Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wrote “My American Jon’ to highlight the differences of race in America. She achieves this by using her personal story about her relationship with a white American named, Jon. Similar to many white Americans, Jon lives in his own bubble, and rarely ever discusses how different his life is, because he is white, to Adichie, who is black. To Jon, the crisis in Nigeria can be solved by promoting tourism. He was sure that Adichie could travel to Paris, even though she was a Nigerian native and was not allowed without a visa. He laughed at Adichie’s claims that his mother’s stereotypical racist claims had anything to do with race. Jon also attempts to equalize his situation to Adichie's. He refuses to accept that Adichie experiences racism, instead chalking it up to people being uninformed about what they say. Unfortunately, Jon's refusal to acknowledge …show more content…
Although she herself notices these differences, she knows that America does not care what type of African American you are, because in America it is all the same. All black people suffer from racism and stereotypes and it does not matter whether one is from Nigeria or Jamaica, it is all the same. Adichie’s aunt attempted to act as American as possible solely to avoid those stereotypes and racism, “Aunty Adanna was one of those Nigerian immigrants who, when they spoke to white people, adopted a risible American accent” (Adichie 917). Adichie is disgusted to learn that her aunt has no idea what is happening in Nigeria, and her aunt’s need to assimilate for white people. While Jon claims that it was sweet she was trying to make him feel comfortable, Adichie regarded it as pathetic. Regardless of her living in America, Adichie was still proud to be Nigerian and did not shy away from it even though she was dating someone that did not understand that type of
In the article, “A Letter My Son,” Ta-Nehisi Coates utilizes both ethical and pathetic appeal to address his audience in a personable manner. The purpose of this article is to enlighten the audience, and in particular his son, on what it looks like, feels like, and means to be encompassed in his black body through a series of personal anecdotes and self-reflection on what it means to be black. In comparison, Coates goes a step further and analyzes how a black body moves and is perceived in a world that is centered on whiteness. This is established in the first half of the text when the author states that,“white America’s progress, or rather the progress of those Americans who believe that they are white, was built on looting and violence,”
Being Told I Don’t Speak Like a Black Person”, this description is shown. Joseph uses her
It was only on his deathbed when the grandfather decided to speak truthfully about his feelings throughout his life. He spoke bitterly to the narrator’s father, comparing the lives of black Americans to warfare and admitted to feeling like a traitor. With “yeses” and “grins,” the grandfather wanted to undermine the whites and told his family to “agree ’em to death and destruction.” As a grown man, the narrator too lives meekly; receiving praise from the white society and invitations to speak. At his high school graduation, the narrator gave a speech urging for humility and submission as key to the advancement of black Americans.
people of different ethnicities. Such harm is observed in the history of North America when the Europeans were establishing settlements on the North American continent. Because of European expansion on the North American continent, the first nations already established on the continent were forced to leave their homes by the Europeans, violating the rights and freedoms of the first nations and targeting them with discrimination; furthermore, in the history of the United States of America, dark skinned individuals were used as slaves for manual labour and were stripped of their rights and freedoms by the Americans because of the racist attitudes that were present in America. Although racist and prejudice attitudes have weakened over the decades, they persist in modern societies. To examine a modern perspective of prejudice and racism, Wayson Choy’s “I’m a Banana and Proud of it” and Drew Hayden Taylor’s “Pretty Like a White Boy: The Adventures of a Blue-Eye Ojibway” both address the issues of prejudice and racism; however, the authors extend each others thoughts about the issues because of their different definitions, perspectives, experiences and realities.
The two concepts are perhaps the most powerful writing of the sheer burden of African-American in our society. Ever though the story was written many decades ago, many African-American today reflect on how things haven’t changed much over time. Still today American will conceptualize what is “Black” and what is “American”.
Olaudah Equiano's Interesting Narrative provides insight into cultural assimilation and the difficulties such assimilation. The writer embraces several Western traits and ideals yet guards his African virtues jealously. In doing so however, he finds himself somewhere in between a full European and a displaced African. This problem of cultural identity Equiano struggled with is still present in modern American society. The modern day African-American appears to also be in the process of deciding the between two competing cultures and often being left somewhere in middle becoming a victim of cultural identity just like Olaudah Equiano some 250 years ago.
Rankine often refers back to the themes of taking away individuality, and the idea that black skin is a threat or insult. She describes the conversation she had with a classmate on their way to school, where she was asked to lean to the right so the classmate would be able to copy off of Rankine. Although this happened quite some time ago, and Rankine cannot remember the minor details, such as the girl’s name, what was said to her has been remembered. “She tells you you smell good and have features more like a white person. ”2 Rankine assumes that the girl says this to make herself feel better about cheating from a black person, as if someone who is black is beneath her.
African American’s have faced a great deal of harsh and cruel treatment throughout our society. From being stripped from their homeland of Africa and being brought to America as slaves, African Americans have seen and been through it all. Author and renowned poet Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks discusses and describes many of the cruel and unfair treatment that African Americans have faced throughout our civilization. Brooks’ not only speaks on the racial prejudice of African Americans, but she also discusses the heartaches, the life, and the growth of African Americans as a people. Brooks’ poetry and stories are very similar to her own experience growing up as an African American woman.
Sprouted from slavery, the African American culture struggled to ground itself steadily into the American soils over the course of centuries. Imprisoned and transported to the New World, the African slaves suffered various physical afflictions, mental distress and social discrimination from their owners; their descendants confronted comparable predicaments from the society. The disparity in the treatment towards the African slaves forged their role as outliers of society, thus shaping a dual identity within the African American culture. As W. E. B. DuBois eloquently defines in The Souls of Black Folk, “[the African American] simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and
The interaction between African American and White differed in every aspect especially toward social problems. Social interaction between these two groups was unequal. African American experienced racial discrimination. This struggle can be best described in “Cora Unashamed.” “Cora Unashamed” by Langston Hughes effectively portrays the inequality between African America...
Janie discovers that she is African American when she sees a picture of herself and asks who that person is. When she was told it was her who had very dark skin, she responded with “Aw, aw! Ah’m colored!” (Hurston Par. 9). For the first time, Janie discovers
Ann Perkins, Jones’ character, is supposed to be an ethnically ambiguous person and in reality, Rashida is biracial (Glamour). Leslie Knope, the white protagonist of the series, frequently uses words like ‘exotic’, ‘tropical’, and ‘ethnically ambiguous’ when complimenting Ann. The ‘compliments’ also act as the only instances where race is spoken about in reference to Ann’s character. One would believe that Leslie’s constant complimenting of Ann is beneficial to viewers with a biracial identity, but there are some serious problems with Leslie’s behavior. There has been an historical and recent fascination with ‘mixed’ children. This fascination has crossed over into fetishizatoin of biracial or mixed children and people. Biracial people are seen less as people and more as a kind of spice that bell hooks mentions in her work “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance” (21). They are something that helps liven up the blandness of the pervasive white culture. Another harmful aspect of Ann’s depiction relates to her class. In Edison’s work, she notes that “biracial individuals living in a middle- and upper-class environments are more likely to be perceived as biracial (rather than black) than those living in working- and lower-class environments” and that “‘color blind’ portrayals of middle- and upper-class Black and biracial characters support the notion that race no longer matters (at least for middle- and upper-class people)” (Edison, 302; 304). Ann’s character is a successful college-educated nurse which is not problematic until one realizes that her race is never truly discussed. This feeds into the stereotype that race does not matter and that all people in the U.S. have the same opportunities. Again, the lack of racial representation leaves one character the duty of depicting a whole group of
The film “Coming to America” by filmmaker John Landis, presents a dilemma faced by an African prince regarding his country’s culture and traditions. Although the film is not based on any real country, persons, or events it may affect certain individuals as they may relate to some of the issues presented within. Coming to America takes place in two different countries. One of them being Zamunda Africa a fictitious place and the other Queens New York in the United States. The main characters I will focus on primarily are Prince Akeem and his father King Jaffore of Zamunda Africa and Cleo McDowell along with his daughter Lisa McDowell of the Queens New York. Prince Akeem has approached his twenty-first birthday and now is troubled by a prearranged
Through her juxtaposition, she undermines the stereotypes that continue to characterize Africa as backwards and traditional, proving instead that colonialism has produced a cross culture where the two are intertwined. Adichie portrays the persisting existence of traditional African culture through Odenigbo’s mother – who symbolizes the extreme end of traditional beliefs. When Odenigbo’s mother visits Odenigbo and Olanna at their apartment in Nsukka, she is immediately personified as the traditional Nigerian village woman. Unaccepting of modern attitudes and advancements, she “peered suspiciously at the stove, knocked on the pressure cooker and tapped the pots... ...
This is perhaps because of the role of tribalism within Nigerian society. Because tribalism is so deeply ingrained into the upbringings of each and every Nigerian native, the value of people just like you, which would usually be your family members, increases. As you grow up within this society, you learn that family exists on a plane above all else, because your family is the most specific tribe you exist in. Within Phillipe Wamba’s Kinship: A Family’s Journey in Africa and America, the narrator touches on growing up in America as an African-American student. One thing that all African-American children experienced while growing up is the struggle to “figure out how to identify with a historical homeland that they have been taught to reject” (82). America experiences an excess of racism as opposed to tribalism, which means that in America, people forge alliances with other people of their race, such as the alliance between African-Americans as a result of their mutual understanding of the nature of their