard or the “American Dream” is described by Coates as a goal that cannot

Read More
1787 Words | 8 Pages

Discussion Questions Part two The Concept of Double Consciousness as Described by Du Bois For many years until only about a few years ago, African Americans have had many difficult experiences as they have searched for their true cultural identity in the American society. The common method of identification of African Americans was their black skin color, hence the name Negros, blacks, and colored people. The African Americans were poor, and discriminated by the rich white people that forced them to adopt a new cultural identity and to be assimilated by the dominant culture while at the same time struggling to maintain their original cultural identity.

Read More
1381 Words | 6 Pages

The book challenges Americans and how they treat American Values. The book exposed the truth of the white race and how they treated the black race. Throughout the novel white Americans did not value equality or progress and change. In Black Like Me whites did not believe in having a society the ideally treats everyone equally. When John Howard Griffin gets a ride from a white hunter, he tells him “I’ll tell you how it is here.

Read More
1102 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout history, we have seen that being black in America comes with the realization that you may have to learn to navigate the world differently than other groups. This can be confusing when you’re trying to find yourself in a world that doesn't truly see you. Along the way you may end up losing your individuality and end up trying to escape reality. In the novel, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison and the memoir Black Boy by Richard Wright we are introduced to two African American characters struggling with their identities and their invisibility. While both narrators are trying to develop a sense of identity, the way they deal with their external circumstances differs greatly.

Read More
283 Words | 2 Pages

Invisible Man The novel Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison, depicts the unnamed protagonist as a black man that struggles to discover his own identity. In response to stereotypes that typically dictate his behavior the narrator becomes “invisible”, an identity yet again forced upon him by society. The narrator is highly concerned with how others perceive him, thus establishing that his self-perception is composed by how others view him.

Read More
1837 Words | 8 Pages

African-American author Toni Morrison 's book, Beloved, describes a black culture born out of a dehumanising period of slavery just after the Civil War. Culture is a means of how a group collectively believe, act, and interact on a daily basis. Those who have studied her work refer to Morrison 's narrative tales as “literature…that addresses the sacred and as an allegorical representation of black experience” (Baker-Fletcher 1993: 2). Although African Americans had a difficult time establishing their own culture during the period of slavery when they were considered less than human, Morrison believes that black culture has been built on the horrors of the past and it is this history that has shaped contemporary black culture in a positive way. Through the use of linguistic devices, her representation of black women, imagery and symbolic features, and the theme of interracial relations, Morrison illustrates that black culture that is resilient, vibrant, independent, and determined.

Read More

More about Citizen By Claudia Rankine Essay

Related Topics

Open Document