Analysis Of Citizen By Claudia Rankine

The poems “Tableau” and “Incident” by Countee Cullen are about racism, but both have a different take on it. The African American author wrote in 1900’s , when racism was common and more acceptable. Cullen’s work became more popular during the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920’s. Both poems are developed with different writing mechanics to convey a clear message to the reader or audience. Cullen uses figurative language and tone to develop the theme in each text.

Although the text, Women: Images and Realities a Multicultural Anthology, has done a wonderful job of showcasing the diversity of women’s experiences, I find Beverly Daniel Tatum’s work “Defining Racism: “Can We Talk?”” to be the most striking. In the essay, Tatum describes how she (and many other feminists) define racism and who can and cannot be racist. Tatum argues that there are important distinctions between prejudice and racism, wherein racism is defined as a ‘system of advantage based on race” or more precisely “prejudice plus power” (388). Through multiple examples Tatum illustrates that if one accepts and uses her definition of racism then only White people (the group of people who ‘dominate’ society) are racist because “people of

Citizen, written by Claudia Rankine in 2014, narrates testimonies of systematic racism and every day micro aggressions through poems, essays, scripts and images. Rankine documents the racist encounters through the second person point of view for the reader to feel and understand the effects racism has on the body and mind. This paper will examine hypervisibility and invisibility of the black body embedded in the novel because of decades of racism. Rankine emphasizes the sensory emotions and feelings of the black body as a response to America’s reluctance to recognize and empathize with black men and women.

Racism is a big part of this book. It shows the absurdity of what people thought back then, which is an important lesson. It is important for us to learn what people’s views used to be, and how important it is not to go back to that mindset.

When one thinks of a “citizen”, they often imagine the process of gaining the title of becoming a citizen within a country. But often times people do not think of “citizen” or “citizenship” to be connected to race. In Claudia Rankine’s book “Citizen”, she takes time to discuss and display specific moments that have happened in the lives of African Americans who live in the United States. By doing so, she is investigating in depth of what it means to be a Black American “citizen” today in society. These stories, although reflecting upon minuscule moments, paint a large picture of the true reality of racism in America very prevalent today. In context to Rankine’s Citizen and other supporting documents such as Keywords: “Citizenship”, White Like Me and Cops See it Differently it can be proven that racial bias deprives full Black American citizens of “citizenship” within everyday society.

Racism is an issue that blacks face, and have faced throughout history directly and indirectly. Ralph Ellison has done a great job in demonstrating the effects of racism on individual identity through a black narrator. Throughout the story, Ellison provides several examples of what the narrator faced in trying to make his-self visible and acceptable in the white culture. Ellison engages the reader so deeply in the occurrences through the narrator’s agony, confusion, and ambiguity. In order to understand the narrators plight, and to see things through his eyes, it is important to understand that main characters of the story which contributes to his plight as well as the era in which the story takes place.

Have you ever wondered how far back in our history the world has been full of hate, prejudice, and rage? It has been seen in the form of war, mass genocide, enslavement, and even something minimal compared to the others, like riots and looting for centuries. Despite this common knowledge, there are many forms of violence, injustice, and rage that go unseen. Carol Anderson’s, White Rage, dives deep into the idea that maybe the worst forms of rage do not come from the most obvious and attention-capturing events, but the ones who stay hidden and subside deep in their privileged and ‘noble’ positions. She wants to show you, through the eyes of a minority, what it is like to constantly be looked past and looked down upon. Anderson argues the fact that no matter how many laws and regulations are put into place to cease the existence of racism, the rage in America continues to thwart African American advancement. Through precisely compelling choice of words and a structural design that pulls everything apart only to piece it back together to form a much larger picture, Anderson brings rage, the white rage, into a new and different light. This shows readers the depth of the racial problems in our country through a recap of groundbreaking historical events, advancing or obstructing African Americans, along with the white backlash.

Although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legal Jim Crow, the perpetuation of prejudice, institutional racism, and discrimination towards African Americans continued. The tolling effects of this social paradox on the African American community are manifested within the works of Ann Petry, an African American writer whose short stories reflect her own perspective on the results of discrimination. The short stories, The New Mirror and In Darkness and Confusion conjunctively display the negative psychological consequences linked to racism, such as loss of personal identity, social reflectiveness, insecurity, anxiety/paranoia, weakened family bonds, and violent outbreaks.

Citizen is a narrative written to connect with the reader by telling stories in the second person . In the novel, “Citizen”, Claudia Rankine uses short stories and personal experiences to encapsulate the struggle that African American people endure when they are thrown against a sharp white background .

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ essay, The Case for Reparations, is a rhetorical essay focused on attempting to convince American’s that the descendants of African-Americans are owed something since their ancestors were a key part of the foundation of this nation. His main audience is clearly African Americans, but my question is how well he does convincing other demographics. Can he convince Asians, Caucasians, or Hispanics? What about single mothers in Kentucky? If Ta-nehisi Coates is unable to convince more than just his target audience then it can be argued that he did not do a great job of communicating his ideas to everyone.

Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine is a lengthy poetic attempt at exposing the competing consciousness pertaining to race and racism in society, pitting the historical person against the individual. Set side by side with The Souls of Black Folks and This Land is Your Land by Woodie Guthrie, Citizen takes on a very distinct impression of separate identities competing in one person.

Citizen, is a book by the author Claudia Rankine, who was born in Jamaica, and then immigrated to the US at a young age. After seemingly absorbing and understanding the culture of America, she writes the book Citizen, to not only define violence, but as a voice to black individuals on the racism and violence they face daily. The book does a very good job of putting the reader in the shoes of a black individual in America, without not making it believable. The book has its own style, which is used to show the violence that blacks face daily. This book was the perfect addition to the course in the sense it unwittingly attempts to answer the question, “How does it feel to be a problem?”.

In these novels the theme I chose was racial prejudice, were it also gives a message racism and how far it could go. Further into “From An Ordinary” it's

Throughout many of the reading this semester, we have encounter serious racism. In some cases the individual being a target of racism in turn exhibits acts of racism themselves. The anger that these character feels can cause them to label all individuals in a group as racist, which isn't fair at all. Some of the characters lose themselves due to racism. They try to fit to the ways of another culture that is more excepted than theirs.

Citizen, written by Claudia Rankine in 2014, narrates testimonies of systematic racism and every day micro aggressions through poems, essays, scripts and images. Rankine documents the racist encounters through the second person point of view for the reader to feel and understand the effects racism has on the body and mind. This paper will examine hypervisibility and invisibility of the black body embedded in the novel because of decades of racism. Rankine emphasizes the sensory emotions and feelings of the black body as a response to America’s reluctance to recognize and empathize with black men and women.