Henry Louis Gates What's In A Name

Henry Louis Gates in “What’s in a Name?” and Dumas in “The F word” both experience issues with there names. They both were defined by there names and were treated with oppression. Both Gates and Dumas had no control over this ethnic oppression. It limited their independence and treated them in a unjust way.

Gate issues were with Mr. Wilson, white man in his neighborhood. Mr. Wilson would call Gates George because that’s what he called all black men. This limited Gates social standard. He felt as if he was no different than anyone else because he was black. He was seen as inferior to Mr. Wilson even though they both were similar in economic standings. He even went as far to say “He had white straight hair, like my Uncle Joe, whom he uncannily

resembled”. He said this to compare his uncle to Mr. Wilson, to show that even though they looked alike Mr. Wilson was still seen as superior to his uncle because he was white.

While Dumas was limited because of her ethnic name, Firoozeh. She even went as far as to change it to Julie because it was hard to make friends as a child. As she got older nothing got better. She didn’t get jobs because of her ethnic name. Employers saw this name and though there would be a language barrier. They thought she would be immigrant that did not speak English. She knew this was the reason because she said “ After three months of rejections, I added Julie to my resume. Call it coincidence, but the job offers started coming in.”

Gates and Dumas both are seen by there names. Gates was limited by being called George because he was a black man, and Dumas was limited because she couldn’t get a job because of here ethnic name. They both had the same qualifications to be treated equally but they were limited because of a name. Julie had the same qualifications if not better to get the job but didn’t because her ethnicity limited her. While Gates was on the same economic standard as Mr. Wilson but was seen as inferior because he was black.

These two stories relate because both Gates and Dumas were treated unfairly based on there ethnicity. They were not treated unfair even with the outstanding accomplishments they made in life. They were both dehumanized because of cruel standards of there society.