While at first glance David Sedaris’s short story “Standing By” is nothing more than a story of the frustration of dealing with delayed flights and airports, when it in fact discusses a much more deeper topic of human nature and behavior. In 2009, Sedaris experienced a flight delay due to thunderstorms and was directed to wait in a customer service line. While waiting in line, he observes the people around him and how they were all disgruntled to be in this situation. However, one person stood out, given that he was wearing a large label on the back of his shirt. The person was a young teenage father with his baby and family, whose shirt largely proclaimed “Freaky Mothafocka” on the back. Sedaris noticed that the people around him, including himself, were all quick to judge the teenager, making assumptions and insulting him. He comes to the conclusion that the airport bring out the worse in people, and provides a space for them to be hateful for no other reason than being their true selves. …show more content…
One of the first people to judge the teenage boy was the elderly woman standing in front of Sedaris.
When Sedaris engaged her in a short conversation, she gestured at the teenage boy and replied, “The only ones having babies are the ones who shouldn’t be having them.” It can be inferred from her statement that she had a strict set of traditional morals, and disapproved how the teenager was sexually active at a young age. Given that she was an older woman, she had come from a more conservative time, and was not used to seeing such a brazen display of sexuality. Her judgement was founded on the stereotypical belief that teenagers that are sexually active and have children on do not become successful in life, and she was disgusted about how the parents of the teenager were not ashamed of
him. The second group of people that critiqued the teenager heavily were the two men that stood behind Sedaris. They first started mutually judging the teenager over his clothing and appearance. However, their judgement, unlike the woman’s, was not based on a high moral ground of traditional family structures. After they insulted the teenager, they went on to discuss rap music and baggy trousers, which are more characteristic of modern African American aesthetic and culture. The two men then went on to insult President Obama and proclaimed that they needed to “take our country back.” This statement in itself suggests white superiority and has a basis in alienating people of color from white people in America. They most likely judged the teenager so aggressively because he was a white man, like themselves, but he did not choose to present himself in a manner that is stereotypically white. His hair choice and his baggy denim shorts did not represent “professionalism” to the two men and they saw him as someone they could not relate to, and therefore they alienated him as well. Sedaris had a moment of realization within the airport while he was overhearing the two men. He disassociated and thought back to his last layover in Denver. The voice on the P.A. system was calling for Adolf Hitler to pick up the phone. He realized then that while people were awful within the airport, so were the people on the outside, tricking the airport staff that there was someone named Adolf Hitler within the airport. David Sedaris saw quite a different side of humanity in the airport that day. He saw how a label on a shirt could make a person stand out and become a prime subject for judgement. The woman standing in front of him judged the teenager based on her own moral values, and the two men behind him judged the teen based off how he presented himself. Sedaris realizes that the airport, along with giving you the freedom of travel, also gives you the freedom to judge and be your true self, no matter how awful that person is.
where the author wants to become proficient in speaking French. He studies language instructions only to end up being embarrassed by the teacher. This results to him being more culturally confused. David Sedaris finds humor in situations that are humiliating.
Brent Staples’ “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” is about how racial profiling has affected his life and made him think of himself as a perilous person. He supports this argument by allowing the readers to see things from his point of view during the times when he was treated like an outsider because of the color of his skin, followed by sharing how the situation made him feel confused and foreign. Staples’ wrote this essay in order to make readers become aware of how often racial profiling actually happens among men. His intended audience is primarily people of color because that is what his essay focuses on, but the intended audience is also those who are not of color because the author is trying to convince them about the
The article “Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples, originally published in Ms. Magazine in 1986, under the title “Just Walk on by,” depicts the existence of racism within the unconscious prejudice of people. The main idea of this article is the fact that blacks are perceived as a violent and disastrous people, and this, in turn, puts them in danger. Staples uses a detailed imagery to illustrate the stereotype of individuals based on black people. In the article, the author portrays the poignant events that black people face and uses pathos to describe his melancholy of people judging him by his skin color. He attracts the focus of audience towards the main idea of this article by using onomatopoeia as well as diction. The usage of such rhetorical strategy has successfully clarified the main idea of the article and widened the approach of this article towards public.
In his essay “Black Men and Public Space,” Brent Staples discusses his personal experiences of being an African American male, while coming to the realization of the harsh realities of the stereotypes it carries. Through his anger and frustration, he learned to alter himself in public spaces by making others around him feel less threatened. Not always would it work, such as the occasional double glances he’d get from the person in front of him or a click when walking past someone in their car. Seeing first-hand the effects of being an African American male made me think twice about how they had to present themselves in public due to the decade long stereotypes that the color of someone’s skin can carry. Seeing this happen through my eyes made
This essay was written in the mindset of an African American male as he examines how his skin color affects how people react to him when he is in public spaces. He feels as if the sidewalks get narrower the closer he gets to others. He knows that the by passers fear him due to the stereotypical views society
Fueled by fear and ignorance, racism has corrupted the hearts of mankind throughout history. In the mid-1970’s, Brent Staples discovered such prejudice toward black men for merely being present in public. Staples wrote an essay describing how he could not even walk down the street normally, people, especially women, would stray away from him out of terror. Staples demonstrates his understanding of this fearful discrimination through his narrative structure, selection of detail, and manipulation of language.
Brent Staples created a perfectly structured essay that clearly unmasked a racist and judgmental society. As explained he used methods such as word choice, literary devices, many experiences of his past and pure emotion in order to place the reader in his shoes. Each method supported the main idea in, “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space”, very strongly. It enhanced the way a reader should feel about prejudicial thoughts and not only did he descriptively share his story but made it so that the reader could feel a personal connection to this phenomenon. Some people would not understand or try to understand how it truly is to be judged as a black male, but Brent Staples portrays great points throughout his personal experiences.
In Brent Staples’ narrative, he asserts the fact that society has stereotypical and discriminatory views towards black males, which has caused him to experience distasteful encounters leading him to behave in a very careful and docile manner around others in public spaces. Personally I agree with Brent Staples, the misjudgment and stereotypes that are enforced on certain races has caused there to be an unnecessary disruption and uneasiness in the daily life and activities of such people. I have also found myself in situations that are similar to Brent Staples’ experiences, all of which were caused by the stigma surrounding immigrants and people of color. Author Brent Staples begins the essay by addressing an experience he had when he was younger,
Racism is not only a crime against humanity, but a daily burden that weighs down many shoulders. Racism has haunted America ever since the founding of the United States, and has eerily followed us to this very day. As an intimidating looking black man living in a country composed of mostly white people, Brent Staples is a classic victim of prejudice. The typical effect of racism on an African American man such as Staples, is a growing feeling of alienation and inferiority; the typical effect of racism on a white person is fear and a feeling of superiority. While Brent Staples could be seen as a victim of prejudice because of the discrimination he suffers, he claims that the victim and the perpetrator are both harmed in the vicious cycle that is racism. Staples employs his reader to recognize the value of his thesis through his stylistic use of anecdotes, repetition and the contrast of his characterization.
In “Citizens: An American Lyric” by Claudia Rankine the audience is placed in a world where racism strongly affects the daily American cultural and social life. In this world we are put as the eyewitnesses and victims, the bystanders and the participants of racial encounters that happen in our daily lives and in the media, yet we have managed to ignore them for the mere fact that we are accustomed to them. Some of these encounters may be accidental slips, things that we didn’t intend to say and that we didn’t mean yet they’ve managed to make it to the surface. On the other hand we have the encounters that are intentionally offensive, things said that are
Society is filled with prejudices often based on first impressions which are skewed by personal thoughts First impressions play a large role in how we view and judge people before we even know them. However, as people silently judge others most do not consider the impact it has on those who are judged. Both “Black Men and Public Spaces” by Brent Staples and “The Struggle” by Issa Rae exemplify the prejudices they experience as African-Americans and the misplaced expectations society places on them. The authors point of view greatly impacts the details and tone of the story. Through explicit details and clear tone, the author is able to portray their perspective and point of view.
The author of Black Men and Public Space, Brent Staples, is an African American man who has a PhD in psychology from the University of Chicago and he is a member of the New York Times editorial board. Staples published an article that described several personal experiences in which he felt that the people around him were afraid of his presence. Staples’ purpose is to bring to light the prejudice that exists in everyday life for African Americans. In Black Men and Public Space, Staples appeals to pathos by using imagery and strong diction, and he uses a somber yet sarcastic tone to portray his message.
In the short essay, “Black Men in Public Space” written by Brent Staples, discusses his own experiences on how he is stereotyped because he is an African American and looks intimidated in “public places” (Staples 225). Staples, an intelligent man that is a graduate student at University of Chicago. Due to his skin complexity, he is not treated fairly and always being discriminated against. On one of his usual nightly walks he encountered a white woman. She took a couple glances at him and soon began to walk faster and avoided him that night. He decided to change his appearance so others would not be frightened by his skin color. He changed the way he looked and walked. Staples dressed sophisticated to look more professional so no one would expect him to be a mugger. Whistling classical music was referred to the “cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country”(Staples 226). The cowbell is used to protect hikers from bears. But in Staples case, it was to not be stereotyped and show that he is harmless. The general purpose of Staples essay was to inform the readers that stereotypes could affect African Americans and any other races.
Staples describes his experiences in Chicago of being racially profiled, for example: people locking car doors as he walked by, people crossing to the other side of the street after seeing him, or police officers assuming him to be a threat. Then, Staples moved to Brooklyn and experienced similar responses, seen as “a fearsome entity with whom pedestrians avoid making eye contact” (136).
The Stand starts at about present day from the time of publishing, in 1980, the United States Military has developed a super virus. The super virus is a highly contagious, highly lethal strain of influenza. A guard, of a military base in the southwest, is infected in an accident, in a blind panic; he flees to the east, infecting dozens on his way. The strain is 99.4% lethal, everyone infected dies within three weeks, and the people that are immune are left to pick up the pieces left by their civilization. Soon the survivors start to have dreams. These dreams are of an one hundred eight year old black lady named Mother Abigail, who is considered to be the spiritual leader of a group of people moving towards Boulder, Colorado. There is another group of people, a man named Randall Flagg leads