Recommended: Audre lorde poetry is not a luxury analysis
Deep in a swarm of 500,000 women, men, and children; a small huddle of girls headed by lead singer MILCK sang their song “Quiet”, loudly, for all the world to hear during the Women’s March on Washington in 2017. Their voices carried a tune of faith, hope, and power, which Jill Lapore echoed in her work “Wars Within”. Lapore’s writing is essential to providing significant insight into the election of 2017 by connecting to past historical moments which many members of James Madison’s student body can recollect and link to the severity of the election results. Lapore uses the connections between the civil war era and present day America to tie together the presence of inequality in simple historical terms. The usage of this connection allows for readers to compare cause and solution to possibly be persuaded to enact change as Fredrick Douglass did in the past.
In September of 1979, Audre Lorde, poet, spoke about the impossibility of dismantling the patriarchy through oppressive means. The black feminist woman, Lorde, who has cancer at the point of this speech, uses ethos, pathos, and logos in order to guilt the audience into making a change of how black feminists are represented. Ethos is the building of the author's credibility in order to become more persuasive because people tend to believe people who they deem likable or respectable. “I agreed to take part in a New York University Institute for the Humanities conference a year ago, with the understanding that I would be commenting upon papers dealing with the role of difference within the lives of American women: difference of race, sexuality, class, and age. The absence of these considerations weakens any feminist discussion of the personal and the political.”
Questioning their reasoning, Cary asks her opposition, “Is not that plain?” at the conclusion of one of her arguments based around the fact that African Americans need an outlet for their own voices, because without one, they would be at “at the mercy of the demagogue” in America. By asking such a question after a stream of persuasive rhetoric, Cary, who seems almost impatient, tries to reiterate her basic argument in the simplest way possible, so her entire audience can easily comprehend her thesis. Clearly, she believes in the evident necessity of her newspaper, and desires for her audience to understand and sympathize with her beliefs. As the final line of her piece, Cary asks “Do you agree with us?”.
The Voting for Rights Act and repel of many Jim Crow laws wasn’t going to change or erase racial tension. The realty was that political rights wouldn’t put an end to the poverty and mistreatment of African Americans. Ms. Moody believed that the non-violent demonstrations rallies weren’t really that effective to the degree that was needed. They weren’t being respected as people of color regardless if they were being humble. African Americans couldn’t eat at white restaurants or use the bathroom and drink form the same bathroom as whites.
In 1773, there were slaves all over colonial America working in plantations, and cleaning their masters houses. It wasn’t common for a slave to be writing poetry with their owners consent. Phyllis Wheatley’s success as the first African American published poet was what inspired generations to tell her story. It was her intellectual mind and point of view that made her different from others, both black and white. Phyllis’s story broke the barrier for all African American writers, and proved that no matter the gender or race, all human beings are capable of having an intelligent state of mind.
The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.
Anne Moody’s autobiography, Coming of Age in Mississippi takes place during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement. During this period of time African Americans did not have much say in society. Most African Americans acted as if they were deaf and blind puppets that had no reaction to anything that the White man said or did due to fear. Anne Moody, takes the reader through her personal journey, enduring extreme poverty growing up to joining the Civil Rights Movement where she found “something outside [herself] that gave [her] meaning to life” (Moody 286).
In the fourteenth paragraph, MLK starts the lengthy third sentence with a situation that most are unfortunately familiar with: lynching. Later, an example about a daughter is presented which is less known. The specification of the “six-year-old daughter” strikes a chord with any parent who has or is raising a child. This interaction is not publically seen or addressed, giving it a more personal feel. Also, this illustrates the beginning of the racial tensions and the depth that racism reaches.
Equality does not care and eventually runs away with his lover. Before he runs, Equality is sent to the Palace of Corrective Detention, a place of punishment, which does not have guards because no one has ever tried to escape (Rand 66). Everyone has always listened to the rules and stayed where they were told to be, but in the end, Equality will escape because he does not care about the rules of his society. Equality resistes the society’s restraints causing him to slowly seek his own truth, strengthening the theme of seeking
Alternative Essay on The Devil and Tom Walker In the short story of The Devil and Tom Walker written by Washington Irving, religion played some parts throughout the story but didn’t have a very huge impact on the protagonist, Tom himself. Tom’s character only turned to religion near the end of the story to ask for help from God in reverse for what he has done to the innocent people of Boston. In other terms, Tom turned to religion for his personal benefits rather than his inner relationship with God, which in the end didn’t go so well in his favor.
We the Students Essay Madison Jones Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society. Peaceful resistance opens the eyes of many who may be blind to what’s really going on in the world. Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King discusses the increasing acts of violence and hatred towards African Americans in the U.S. King’s usage of raw imagery, pathos, and religious language portray the complicated relationship between the battered Negro and the common white man. King uses savage imagery to exemplify the brutality African Americans were subjected to at the time. King writes, “When you see the vast majority of your twenty million negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society”
Poetry Analysis Once the poem “History Lesson” was written numerous poetry foundations celebrated it for many reasons. “History Lesson” not only makes an impact on literature today it has also impacted people also. This poem inspires people and moves them to the point to where they can find a personal connection to the poem itself and to the writer. Not only does it hold emotional value for those who were victimized and those whose family were victimized by the laws of segregation, but the poem is also celebrated for its complexity. The poem uses many techniques to appeal to the reader.
Guilt is one of the emotions capable of that often leads individuals to lie to others as well as themselves, and further lead them committing actions that they otherwise would not commit with rational thought processes. However, although feelings of guilt can prompt individuals toward better behaviour, overwhelming feelings of guilt can disable individuals and hinder them from being able to think or act normally, especially through panic or fear. Oftentimes, guilt can be misleading and damaging when excessive guilt is left alone or unresolved. The theme of guilt is evident in both William Shakespeare's play, ‘Hamlet’, and in Robertson Davies novel, ‘Fifth Business’. In both the play and the novel, there are several characters that portray feelings
Although miscegenation is not a new topic, the effects that this phenomenon has on people’s lives has been the source of inspiration for many literary works. “Miscegenation” by Natasha Trethewey is an autobiographical poem that expresses the difficulty that mixed-race people face in accepting their identity in a society that discriminates people who are different. That is, this poem expresses how racial discrimination can affect the identity of those people who do not identify as white or black. Besides, in this poem, Trethewey narrates her origin, as well as how her parents were victims of a society that did not accept their relationship. Therefore, the speaker starts by saying “In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi” (Trethewey 1); those two laws that broke the Trethewey’s parents were that they were married and had a daughter.
“Poetry Is Not a Luxury” (1982) intertwines feminism and poetry together. Author Audre Lorde says that for women, “poetry is not a luxury, but a necessity of our existence” (Lorde, 1982, pg. 281). In today’s society, women’s opinions aren’t really expressed, because it’s not widely accepted in this man-built world. Lorde’s quote “poetry is not a luxury, but a necessity of our existence” means that women should use their voices and channel their energy into poetry. Since poetry is accepted, women aren’t being deviant.
