Teenage Insecurities In Audre Lorde's Hanging Fire

Teenage insecurities have been the consistent theme throughout Audre Lorde’s poem, “Hanging Fire”. The speaker is a fourteen year old girl who appears to be an African American. She is high in neuroticism as she is anxious and worried throughout the poem. Like every other teenager going through this adolescent phase of life; the speaker of this poem is also very self-centred. The narrator feels self-conscious and “betrayed” in her own skin when she personifies, “my skin has betrayed me” (Lorde 2). The betrayal of skin can be referred to as simple as acne prone skin during puberty. However, assuming the narrator to be an African American the context of “betrayal” could also be the indication of race and skin colour. The phrase “how come my

The speaker talks about the urge to fit in and be socially acceptable among others. The poem conveys the pressure of peers through topics such as school parties, “I have to learn how to dance” (Lorde 12) and the importance of physical appearance “I have nothing to wear tomorrow,” (Lorde 31) “Why do I have to be the one wearing braces” (Lorde 30) are some of the examples of trivial issues conveyed by the narrator. The issue of gender equality was evidently put across in the poem “Hanging fire” by the narrator: “I should have been on Math team/my marks were better than his.” It is deliberate that Lorde discusses Math and Science, fields where issues of gender bias have been identified. The speaker talks about the importance of improving her dance skills to be socially acceptable, whereas, on the other hand she contradicts by stating there is nothing that needs to be done: “There is nothing that I want to do/and too much that has to be done” (Lorde 19). These phrase of learning to dance, to nothing that needs to be done and finally so much that requires to be done, depicts an equivocal message which indicates that lack of directionality among teenagers ( e