Essay about Rhetorical Appeals and Ethical Argument Analysis

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.

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

Marybeth Gasman and Ufuoma Abiola’s article Colorism Within the Historically Black Colleges and Universities it investigates the significant of color prejudice at HBCUs. This article examines the origins, manifestations and damaging results of colorism on black college campuses. In this article the authors are trying to find a way to solve the problem of colorism at HBCUs and create an environment where students can be success regardless of whether they are dark skin or light skin. After they do this they offer recommendations for future research.

The first main point the authors’ introduce is to recognize black males’ lived experiences. Black males have an experience unique to just them. Black men’s experiences of racism impact their education. They even face consequences for pursuing education. Those consequences could be social, educational, and economic. To understand these key issues, you must first look at the past. Black men have always had to overcome great obstacles. Low literacy, limited employment, high incarceration rates, have predisposed many black men to never being able to escape poverty. Further, being impoverished means a less chance that these men will go into higher education. Higher education is so expensive these days, and the underfunding of financial aid and other

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.

“You are a nothing little nigger” is one of the demeaning phrases African American human beings have heard over the years in an effort to keep them in a state of persecution. This paper will discuss the persecution of the African American. The following documents the struggles, gut wrenching pain, and heart ache of African American people have endured and are still suffering with today.

This is again Twain making a mockery Southern values that considered it a sin to be kind to black people. Twain’s critics consider the novel to be racist and quite outwardly. They cite the common use of the word “nigger” as the most obvious instance of the book’s racism. To have used the words Negro or African American would have taken away from the story’s impact and would make it sound ridiculous. If Twain wanted to write a historically accurate book as he did then the inclusion of this word is totally

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 reflection of this paper has both discrimination and racism issues. In reading the article an 11- year-old black boy is called a nigger by a 5-year-old white child. As I see it, both boys are children. The black boy feels discriminated because the white boy has no respect and calls him a nigger. The 11-year-old takes to the discrimination and racism slur calling him nigger because he has been called it before but not from a child.

As the Reconstruction hit the south, some white farmers were forced to adjust to new life as tenant farmers and sharecroppers (“Q&A”). As this social change occurred, white tenant farmers became the equals to recently freed black workers. While the end of the Civil War brought about new rights for blacks such as the right to be a citizen, the amendments did not end the plaguing racism in the south that manifested in the form of “black code laws” that socially restricted freedmen (“Reconstruction Era”). Faulkner represents this prevalent racism in Snopes’s choice of words when he describes how de Spain’s house is built on “nigger sweat,” which depicts belief that black people are only good for slave labor (Faulkner 512). Snopes echoes how the tenant farmers despised the evolving social structure and let the change affect them psychologically, causing them to resent blacks even more and by default also resent the rich whites that put them in that position.

“It was 15 minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger” (Twain 86). The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is a story about a young boy and a runaway slave, and their adventures down the river. It is a story about racism and the developing of a young person’s mind with the influence of society and the influence of his heart. While this novel is a great story about issues that are still occurring today, many schools have decided to take this out of their curriculum. Many people believe that the N word which is featured in Twain’s novel 219 times should be taken out and replaced with slave. The N word should not be taken out because it is a real reflection of the way it was and this is changing Twain’s

White people have been the superior race since the very beginning of America. Throughout history white people have owned and ruled almost everything about American culture. Although white people are still the majority and have most of the wealth in America, there is one thing they do not own, the n-word. This one word has caused controversy and conflicts between races in society. The essay “Why Do They Get to Use the N-word But I Can’t” talks about the issue of who can say this word and why are only certain races and social groups allowed to say it.

This essay is going to discuss about racism in comedy and in addition to that it is also going to look at whether it is acceptable for comedians to use certain racial words for example when black comedians use the word “Nigger”. Also it is going to look at how different audience put up with this kind of material, but first of all it is going to look at the actual word itself and where in the blue marble that we call earth it originated from.

situation and give a clear forecast of the material you will cover in your essay. Your thesis