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Gloria Naylor's Nigger: The Meaning Of A Word

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Throughout the history of the United States, many derogatory and hurtful terms have been created to refer to individuals or a collective group of minority people with the goal of undermining them. Some examples of these words are ‘Nigger’, ‘Faggot’, ‘Beaner’ among countless other harmful labels. These terms are problematic, as they dehumanize the race in which they target, as reminders of the oppression experienced by these groups, giving the terms power. Among these hateful words, ‘nigger’ remains the oldest term and is the most racially charged and hurtful to the minority group that it intends to harm which are blacks. Only blacks should be able to use the word ‘nigger’ in America, because it was created with the intentions to dehumanize blacks, carrying all of the racist and discriminatory history experienced by blacks in the …show more content…

Author, Gloria Naylor describes the different ways the word is used in her essay, “Nigger”: The Meaning of a Word. These ways being in black on black contexts, or to discriminate against blacks. Naylor writes, “But I didn’t ‘hear’ it until it was said by a small pair of lips that had already learned it could be a way to humiliate me” (324). Naylor indicates that she had heard ‘nigger’ being used all throughout her life in family and black community contexts, but she did not “hear” the word until it was said by a white child. When Naylor say’s “hear” the word she means that until she was called a ‘nigger’ by the white boy, she had never realized how easily the word could be used against her, dehumanizing her instantaneously. Reinforcing the idea that when ‘Nigger’ is used by those who are not black, if not already being intended as an insult it will be taken as one, and cause conflict, because of the racist intentions the word

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Some may argue that is okay to use the N-Word because they say it is just a word. In the article of “Rules for A word” by Jeremy Gagby he say that “Nigga is a word frequently heard in school, music, and on the streets.” This is the point that some people are arguing about, the word is used in songs and kids use it all the time and this is why they do not think it is a big deal. People may think that as time passes and other meanings of this word become popular, that it is acceptable to use this word. Newer generations have a completely different use for this

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There is a systematic erosion of black families. All too often, black male fathers are absent from the home, leaving black mothers to raise young black children in single parent households. This absence of black male fathers in America originated during the days of slavery. Dick Gregory penned the autobiography depicting his struggles for acceptance and equality in a country that resented him based on the color of his skin. Unfortunately, like many African American children, Dick grew up without a father in his household.

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Nigger is a noun in the English language. It had originally come from the Spanish/ Portuguese variation of Negro, which originated from the Latin adjective Niger. It was first used by John Rolfe to explain the first African slave ships in Virginia during 1619. In

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Why is being called a “Nigger” so hurtful for African Americans currently to date? Being called a, “Nigger” means to be called ignorant, dark-skinned, or of African descent. To this day, we’re still being called that awful word although it is not to be used anymore. It is a racial slur that should never be used and if it is used should be high consequences. This is the biggest insult to Black people everywhere.

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In the book Maud Martha Written by Gwendolyn Brooks chapter 25 takes place in a hair salon where Maud Martha is awaiting her turn in the beauty salon. Maud overhears the conversation of the owner of the shop Sonia Johnson who is African American, and a white sales women who is trying to sell lipstick. Maud thinks that she heard the white women say the N word, but is not sure since Sonia did not react to hearing the N word. After the white women leaves Maud Martha finds out that the white women did indeed say the N word. Gwendolyn Brooks states “you mean to say,” Maud Martha broke in, that that women really did say ‘nigger’?”

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Naylor believes The “N” word should only be used in socially culturally settings. Furthermore, those who feel oppose Naylor’s stand on the use of the “N” word, will argue we are using a word “that whites used to signify (as) worthlessness or degradation.” (108-109) Naylor believes

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The negative connotation has not always been there and it should not be, nowadays the word implies identity and honor to be a “nigga” , this word and what comes with it should not be forgotten, instead the survival of the race and the unity it shows should be embraced. The n-word has not always had a negative connotation, what most people know is that it came from the Latin word meaning black and it was used to refer to slaves during the 19th century. Besides this there are other variations to the word from ages farther ago that show a good meaning of the word, it

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Another way to combat prejudice is by teaching against it to the upcoming generation. Atticus teaches Scout and Jem that demoralizing vocabulary should not be used, especially against black people. He says to them, “nigger-lover is just one of those terms that don 't mean anything—like snot-nose. It 's hard to explain—ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody 's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It 's slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want a common, ugly term to label somebody.”

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I always cringed when white people or non-black used to word thug to describe someone because more often than not, it is used, like the N-word, as a biased insult to describe someone as unintelligent, menacing, and a vagabond. Moreover, when people like that do use or think of that word, they usually envision someone black, young, and a male. I agree with McWhorter that the word ‘thug’ is in fact the new version of the N-word and I also feel like it is rude and unacceptable for white people to lightly use the word ‘thug’. In addition, I support the speaker’s claim that black people do not think of the word the same way that white people do.

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She is affected by a word nigger and tries to find the arbitraries of any word. Her main intention in her essay is to lead her readers think about the words they choose to use and hear and how the context of these words can alter the meaning of them. Naylor takes a word nigger and tries to share her experiences of how she felt when she got encountered with the same word in different ways. She does not take a sharp tone. From her essay we can generalize that she is having a conversation with her readers as her friends.

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“We also cannot pretend that there is not a double standard—that blacks can say it without much social consequence but whites cannot. There’s a double standard about a lot of stuff.” When an article states the standard of the word, it can help the reader understand how awful the word actually can be. On the other hand Countee Cullen gets his point across better because In conclusion, the poem Incident by Countee Cullen is the most effective at getting his point across about how he feels about the N* because he uses, the use of simple words, great use of imagery, and he uses great metaphors to help the reader realize his

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In the dictionary nigger is defined as a contemptuous term for a black or dark-skinned person. During slavery it was used as a way for white people to oppress slaves, and after slavery was ended it was still used to oppress and demean black people. This is why the word nigger is such a loaded word. After the civil rights movement, the black community reclaimed the n-word.

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• I never had any encounters with another race in my neighborhood, all the people around me were very kind. When and where did you first hear the word, “nigger,” or other similar racial slurs? • The first time I hear the word “Negro” “Black” was when I was about 13 years old, when my grandma ask me if I like that black guy.

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Today in class, we discussed a topic that is deeply engraved in American history yet widely avoided by many: race. More specifically, terms like “racist,” “All Lives Matter,” and “white privilege,” which may make some people uncomfortable but more than ever, need to be confronted and examined. We watched several videos containing a variety of people discussing their own personal thoughts and feelings on such terms to spark our own conversations on the same topics. After viewing the first video on the word “racist,” I began to reflect on my own actions towards other people.

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