The Meaning Of A Word Meaning

Cullen is hopeful to get to a place where people of different races will be able to look at others without prejudice and discrimination. However, the poem “Incident” is of a less positive tone. She expresses her experience in a shocked manner, saying, a boy stuck his “tongue out and, called, [her] ‘Nigger’,” (Cullen 8). She was so shocked that “From May until December; .../… of all the things that happened... /… that’s all [she could remember” in Baltimore (Cullen 10-12). At the young age that she was at, it is surprising and upsetting to her to be discriminated against for no reason.

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

The essay “The Meanings of a Word” by Gloria Naylor discusses the many definitions of a word and how its meaning can change according to context and delivery. She made this point by telling a story of her childhood and the first time she heard the n-word used by a white person in a derogatory, demeaning way. She described her this situation that took place when she was in third-grade and a boy in front of her in math class called her the n-word. She had no idea what it meant to be called that in a negative way because the people she grew up around only used it as positive and empowering. At the end of her essay, she once again emphasized how easy it is to change a word into something hateful simply depending on who says it and their

Both authors explore examples in which they are treated in a racist or discriminatory manner. Brent Staples encountered a younger woman and “came upon her late one evening on a deserted street… she cast back a worried glance… picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest.” (Staples 1) Just the mere sight of him made the woman scared, after this experience he feels “surprised, embarrassed, and dismayed all at once. Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny.” (2) He realizes that he is “indistinguishable from the muggers...” (2), or at least to the woman. Staples experiences, first hand, discrimination; the woman is fearful of him because of his race, and Staples feels the full effect of that. Gloria Naylor recounts the first time she was ever called the N-word. It was in class and she she says “she couldn’t have been more puzzled.” She “didn’t know what a nigger was,” but she did know “it was something he shouldn't have called” her (Naylor 3). She was thoroughly confused and later asked her mother what the word meant. Naylor is treated poorly due to the color of her skin. Similarly to Staples,

The word “nigger” is a word of many and various meanings with plentiful purposes. It is like no other word. People use this word to criticize, harm, exclaim, and even to sound “cool” to others. There are so many variations of the word nigger that could seem less harmful like “nigga”, “nig”, etc, that are used to disguise true intentions. To determine the meaning of the word “nigger” it is crucial to look deeply at the scenario because it can be used in so many ways for so many reasons. For instance, overlooking the time period, the geographical location and the acts unfolding could lead to a misunderstanding of the true meaning of the word “nigger”. The two biggest things to consider when determining the true meaning of the word is to recognize who is using the word and who exactly the word is being targeted towards; but failing to recognize other factors also help when determining the connotation.

Reading the content in this book made me get a picture of what it was like to be a colored person in this time. My eyes were opened to the meaning of the word “nigga”. Nigga is such a derogatory term, yet now-a-days it is used by people so much. Kids in this generation use it as a term of endearment when they see their friends, or they say it when they are shocked by something. Frankly, I don’t believe they know how serious it really is. The fact that white people could look at a person and see less than a human being when they did nothing wrong distresses me. They (white people) treated them as if they were property and below them. Even though we don’t have racism to this extent

Negroes do not like it in any book or play whatsoever, be the book or play ever so sympathetic in its treatment of the basic problems of the race. Even [if] the book or play is written by a Negro, they still [would] not like it” (Henry). In addition, John Wallace believes that the word “nigger” is so offensive that he rewrote the novel without the word “nigger.”

Words can affect people in a negative aspect, individuals strongly influence people from their degrading words. Many times, men and women nonchalantly state opinions society has formed, not considering their meaning. Angelou states, “But I personally had never heard it before. Never heard the words, despite the thousands of times I had sung them” (Angelou, 2015, p.188). Angelou during this statement refers to the Negro National Anthem. People proclaim statements, ideas, and opinions often based on the norms society has created. Even if men and women proclaim the words their culture and community has stated, often they can forget the true meaning of the words. “The man’s dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too many settled in my belly” (Angelou, 2015, p.186). The actions of Mr. Edward Donleavy, including his speech, allowed his words to negatively affect the audience, leaving them feeling humiliated. Individuals voice their comments without thought of the true message others insinuate from their words. The result from the impact of the words leaves an everlasting effect upon the individual receiving the impact.

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

The increased use of the word, “nigger”, in mainstream media by young people is the result of the lack of knowledge of historical context and thus inadequate education. The ignorance from those who use it resonate from the lack of relatability and apathy of the suffering and indignifying treatment of African-Americans when the word was used in a derogative manner. The consequence that also arise as a result of the desensitization of the word is the normalized stigma of disrespect towards black people–by allowing a term previously used in the slavery era as a norm, it is as though they are praising or glorifying the slavery. The usage of the word freely will merely be a display of ignorance, especially when black people use it. It is normalizing

She says, “I stood many nights in front of the bathroom mirror, practicing how to say “nigger”… dropping the “er” so that it became not a slur, but a term of endearment: “nigga” (Senna 63). This relates to Omi and Winant’s theory of racial etiquette because Birdie is being forced to change how she has to acts. This creates an issues for Birdie because when she says the word “nigga” she has to make sure she does not put the “er” on the end because certain people take offense to that word. Birdie practices these words have different meanings for different people. To blacks the term “nigger” is consider a racial slur, where “nigga” is considered slang. For whites both terms are viewed as racial slurs. It’s important that she acts like this due to the reason being that she wants to change to fit the black racial

Randall Kennedy argues that the word nigger should be usable by all people as long as no one is being harmed. “There is nothing necessarily wrong

Have you ever asked yourself about the meaning of life? According the Nagel, if we look at the big picture than all of our lives are meaningless. One day the universe is going to stop functioning and all life will perish so what is the point of our existence? To some people this could be harmful to their self-esteem because they want to be able to know that they live for a reason. To others, the thought of an overall meaningless life doesn’t mean that their life is meaningless within their lifetime. Some people have a more religious view. Maybe God gives us a purpose in living. In this chapter Nagel talks about the possibilities when taking into consideration the meaning to life.

Having the “N-Word” in our literature creates a negative learning environment and also gives the word power

Of course I did not know that my words would have any meaning. I had no more knowledge of the afterlife than any living creature, less perhaps as I had long eschewed religion and morality in turn as restricting my freedoms. I had learned from visitors of my notoriety and that fools ascribed my acts to the influence of some devil or evil spirit, reluctant to acknowledge that the thirsts being slaked by my actions were very human indeed. Ruminating on this I carefully chose my words, which I knew I would be granted, to inspire still greater fear. It was all I had left as I accepted the inevitability of the sentence; the only remaining chance to wield any power as my lawyers had spoken for me.