Fear In John Walker's 'Black 101'

A word is an interesting object. Words have a clear cut meaning, sometimes not just one meaning either possibly three or four. Even after having these clear cut meanings words are also up to interpretation, where one person could see the word vagina as a disgusting, vile term someone else could see it merely as a medical term. Walker understands this concept and writes about fear in his “Black 101.” By using repetition, Walker is able to mold the audience’s interpretation of fear in a way that aligns with what he wants them to understand it as, which is this strong, negative connotation. Walker does this to convey to the audience that there is justification in the deaths of African Americans.
Walker uses the repetition of the words “Fear is” to outline to the audience what he wants them to understand (1, 13, 20, 26). By using this repetition of what he believes fear is he forces the reader to have a strong connection between fear and the unknown. The factor of the audience creating a connection between fear and the unknown is because if Walker continues to use random factors there is no way to know how someone might react to any set

His thought process is evident in his excerpt “Black 101.” This critical attention given to the repetition that Walker demonstrates throughout his excerpt explains the text, as well as the point that Walker is trying to make, fully. Lamest terminology is that fear is to blame for this outburst of racial murders. Fear cannot just be labeled in one section of the dictionary because it is multiple things and is interpreted in multiple ways. Yet fear is not only a noun but a verb because it “changes the polarity of black bodies” and “turns children into men” (2, 7). By understanding the reason of Walker’s continual use of “fear is” and the repetition of negative connotation words one may understand the piece as an explanation to our recent