Analysis Of Gloria Naylor ' Being A Chink By Christine Leong

“For Colored Girls” involves seven women who represents a different shade of the rainbow. The colors are brown, red, yellow, white, green, orange and blue. Their costumes and make-up transformed each of them and were significant of the color their character embodied. As a group their acting made all of their roles of equal importance, without one dominating the other. These women together formed a bond through their various adversities, gradually taking them from strangers to companion. From an objective view, the audience is allowed to simply observe the events as they take place chronologically. Throughout the movie during some of the conflicting and traumatic scenes, one of the women recites a poem to signify and release the emotion being felt at that time.

Naylor uses diction to compare the use of “nigger” to other equally derogatory words. “Had he called me a nymphomaniac or a necrophilliac, I couldn’t have been more puzzled” (3). The words nymphomaniac, necrophilliac, and nigger all have negative connotations. By using these words, Naylor reveals how hearing nigger was derogatory and demeaning. Naylor’s word choice gives a clear idea of the negative connotation “nigger” held in the classroom. Naylor elaborates on her view of the term in paragraph 5, “And so among the anecdotes of the triumphs and disappointments in the various workings of their lives, [..]”. Naylor uses “triumphs” and “disappointments” to show the contrast of meaning “nigger” had in her everyday life. The word choice shows flexibility in language and describes how terms have the capacity to change in meaning. Later in the paragraph, Naylor exhibits a positive depiction of “nigger” , “In the singular, the word was always applied to a man who had distinguished himself [...]” (5). Naylor uses uplifting diction by including “distinguished” in her description and it shines a positive light on the term “nigger”. As a whole, Naylor’s diction adds on to how broad language interpretations can

Many other races might also use the word in this manner but it is only acceptable for Hispanics because of their increasing role as a minority. A Hispanic rapper by the name of Fat Joe often refers to other blacks as nigga, but is ok but he grew up around them in a low-income housing project and therefore has street creditability to do so. This is also the only meaning acceptable for a girl. A female might have a close friend that is a girl and refer to her as "my nigga" depicting her relationship with her. So broken down in this context the word nigga is to mean a buddy or pal. Although the word has many meanings they all have one positive goal and that is to uplift Blacks and not downgrade them

She is contemptuous of Candy, Crooks and Lennie, referring to them as 'a nigger an'

In “Mommy, What Does Nigger Mean?”, author Gloria Naylor explains throughout her piece that reality shapes language and language can shape reality. Naylor explains this, “chicken or the egg dispute” (Naylor 1) through her experiences with the word nigger. Gloria explains how she starts on one side of reality and shaping her language, then comes to another understanding from the boy in her third grade class. Language can be how words are used, what their meaning is and the purpose behind that selection of words. Reality is everyday life and experiences. When in third grade Naylor encounters nigger as a racial derogatory when a boy said “nigger” to her while receiving graded tests back. To Gloria it was anything but a racial put down since

But [she] didn’t ‘hear’ it until it was said by a small pair of lips that had already learned it could be a way to humiliate [her]” (Naylor, 411). This not only supports the fact that the boy had been taught or heard this word by someone older like a parent, but it is also sad that a nine-year-old had to be taught that such a nasty, ugly word was created to make her and people like her feel ashamed and embarrassed to be black, or that are worth less as human beings, which is absolutely false. That is why slurs are created though, to make groups of people feel less “human”. This essay explored the most infamous slur against the black community. The fact that slurs like this are prevalent in today's society is extremely upsetting and wrong. There are plenty of racial slurs that are so casually used today, it makes one's stomach ache in distress. Ableist slurs are even less reprimanded, a high school student walking through the hall will hear the r-word too many times to count during the course of a day. Just as commonly used are homophobic and anti-LGBT slurs. A high school student will hear the f-slur and the q-slur plenty of times, and even more will “that’s so gay” or “you’re so gay” be whipped from the mouth of students without a second thought. It’s disheartening.

In this essay, June Jordan primarily focuses on explaining what Black English and how it’s become oppressed by Caucasian Americans throughout the years. Jordan believes African Americans have been raised to modify Black English to Standard English in order to be accepted into the societal and scholarly norms of America. Jordan states early on her essay, “As we learn our way around this environment, either we hide our original word habits,or we completely

The use of the term nigger can be used as a amicable greeting between two blacks, or as a “hideous pejorative” (Marriott 94) towards blacks. Marriott notes that the use of nigger is usually condoned and used by younger blacks as a “term of endearment” (98), in hopes to gradually alter the meaning of the word. Their goal is to normalize the usage of nigger between blacks to “dull its edge whenever whites use it” (Marriott 95). This has been proved somewhat efficient, as most whites dread the word and express feelings of disgust whenever it is heard from the mouth of whites. Many younger blacks believe their efforts are stimulating a progression in society, but older blacks and the majority of whites assert just the opposite- it illustrates “anything

In Naylor’s essay, she recalls the first time she truly heard the word nigger. Because Naylor came from a southern family and then moved to Harlem she heard the word countless times. However, she never truly heard it until it came from a white classmate. Naylor was sitting in her third grade class as the teacher passed back their tests. As Naylor turned around to pass back a test belonging to the student behind her, she noticed that once again his score was less than hers. Quickly snatching his paper he called her a nigger, She simply did not understand what it meant, prompting her to raise and ask the teacher. The teacher proceeded to scold the young boy for using a bad word. This only confused her more. As the school day ended and the students went home, she mustered the courage to ask her mother. Naylor ends the article before she tells us what her mother said.

Naylor and Leong were both minorities raised in an area that was predominately populated by Caucasians. Naylor writes, " I was part of a large extended family that had migrated from the rural South after World War II and formed a close knit network that gravitated around her maternal grandparents." Her family knew what nigger meant (as all black people probably do), but was did not let the dense true meaning of that word get in the way of living. Living in America, they took that word of disgrace or shame and rendered it ineffective. They made it ineffective by ignoring and hiding the word's true origins and meaning. Leong grew up in a suburban town in New Jersey populated

Steinbeck presents Crooks as a victim of racism and throughout the book, he is called by the name ‘nigger’. Being black, Crooks is hated on the ranch.“Ya see, the stable buck’s a nigger”. The use of this word dehumanises Crooks and shows how black people at the time, had no rights at all. He also says, “If I say

I have chosen “Mother Tongue” for the subject of my essay. I chose this essay because Amy Tan has a unique writing style which has tone that is clear and identifiable. Tan makes her arguments in a way that is easily understood. While her tone is sometimes humorous and captivating, it still clarifies some serious issues. These qualities among others leave Tan’s work to be desired by almost any reader because her tone and style are both genuine and upfront. This essay will talk about how Tan’s work in her essay “Mother Tongue” uses several different styles and tones to make her point of regarding the differences of her communications with her

However, the historical significance of the word nigger is deeply rooted in American History. For example, Kennedy’s book presents historical examples of nigger in its most pejorative context: “Michael Jordan was suspended from school for hitting a white girl who called him a nigger” and “Tiger Woods was tied up in kindergarten by his older schoolmates who called him nigger” (Kennedy 22). It is precisely because of this history that many African Americans are in favor of banning the word from the English language. Although the historical significance of the word nigger often triggers deep-rooted hostility in the African Americans, it has also progressively evolved into a term of endearment in the modern day African American culture. Consequently, a fine line exists between past and present definitions of the word nigger that opens up the possibility of misinterpretation and the potential of further damage.

“The Word “Nigga” Is Only for Slaves and Sambos” was written by Rob Nelson and first published in a university newspaper in North Carolina. Later on, the article was so meaningful that it was re-published in the academic journal, the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. In the article “The Word “Nigga” is only for Slaves and Sambos”, Rob Nelson uses ethos, logos, and especially skillful pathos appeals based on the history of slavery and the illustration about the future of African American, to prove why he thinks the “N-word” is not acceptable. By using ethical argument and those clever appeals, Rob Nelson definitely persuades his young African American audience.

Make no mistake that slave owners came up with the word Nigger and it was only supposed to mean an individual, who is lazy, unwise, and good for nothing, but somewhere along the history lines of slavery the N word began to be used more as racial insult against the non-white Americans