The two essays “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” by Zora Neale Hurston and “The Fourth of July” by Audre Lorde, both have a similar, constant theme, women speaking back to racism. Black Americans face disadvantages everyday due to their skin color. In the 1800s-1900s, it was even worse for women. They had to deal with both stereotypes of being black and a woman. A majority of white people around the time saw them as nothing but a waste of space. They refused to accept them.
The purpose of both these essays were very similar. Zora was writing to show what it was like for her to realize she was colored. She explained the moment she noticed that people actually judge off of skin color. She expressed how she learned to look past these racial issues
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and look at things in the most positive way she could.. Audre on the other hand, took a more angry approach to explaining her first encounter with racism. She explained how one trip to the nation's capitol gave her a whole new outlook on life and her country. She had never encountered racism or segregation growing up, so when she started getting picked out because of her skin color, it didn’t set well with her. While both essays showed effectiveness to their purpose, I felt Zora was able to communicate her feelings better. She was overall more understanding and expressed her emotions in more ways than one. Her writing gave off strong appeals to pathos. She was able to captivate her audience and let them feel how much she really loved her life. I feel as if Audre let anger take over her writing, which is fine, it just felt more overwhelming when I read it. She got her main emotion across, but she just didn’t pull in me in as much as Zora was able to. Zora’s way of writing was more effective to her purpose. Zora Neale Hurston was born in 1891 in rural Alabama. She was raised in a small, Negro town in Florida. The only white contact this town had was when white tourists would pass through, going to or from Orlando. Zora described how the other blacks would react when they passed through, saying “They were peered at cautiously from behind the curtains by the timid. The more venturesome would come out on the porch to watch them go past and got just as kuchen pleasure out of the tourists as the tourists got out of the village.”. While others were intimidated by whites, Zora loved to greet them. She saw no difference between her and them, other than she lived in the town and they were just passing through. Zora was moved to a new school in Jacksonville, and that’s where the racism began. She mentioned how people were constantly reminding her that she colored, and that she’s a granddaughter of slaves. She chooses to see it as it is. Slavery happened, and now it’s over. She refuses to become depressed over it. Audre Lorde was born in 1934 in New York City.
Her essay, “The Fourth of July”, is a story of her family travelling to Washington D.C. for her graduation present. Andre had worked hard to earn this trip. She had been anticipating it for a long time. Once the trip started, it didn't take long for the racism to begin. Her parents had sheltered her from any racism her whole life, so now that she was in the real world she didn't understand what was happening. Just on the train ride there she experienced her first run in with segregation. She said “I wanted to eat in the dining car because I had read all about them, but my mother reminded me for the umpteenth time that dining car food always costs too much money and besides, you never could tell whose hands had been playing all over that food.”. Audre then later said how her mom had just been hiding the fact that blacks weren't allowed in the dining car in 1947. Her parents worked hard to protect her feelings her whole life. The whole reason she was going to D.C with her parents was because the school couldn’t find a hotel that would allow her to stay there because she was colored. This left nothing but anger and pain in …show more content…
Audre. Zora never focused on the discrimination she faced. She knew that she had to stay strong and continue “sharpening her oyster knife”, as she put it. In other words, she was too focused on bettering herself to be put down for something like her skin color. I think this is what makes it so effective. Her audience can appreciate her for that. Though the world was so unfair to her at times, she took the higher road and didn’t let herself get hurt. Audre took the discrimination against blacks to heart. She began to feel as though our capitol was wrong for claiming to be a symbol of freedom when there's still so much racism happening. Throughout her essay she started describing everything as “white”. For example she said white counters, white ice cream, white pavement. She did this out of spite. Just in the last paragraph, she used the word white six times. This showed just how angry she was at the racism and discrimination from whites. This is a lot different from Zora. In these two essays, we have someone who was strong enough to see the discrimination as a reason to work harder to be a great person, and a person who chooses to dwell on the hate. Zora's essay’s tone was more optimistic.
She didn't let herself see from a one side point of view. Deep down, she knew she wasn't any different from whites. A good quote that represents that is when she compared everyone to bags. “I feel like a brown bag of miscellany propped against a wall. Against a wall in company with other bags, white, red, and yellow. Pour out the contents, and there is discovered a jumble of small things priceless and worthless.” Everyone is the same on the inside, and Zora realized that.Audre’s tone was more upsetting. She was angry at two main things. The fact she had to experience such terrible discrimination at a place that is titled a symbol of freedom and the way her parents refused to answer her questions. This could easily appeal to pathos. Her readers would easily begin to feel bad for her. As far as my thoughts go, I was waiting for her to become stronger and realize that she wasn’t a bad person for being black. I wanted her to stop focusing on the
negatives. Overall, these writings convey the same message. Black American women have been through more judgement than most. Both these women are strong and should be honored for choosing to speak out on the rough times they had to endure. However, I believe Zora Hurston was able to appeal to her audience and purpose in a way that made it more effective.
The black women’s interaction with her oppressive environment during Revolutionary period or the antebellum America was the only way of her survival. Playing her role, and being part of her community that is not always pleasant takes a lot of courage, and optimism for better tomorrow. The autonomy of a slave women still existed even if most of her natural rights were taken. As opposed to her counterparts
In the short story, “Fourth of July”, Audre Lord transmits the main message of how one should resist and retaliate when afflicted to prejudice. Lorde displays the message of prejudice early in the story when she describes the complications Phyllis had trying to get to Washington D.C. with her high school senior class, just because she is a different skin color as the others. Lorde writes “Phyllis’s high school senior class trip had been to Washington, but the nuns had given her back her deposit in private, explaining to her that the class, all of whom were white, except Phyllis, would be staying in a hotel where Phyllis ‘Would not be happy,’ meaning, Daddy explained to her, also in private, that they did not rent rooms to Negroes. ‘We will
...dies the theme, because Zora was never a nigger. She tried her best to be everything but that just as she promised the man. Zora was so much more than just a ‘nigger” she brought the best that any black women could bring in that time period. She made sure she stood outside her color where ever she went. Not because she was ashamed of who she was, but because she wanted to be more than her color. Not be black women who have not accomplished much but that black women who open doors. Going through her life making an impact on things she believed in rather it hurt blacks or rather it disappointed whites. She made the best with what she had even though she knew what she had could have been more. You can believe in so much but you have to eventually go out and find out for yourself. Zora proved that quote so many times to ensure that she did what she had to do many times.
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
Individuals like Sojourner Truth did not receive fair treatment like the white women. In the speech, “ Ain't I a Woman ?” Sojourner Truth states, “ Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles ,or give me any best place! And ain't I a Woman?” Black women were not treated like white women, instead they were treated more like animals. Every individual should be entitled to freedom and human rights equally. Sojourner Truth speech brought awareness to others by informing them that equality did not play a role within women's rights. Both black and white women are humans, therefore their skin color should not matter and they both deserved to be treated fairly. Sojourner Truth struggled for change to inform the listeners to be mindful of the type of treatment these African American women
Cultural diversity is the hallmark of our society because of the our inherited genetic predisposition or what we learn as we grow up that predominantly shapes us and our differences as individuals. In that same way, we must be more aware of the things others say and do because we’re all different and we all should be able to accept the fact. When it comes to the Fourth of July, every person has his or her own memory during this special occasion. Audre Lorde took a trip during the summer to Washington, D.C., she obtained her own memory and meaning of independence. Lorde’s essay was written in response to her family’s trip to Washington D.C. the summer after her graduation from eighth grade. In it, she writes, “The waitress was white, and the counter was white, and the ice cream I never ate in Washington D.C. … 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 for the whole rest of that trip…”(Lorde 257). Here,
One could also look at the women’s rights movement during that period of time, it focused on women’s right but did not necessarily tackle the intersectional issues surrounding women such as race. As it was expressed in the article, “What a Good Idea! Frames and Ideologies in Social Movement Research”, framing theory “[enables] individuals to locate, perceive, identify and label occurrences’ and ‘selectively punctuate and encode objects, situations, events, experiences and sequences of action within one’s present and past environment” (Oliver & Johnson, 2000:4). For black women, there can be instances or events that can be considered as being an issue of race but then again, an issue can also stem from gender inequalities. The issue of identifying one’s grievance as being either racial or gender based will be further discussed in the
Audre Lorde in her essay The “Fourth of July”(1982) asserts that freedom is not necessarily for all in the US. She develops her claim by utilizing situational irony, long flowing sentences, imagery. Lorde’s purpose is to show people the cracks in the ideals that the United States of America were founded on in order to get people to challenge those ideals themselves. She adopts a transforming tone to appeal to citizens who are not aware of racial issues that are relevant to them.
Because of the laws against colored people, Rosaleen, as a black woman, lives with constraints in her life. For example, she cannot live in a house with white people (Kidd, p.8), she cannot represent Lily at the charm school (Kidd, p.19), or even travel in a car with white people (Kidd, p.76). The media is also influenced by racism, and constantly shows news about segregation such as the case of Martin Luther King, who is arrested because he wants to eat in a restaurant (Kidd, p.35), the “man in Mississippi was killed for registering to vote” (Kidd, p.44), and the motel in Jackson, that closes, because the owners don’t want to rent rooms to black people (Kidd, p.99).... ... middle of paper ...
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
In “How It Feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston breaks from the tradition of her time by rejecting the idea that the African American people should be ashamed or saddened by the color of their skin. She tells other African Americans that they should embrace their color and be proud of who they are. She writes, “[A socialite]…has nothing on me. The cosmic Zora emerges,” and “I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads” (942-943). Whether she feels “colored” or not, she knows she is beautiful and of value. But Hurston writes about a time when she did not always know that she was considered colored.
Zora Neale Hurston, born in 1891, is considered one of the most inspirational female black activist for her literary contribution to the Harlem Renaissance. Social activist, novelist, folklorist, short story writer, and anthropologist, lived in an era of total discrimination and women degradation. Her literature, in particular, gave insight to what it meant being an African-American between the 1900s to 1960s. But, it was her tenacity and devotion for writing that persevered despite criticism and unrecognition from the white and her own black community. Her life upbringing influenced her perspective which now reflects in her novels, essays, and short stories. The color of her skin also greatly influenced her career as a writer, namely as a
In her essay “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, Zora Neale Hurston combines prose with lyrical language to create a work that explores what it means to live outside of race. The essay defies typical African-American literature notions of revision and repetition. In his essay “American Letters, African Voices”, Henry Louis Gates Jr. argues that revision and repetition are central in African-American literature. However, Hurston crafts an argument that extends beyond the African-American canon. Hurston’s essay argues that it isn’t her color, nor her racial history, that makes her phenomenal, rather it is her ability to exist
In the story “How it feels to be colored me” by Zora Neale Hurston we are able to view Hurston’s complex expression of racial identity in the united states. It celebrates the distinct cultural of African American, she has pride on her race more of her color; she is expressing her cultural and racial pride. In her work, we are taken from her childhood to her adult life. It deeply spokes of the Harlem Renaissance on race in the United State and on the African-American representation of racial identity “I do not belong to the sobbing school of negrohood” (539). She is exploring the old views of her race while finding her own personal view and accepting herself, as she is a value human just as equal as any other person. Her tone and use of imagery
African-American people have had to climb over many obstacles to get to their position today. First, was the selling of their people into slavery. Then, they endured slavery itself, being treated like an animal. After slavery was abolished, Colored people still had to deal with racial discrimination and hatred. If this sounds rough, black women had it worse. African-American women had to deal with all the previously mentioned things, but they were women too! Females were oppressed almost as bad as the blacks. White women were not able to vote until the 1920. Therefore colored women had a double edged sword, they had to fight for freedom, but not be to dominate as to effect the men. Alice Walker's The Color Purple is a good example of colored women's plight. Three obstacles black women had to overcome to be able to express themselves were Racism, the lack of education, and the stereo-type that women are inferior.