Resilience In 'Give Your Daughters Difficult Names'

Societal norms have always dictated the way people behave, but through time people have stood up to these standards to fight for their beliefs. The book Homegoing and the Poem “Give your daughters difficult names'' demonstrates resilience by defying the norms set by society. Homegoing does this by displaying acts of courage that helped enslaved people escape, while the poem “Give your daughters difficult names” does this by inviting people to be proud of their culturally significant names, despite experiencing resistance from society.

The book Homegoing shows resistance through the character Ness, as she chose to run away from her plantation to fight for her freedom and rights. This was first shown when “Sam was grabbing Jo in one arm and

This is shown when the author says “ I want a name like fire, like rebellion, like my hand gripping Massa’s whip” (Xango 11-13). The use of words like “fire and rebellion” displays the power that culturally significant names hold. And comparing the author's name to Massa's whip shows the rich history that is associated with the black community. This history is once something that the Black community had to suffer through but now chooses to wear it as a badge of honor to show how far they have come as a collective. From being afraid of societal norms to standing up against them to show the world who they are as people. While I have not experienced discrimination of any kind due to my name, over the years I have had to learn to always correct people when they are mispronouncing it, to show respect for my culture and heritage. This is something I did not always do, as I believed that the correct pronunciation of my name was not a big issue. However, through reading literary works such as ‘give your daughters difficult names' I have begun to understand the cultural significance of names and why it is important to always pronounce them