Citizen An American Lyric Analysis

The writing styles of Claudine Rankine and Colson Whitehead vary significantly, but both manage to address the issue of race in America in profound ways. In Citizen: An American Lyric, the former utilizes a combination of images and poetry to convey a sense of open-endedness, while the latter follows a traditional historical fiction narrative in his novel, The Underground Railroad. The books build on historical and modern events to evoke emotion and convey criticism. *Rankine uses an experimental

In Citizen: An American Lyric written by Claudia Rankine, there is a passage where a man is stopped because he fits the description of a “criminal”. The speaker faces immense trauma just trying to relay to the officer that he is not the perpetrator they are looking for. In fact he is just another person trying to get home from a long day at the office. The officers refuse to listen which angers the victim and causes him to curse at the officer saying, “Go ahead hit me motherfucker.” (Rankine 107)

A finalist for the National Book Award in poetry, Claudia Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric” is audacious in form. But what is perhaps especially striking about the book is that it has achieved something that eludes much modern poetry: urgency. “Citizen” is both insistently topical, with references to Trayvon Martin and stop-and-frisk police tactics, and concerned with intimate moments when racial impasses spring up between friends and colleagues. Stylistically, it takes readers on a ride over

Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. The author uses everyday encounters to expose the harsh reality African American people live. Rankine’s perspective on racism is applicable to years dating from 1860 and to present day occurrences. Discrimination against African Americans is a continuing problem. Although slavery does not exist today, African Americans continually grieve the agony their ancestors faced throughout the Civil War up to World War II. African Americans overcame slavery and

Yousif Sehwail 24336 MCM 102/Sec. #2 Dec 14, 2010 Critical Evaluation 998 The Failure of the American Presidency "Mosh" by Eminem is a protest song that was released in 2004 before the presidential election. The word "Mosh" itself refers the aggressive behavior in which audience members or fans react in a live music performance. The song is taken from the album Encore and was produced by Ian Inaba of GNN TV; Guerrilla News Network, a private website and television production

Claudia Rankine’s contemporary piece, Citizen: An American Lyric exposes America’s biggest and darkest secret, racism, to its severity. While she highlights a vast number of stories that illustrate the hate crimes that have occurred in the United States during the 21st century, the James Craig Anderson case is prevalent because his heartbreaking story is known by few individuals throughout the country. In 2011, James Craig Anderson, a 49-year-old man of Mississippi was nearly beaten to death by a

justice issues. Today, hip hop culture’s association revolves around raps (lyrics) and the rappers which reflect how consumers receive messages about social justice issues. Unlike breaking and graffiti, the music/lyrics penetrate society more. However, for this analysis, the focus will rely on a visual element with a connection to hip hop music. Even though a music video would make sense as a visual means of expression, this analysis has more interest in a hip hop album’s cover art. Also, this focus will

are more prevalent than most. In addition to such topics as drugs, alcohol and police brutality, a dominant theme within rap music is the denigration and derision of women. Indeed, as the above lyrics to Akinyele's song “Put It in your Mouth” illustrate, many male rappers use violent and misogynistic lyrics to create an image of women that is both degrading and disgusting. The graphic

today’s youth which transforms and evolves American culture and society. What started it all was the origin of “gangsta rap”, which was popularized by gangster rappers such as Tupac Shakur, Notorious BIG, Ma$e, Snoop Dogg, and Scarface. These were all rappers who influenced American culture and made the genre of rap and hip hop more mainstream which captivated many listeners not only on a local level, but on an international level. However, some of the lyrics that were stated were not only meaningful

Poetics, Aristotle defines the elements of dramatic form that can create a play that truly acts as intended. For example, plot is a series of incidents, or scenes, while characters are driven by dramatic actions; needs, wants, and desires. A new analysis of Aristotle’s definition of plot defines it as the playwright’s politics. Lin uses all of these devices within his play to, not only provoke an audience into thinking clearly about themselves and understand their own motivations and relationships