Poem Analysis: Race Politics By Luis J. Rodriguez

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“Race Politics” Luis J. Rodriguez has written a poem called, “Race Politics”. This piece shows that the diversity between two parts of the town he grew up in and how it affected everyone. Rodriguez helps his readers learn that diversity isn’t an ‘old’ problem and that it didn’t end after the civil war, but that it still happens and it can affect people strongly. “Race Politics” can help prove that diversity is still going on and it’s still a major problem. When reading anything there is always connotation; which means that there is always a hidden meaning under the literal words and meaning. It can also give us implied information or moods that aren’t supposed to be direct. In line 38, it is stated,”When you dream.”. This is implying that even when they sleep that they cannot escape the diversity and discrimination they receive everyday. In stanza 1 it states, “My brother and I… decided to get the ‘good food’ over on the other side of the tracks”. This makes the readers think they believe in the discrimination; that anything of the other people’s is better because those people are better than the Watt’s people. Discrimination is shown throughout …show more content…

“ So there we go, climbing over the iron and wood ties, over discarded sofas and bent-up market carts, over a weed-and-dirt road,” (18-23) It shows the how hard it was to get to the South Gate, the other side of the railroad tracks. Line 65, “across the orange-red sky” is a very important line. The sky reflects the mood of aggression and energy; that is how the mood of the story was because that is the character's mood, how the author saw it. Imagery provides a picture for the readers to visualize that’s relevant to the story. “Race Politics” by Luis J. Rodriguez was about when he was a kid the discrimination him and his brother experienced because they were considered minorities. Imagery, syntax, and connotation can give insight to a story and it’s theme or