Literature Core (1080-01 S2022)
In “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks ,the speaker focuses on the “We” throughout the poem. When reading the poem, it’s mandatory that you paused before and after the “We”. This poem is for African American people and signifying for the people during the Civil Rights Movement.
In “Shift”, Nalo Hopkinson uses a change of perspective by splitting the narration for two characters to explore how two related people, siblings, can have different identities and perception of how they fit in their individual “blackness”. As Caliban choses to flee his black culture- to conform to the standards of white women, Ariel chooses…
Edward P Jones’, “A Butterfly on F Street” uses geographical barriers to highlight cultural, specifically financial differences between families of color. Following the death of Mildred’s, the protagonist, ex-husband, she runs into his mistress in the heart of Washington D.C. The story follows their awkward interaction while mentioning the key differences in both of their…
In a scene from Thomas Glave’s And Love Them, the narrator grows fearful of a black man walking down the same street as her at night, assuming that he will attack her. When she sees him hail a cab, her fears are briefly relieved but replaced with anger when he does not reciprocate her smile.…
In Nalo Hopkinson’s “Shift”, the audience sees the perspectives of Caliban and Ariel and how, even though related, have very different views of the world. Caliban seems to have abandoned his mothers and sisters native ways and now finds safety and comfort in shifting his personality to the likes of the people he is around.…
In “And Love Them?”, author Thomas Glave illustrates how the white woman’s inner thoughts perceive people of color in two different ways. She often judges people of color and experiences hateful thoughts towards them during innocent interactions, and she later attempts to justify those demeaning thoughts. The author demonstrates the complex and contradictory relationship between…
In Nalo Hopkinson’s ‘Shift’, the author uses split dialogue perspectives for Ariel and Caliban in order to highlight the differences in how each character views themselves in the context of their African heritage. While Ariel chooses to embrace her African heritage through her dialect and adherence to her mother’s influence, Caliban turns away from his…
Brownies, by ZZ Packer, follows the story of a girl scout troop of African American girls plotting revenge against Troop 909, a troop of white girls, because of the misconception created and spread by Arnetta that a girl from Troop 909 called Daphne a racial slur. Deeper than a narrative solely about race and racism,…
Ntozake Shange “Oh she gotta head full of hair” can be seen as a discussion of the association between black women and their hair. By following Allegra’s actions and examining the imagery Shange uses, we see the value Allegra places on her hair, ultimately depicting a black woman who’s identity-past her appearance- is heavily rooted…
In “Gorilla, My Love” by Toni Cade Bambara, the narrator expresses her distrust towards adults and how if they say something, “they outta mean it”. Her experiences of not being able to trust the adult figures in her life represent the inability of African American people to trust authority who give them their word, but…