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Audre lorde the fourth of july analysis
Analysis of the fourth of july by audre lorde
Audre lorde the fourth of july analysis
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Americans, the notoriously claimed ignorant people of society. The process of becoming a default American of today’s culture involves simple steps. Firstly being, one must purely neglect the notion of an independence day and replace it with a widely known date, the Fourth of July. This is the date people are required to set out and spend half of their monthly check on explosives compounded with fire of various colors to impress everyone for a mere thirty seconds. Along with this must come the obligatory invitation of family’s families sided with lawn chairs sprawled out across the bug infested lawn. However, if the person following these steps is anything but white, they must disregard the entirety of these points. For this day of independence was not fought all beings in America, but just the selfish whites living in the colonies who mindlessly used slaves to do their dirty work. Is this what being an American was and is nowadays? The concept of being an American is so extensively butchered into the idea of freedom, equality, and diversity however the countless ideas …show more content…
of what it really means do not fuse well together and generally ends up with a disordered impression on people. In the article, “All Fired up for the Fourth”, Dave Barry makes a prominent point of how skewed the American view of Independence Day is through satirical examples. Barry begins with adding the fact that people shouldn’t forget the reason for celebrating the birth of our nation when the Founding Fathers arrived on Plymouth Rock (par. 2). However, Barry points out this example of why we should celebrate the birth of America just once. He then goes on to the complete exaggeration of how people celebrate the Fourth of July as if the previous statement was a gesture to how Americans do not exactly acknowledge the fact of independence is the real thing being celebrated. Additionally, Barry adds later, “As the pyrotechnic show lights up the night sky, you begin to truly appreciate the patriotic meaning of the words to The Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key to commemorate the fledgling nation’s first barbeque”. Behind the obvious satire of this quote, Barry seems to sneak in a hidden message of how Americans are clueless to what the fireworks actually signified. Also, the overall inaccuracy of this statement adds the notion of American ignorance. Ultimately, Barry illustrates a satirical Fourth of July setting yet silently adds false information to portray the American’s obliviousness to the genuine importance of Independence Day. In Audre Lorde’s significant yet vigorous essay, “The Fourth of July”, she demonstrates her own personal meaning of independence through her understanding of racism on her trip to Washington D.C.
Lorde asserts, "Preparation were in the air around our house before school was even over. We packed for a week" (239). In this excerpt, Lorde’s tone illustrates happiness and excitement. Lorde’s use of dramatic change of tone further exemplifies the severity of her message. Later, Lorde addresses her own personal definition of American independence through her repetition used in the last paragraph of the word white (242). This use of repetition defines her meaning along with the use of irony to show how flawed American “independence” was to her. While her trip was located in Washington D.C., the capital of America denoted as the place of freedom and equality, she was treated unfairly due to her
ethnicity. To me, being an American is more than just being born here. I chose these essays due to the amount of similarities it has to my experiences along with what I believe is just. With Barry’s article silently showing a prevalent theme of how close-minded Americans celebrating the Fourth of July could be, I realized just how much I agreed with him. In my experience, the Fourth of July was a get together of family to simply buy multiple fireworks and have a cookout. Similarly to Barry’s representation, I could see just how senseless it may have seemed. Additionally, Lorde’s outlook on American society at the time perfectly portrays the absurdity and ironic setting of Washington D.C. If the colonists had truly fought for an equal, just, and open country, why were the African Americans treated unfairly and give less rights afterwards? If this held true, being an American would simply mean embracing the fact that you as a white person celebrated the freedom and independence you fought for. However, nowadays I feel a more accurate definition of being American would be a citizen who appreciates the amount of freedom and complete equality the nation gives as a uniqueness achieved by a country like this. Both essays portray an unidealistic representation of how American virtue should be while simultaneously connecting both ideas of each essay. The idea of being an American nowadays so extensively altered and unknown into the idea of simply freedom and equality. Overall, I feel “Americans” nowadays should be defined as people from anywhere of the world who puts in the effort to perfect their country while embracing the rights of freedom and equality.
1776 by David McCullough is a non-fiction historical book that historically accounts an in depth view of The American Revolution. The book starts from late 1775 and spans to the end of 1776. The book includes the Battle of New York, the Battle of Brooklyn, the Battle of Boston, the Battle of Fort Washington, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the ending Battle of Trenton in 1776. David McCullough adds a sense of emotion and color to this book where it 's more than a history book that lists facts. Not only does he add a sense of enjoyment to read, 1776 provides detailed accounts of the military life during the end of 1775 to the end of 1776 and detailed accounts of the battles. The author, David McCullough, is trying to make a point that 1776 is
The book 1776 was written by David McCullough. 1776 describes the journey of General George Washington’s army during the time period of the Declaration of Independence. The book is divided into three sections and nine chapters.
David McCullough author of 1776 puts faces and feelings to the events of the Revolutionary war making this an exciting novel even when the ending is known. Acting as a companion to an earlier work of McCullough’s, John Adams, 1776 is a strictly military view of the era versus political. Although the reader may have to get accustomed to the vast amount of characters introduced McCullough makes sure that those you are supposed to remember you will. Every character introduced is described incredibly well and throughout the novel you begin to feel as if you know the character and are going through the battle with them, specifically General George Washington with whom the reader emphasizes constantly with throughout the war. With the great description of the characters and events we feel as if we are there and in doing this the author creates understanding, the reader by knowing all sides and characters’ personalities the feels they know why the Revolution happened the way it did.
In Emma Griffith's Liberty’s Dawn, what are the changes that the Industrial Revolution brought for men, children, and women of the working class? In your answer, you must include her description of life before the Industrial Revolution and then the changes that were brought about for each group. Also, make sure to draw directly from the Griffin to support your answer.
“The most exciting attractions are between opposites that never meet.” -Andy Warhol. Opposites are exciting. When positive and negative spaces collide, new ways to look at art formulate. When left and right sides of the aisle combine in the chambers of Congress, revolutionary new laws are passed. When the dead meet the living, zombies rise from the grave, a subject so captivating, it has formed its own subgenre in all kinds of mediums. In writing, these opposites take a few forms. In African American author and poet, Audre Lorde’s narrative, The Fourth of July, a stunning display of juxtaposition helps the reader understand how Audre Lorde felt during her fateful trip to Washington D.C. and her argument that racism is a prevalent issue, despite
The reality of the matter, only known to the mother and father, is that the status quo of racist policies prohibited the Lordes from dining in the car. Lorde appeals to the reader’s pathos by subconsciously creating empathy for Lorde as she struggles with her parents not being truthful about foundational aspect of mid 1900’s American society – racism. Moreover, the use of situational irony is shrewdly expressed in Lorde’s interpretation of her family’s D.C. trip: “…the waitress was white, and the counter was white, and the ice cream I never ate in Washington DC was white and the white heat and the white pavement and the white stone monuments of my first Washington summer made me sick to my stomach…” (para. 24). Employing vivid imagery of how Lorde perceives her recently awoken sense of actual reality, she is able to express her understanding of the displeasing disparity between superior Whites and inferior Blacks. Unlike her jaded parents, Lorde expected the United States’ capital to uphold the same virtues it was founded upon – freedom, equality, liberty. Ironically, she finds Washington D.C. to be filled with inherent discrimination. Consequently the reasoning for Lorde’s blatant irony in her essay’s title: “The Fourth of July”. July 4th is supposed to represent the day the American founders broke away from an oppressive British rule to mark the birth of a free land. Paradoxically, they created a regime that was was more oppressive than the British. The racist foundation of the new nation is not exposed until the understanding of Thomas Jefferson’s implication of the phrase “all men are created equal” in the Constitution. These “men” strictly refer to the elite men that have conquered this new land of America – property-owning white men. Thus, women and those of color were not recognized as entities that possessed inalienable rights. Founding a
Americans are defined by the respect they have for their country and its government, in taking advantage of their freedoms and rights that they gain by showing respect through allegiance, pride, and loyalty.
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride. In some respects, we can attribute the founding of America and all its subsequent impacts to Christopher Columbus. Columbus, a hero in the United States, has his own holiday and we view him as the one who paved the way for America to be colonized.
Tera Hunter througly analyzes in To Joy My Freedom the experiences of the working black women after the civil war in the south. She focuses on the hopefulness and positism of the hard working African American women through the termination of the civil war all the way to the strife and struggles they had to go through laboring . She also focused on the demanding and defining of freedom for the african american women.
“The Star Spangled Banner” emphasizes America’s perseverance and its unwillingness to surrender to adversity. The prime example of this “American attitude” traces back to the dawn of America. Harsh European laws during the Colonial Period allot little to no rights to its own subjects in America. American colonists’ penurious lives are in constant peril of taxation through means such as the mercantilist system and selfish laws like the Navigation Acts. However, American colonists refuse to remain under control of such an oppressive government. In the eyes of the Europeans, they are rapacious rebels who are oblivious of the supremacy of their mother country. Yet, in the eyes of the colonists, they are merely humans asking, and eventually fighting, for simple rights that–according to their tenets–belong to everyone. Although their adversary is the seemingly invincible England, the colonists are able to endure and emerge as the victor. “The Star Spangled Banner” clearly demonstrates the perseverance and audacity in this cl...
It is a rare conception where a human being is completely and utterly alone. One problem we tend to overlook due to our primitive ideals of staying as a group, is the fact of us becoming solely to that group. In the book Anthem ,by Ayn Rand, a man named Equality 7-2521 sees this problem evolve and how it becomes a nuisance to his society. The book has made me open my mind up to the ideals of doing things for yourself and not always for those around you. The feeling of the story showing a world where many are brought down for being unique and talented hurts me as I imagine a time where all are mere specs of the world. The book hits the hard points of what can easily go wrong with our society if we decide to go over the line. I can see a life
Audre Lorde uses her poetic prose to express her feelings of anger and fury over an unfortunate incident which occurred in New York City in the late 1970's. She shares her outrage and disgust at a racist society that can allow a child's death to be buried with no true justice found to help resolve the loss of a innocent child. Audre Lorde adopted an African name at the end of her life, Gamba Adisa, which means "Warrior-She Who Makes Her Meaning Known." (1404) This name she chose can help explain the role as a woman poet and writer she felt she had to play and why she wrote the various works that she produced throughout her life. Lorde was brought up in Harlem and probably understood the difficulties people can encounter when race is involved. In the poem the "Power" she is trying to use her poetic gift to stand up for these racial injustices and to try to make a conscience difference. Lorde wants to be heard, instead of just using rhetoric and the art of effective writing, she is searching for the power she has as a African-American woman poet to make people hear and think about racial injustices.
Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.
Therefore, it shows that Lorde has to stand up for herself in order to go to the dining car. The essay reflects on when Lorde and her family visit a store, they were told to leave the store which made them feel excluded from the crowd. The author writes, “My mother and father believed that they could best protect their children from the realities of race in America and the fact of the American racism by never giving them name, much less discussing their nature. We were told we must never trust white people, but why was never explained, nor the nature of their ill will” (Lorde, 240). The quote explains that Lorde’s parents thought they can protect their child in United States from the racism, however, they had to go through it and face racism in their daily life. This shows that her parents were aware of racism, which they might have to stand up for their rights, but they did not take the stand for themselves as well as their child. Therefore, her parents guided them to stay away from white people. This tells readers that Lorde has to fight for the independence that she deserves along with going against her
Historically, as a country we have ignored many of the values that our nation is based on when it comes to our racial and ethnic past. Liberty is the state of being free, to enjoy the social, political, or economic rights and privileges, the power of choice (Liberty, n.d.). Liberty should not be limited by sex, race, or ethnic background. “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.” (Douglass, 1852) to think that a former slave would be asked to speak at an event regarding the 4th of July, a holiday meant to celebrate our freedom, something that we deprived Mr. Douglass of. Legal equality and...