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Audre Lorde
In our class discussions and reading, I learned that women were once in charge of the human race, women were a part of a community, no race was inferior or superior, there was peace and harmony in the world until the patriarchal era came, planning to embed itself in the ground for a long time. Women were raped of their identity, their race and their status in society. Men ruled the biblical stories, leaving Mary out. Hence, the war started between the races, women fought to gain their identity back and to do so, they started with writing. One of those women was Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde was raised in a very sheltered family. She was protected by her mother who believed that white people should not be trusted. Seeing her mother as an idol, she dared not to question her authority and obeyed her as she said. The pivotal point was when Lorde was on her own in college, it is then she fought racism and prejudice with writing and her involvement in the women community.
Audre Lorde’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, tells a story of Lorde’s childhood in Harlem through herself discovery and her acceptance of her dark skin color, a lesbian and most importantly, her being a woman in the 1950’s. As with her other works, Audre’s Zami: A New Spelling of My Name was artistically produced which could be read as a poetic song. Audre introduces her early life experience of prejudice and self discovery to her audience to locate her position and status in her world. While growing up, Lorde could not describe what it meant to be different; she did not have the word to express her indifference she felt in the world. Lorde’s parents, especially her mother chose to ignore racism and protected their children from the shadow of racism by ne...
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... refused to give women the right to own their names and their identities. Hence, the outcome was hurt and outrages women who decided to unify all women through writing. Audre Lorde was one of these women. She not only helped bring women’s rights into existence but she also helped those women who were still in their first phase of self discovery. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name is a book that earned the recognition it deserves. It is a book that takes the audience on a journey that discovers self, friends, and new words. Lorde has done a phenominal job in bringing those words to life as they spoke to their readers. They were words of a young women who was on a harsh path that lead to new opportunities. These opportunities allowed Lorde to set herself free and embed her presence in the world. And, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name is a textual proof of her presence.
Everyone has once been someone that they aren’t necessarily ashamed of, but something they aren’t anymore. When you’re in school, everyone is different; between the popular kids, the jocks, the cheerleader, the dorks, the Goths, and all the other “types” of people. In “Her Kind,” Anne Sexton shows that she has been a lot of different women, and she is not them now. In this paper we will be diving into the meanings behind the displaced “I,” the tone and reparation, and who Anne Sexton really is and how that affects what she is trying to let people see through this poem.
In the essay “The Fourth of July,” Audre Lorde shares a story about a young black girl who struggles to find the answers to why her parents did not explain why things are the way they are. In the story, the young girl and her family, which consists of her older sister and her parents, are taking a trip to Washington D.C. They are taking this trip because her sister, Phyllis, did not get a chance to go when her class went in 8th grade because she is black and they would not let her stay in the hotel. Her father told her that they would take a family trip later on so she would not be upset. However, this trip was not just a normal family vacation; it was an eye opening experience for Lorde. Lorde expresses racism and the different issues that
In this paper, I plan to explore and gain some insight on Audre Lorde’s personal background and what motivated her to compose a number of empowering and highly respected literary works such as “Poetry is Not a Luxury”. In “Poetry is Not a Luxury”, Lorde not only gives voice to people especially women who are underrepresented, but also strongly encourages one to step out of their comfort zone and utilize writing or poetry to express and free oneself of repressed emotions. I am greatly interested in broadening my knowledge and understanding of the themes that are most prominent in Lorde’s works such as feminism, sexism and racism. It is my hope that after knowing more about her that I would also be inspired to translate my thoughts and feelings
Though her race was a victim of brutal, harsh discrimination, Hurston lived her life as an individual first, and a person of color second. In the narrative “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston, Hurston says, “The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time. I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (Hurston 3). She feels as though an extraordinary form of herself is brought out. This form is not bound by physical traits and is the everlasting woman with the cards she is dealt. The “cosmic Zora” emerging represents the empowered, fearless Zora from Orange County, Florida. When she says that she belongs “to no race nor time”, she means that her race and background do not define who she is as an individual. “The eternal feminine” symbolizes the
The fact that Lorde faces so many hardships throughout the novel, results in her inability to gain self-confidence and therefore integrate. In the beginning of the novel, the reader sees Lorde as a loner; it is not until she meets women who influence her life that she begins to self-integrate. As a child, Lorde does not have many friends. She is isolated and feels that she is very different from those around her. She spends a lot of time with her mother, who she feels does not understand her, or allows her to meet a support network. Lorde's mother's isolation is one example of someone does not understand her lifestyle and therefore cannot giver her support. This is a form of discrimination, and one of the hardships that Audre faced her in adolescence and will continue to face for the rest of her life. It is not until see meets women that can relate to her life style that she feels she become a more complete person: "Recreating in words the women who helped give me substance" (255). As Lorde begins to meet friends an...
Gwendolyn Brooks is the female poet who has been most responsive to changes in the black community, particularly in the community’s vision of itself. The first African American to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize; she was considered one of America’s most distinguished poets well before the age of fifty. Known for her technical artistry, she has succeeded in forms as disparate as Italian terza rima and the blues. She has been praised for her wisdom and insight into the African Experience in America. Her works reflect both the paradises and the hells of the black people of the world. Her writing is objective, but her characters speak for themselves. Although the idiom is local, the message is universal. Brooks uses ordinary speech, only words that will strengthen, and richness of sound to create effective poetry.
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.
Throughout history society has been controlled by men, and because of this women were exposed to some very demanding expectations. A woman was expected to be a wife, a mother, a cook, a maid, and sexually obedient to men. As a form of patriarchal silencing any woman who deviated from these expectations was often a victim of physical, emotional, and social beatings. Creativity and individuality were dirty, sinful and very inappropriate for a respectful woman. By taking away women’s voices, men were able to remove any power that they might have had. In both Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening”, we see that there are two types of women who arise from the demands of these expectations. The first is the obedient women, the one who has buckled and succumbed to become an empty emotionless shell. In men’s eyes this type of woman was a sort of “angel” perfect in that she did and acted exactly as what was expected of her. The second type of woman is the “rebel”, the woman who is willing to fight in order to keep her creativity and passion. Patriarchal silencing inspires a bond between those women who are forced into submission and/or those who are too submissive to maintain their individuality, and those women who are able and willing to fight for the ability to be unique.
A girl who is considered a racial minority face many challenges in her lifetime that can impede on her well-being. Racism and discrimination are two obstacles minorities have to face. Racism is the “belief in the inherent superiority of one race over all other and thereby the right to dominance” (Lorde 19). Due to racism, minorities have a lack of support from other individuals in the society. Audre Lorde explains her understanding on this issue in her article called “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Refining Difference”. Lorde specifically discusses the discrimination against the African American minority population and gives many examples to support her claims. She stated that one example of Black female discrimination is in literature. Black
She and the women who followed in her footsteps created the opening of minds that allowed the possibility of women’s equality to men. I am sure Whitney had no idea the impact she would have on not only literature, but on women, and the world. Works Cited Clark, Danielle. The Politics of Early Modern Women’s Writing. England.
So goes the quote by William Shakespeare, and many people believe this is true. However, to many of African-American descent, both past and present, to be “called out of your name”, is one of the greatest insults imaginable. “Mary,” a chapter from volume one, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” of Dr. Maya Angelou’s five-volume autobiography, details the horror and rage she felt, and the retribution she administered, at such an act.The year was 1938, and Dr. Angelou, then going by her birth name, Marguerite Johnson, was 10 years old and working as a maid & cook’s helper for a white woman named Mrs. Viola Cullinan, the daughter of wealthy Virginian parents. According to Miss Glory, the cook whose family had been slaves for the Cullinan’s, she had married beneath her to a man whose money “didn’t ‘mount to much”. Marguerite pitied Mrs. Cullinan because she was old, fat, and ugly and couldn’t have children, though it was well known that her husband had two beautiful daughters by a colored lady. She tried to feel Mrs. Cullinan’s loneliness and pain, and tried very hard to make up for her barrenness by coming to work early and staying late.
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
In her autobiographical novel, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou relates her story as a poor black girl living in racially segregated Stamps, Arkansas. As the story unfolds, she describes relationships with her family and members of the community, her love of reading, her feeling of inequality, the racial prejudice she suffers, and her experiences as a single mother. What makes Angelou heroic is her perseverance over a multitude of odds. In the beginning of the novel, the reader learns that Angelou is living with her grandmother because her birth mother abandoned her. With no direction or positive influence in her life, a white woman introduced her to “her first white love” – William Shakespeare –who befriended Angelou. Reading
In her address, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House (1979), Audre Lorde exposes racism and classism within the feminist movement. Lorde claims that as a result of feminists adopting the same method used by our patriarchal society of separating women by their differences, or ignoring them altogether, they were perpetuating oppression and failing to promote and accomplish change. While Lorde’s analysis was accurate at that time, and still permeates feminism to some degree, we have learned much from our mistakes. Our past shortfalls and the lessons we have learned from those deficiencies has shaped our progress toward unity and inclusion of all women. Although there is still much to work to be done, Lorde’s vision of unity for feminists when she says, “Define and conquer in our
Adrienne Rich’s life made an impact with this poem. Experiencing the different tragic events firsthand, civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, and the women’s rights, she was able to explain how things are really shown to the world. Rich portrays her speaker first as a lonely explorer searching for the truth behind the historical myth of women and their roles in a male dominated society. The speaker then becomes an androgynous being that stands up for both rights for men and women in society. They all represent those unmentioned in the book of