A Fly In The Milk Figurative Language

“A fly in the milk” is a metaphor that has been used to explain what it’s like being a Black person surrounded by White people, or simply describes a person who is different from the rest. Robert Lake’s, “An Indian Father’s Plea”, he writes a letter addressing his son’s kindergarten that his son “is not culturally ‘disadvantages’ but he is culturally different.’” (20) Claude Steele’s book “Whistling Vivaldi: How Stereotypes Affect Us and What We Can Do” gives examples of how different people are labeled and how these labels affect them socially and mentally. Lake’s letter illustrates the stigma, identity contingencies, and stereotype threat that are similar to those presented in Claude Steele’s book.

In these two stories, Lake’s gives an

Stereotype threat is the fear of confirming a stereotype that has to do with your identity. In Steele’s book, he writes that these threats effect even the advantaged groups. He writes about a white student named Ted McDougal in an African American political science class with primarily black people in it. (85&86) This threat caused him to be hesitant with his thoughts and questions while also feeling excluded from the group. (85&86) Lake’s son had a similar experience. In his all white class. His son felt embarrassed and kids teased him about his long hair. (20) Even though in his culture long hair is a sign of masculinity, he was desperate to fit in. He begged his mom to cut his hair and began to abandon his cultural responsibilities. Refusing to learn his language, sing tribal signs and participate in sacred ceremonies and rituals. (20) To his son, he felt that doing these things was weird and he didn’t want his friends at school to think that he didn’t believe in God. Sometimes, these stereotype threats can have a negative effect on you and can be hard to shake. But something that might help is to remind yourself of other identities that counter the stereotype.