Citizen An American Lyric By Claudia Rankine - 1604 Words

Thomas Howard 5/6/2016 Untitled â€Å"Let’s pray that the human race never escapes from Earth to spread its iniquity elsewhere.†- C.S. Lewis Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine is a lengthy poetic attempt at exposing the competing consciousness pertaining to race and racism in society, pitting the historical person against the individual. Set side by side with The Souls of Black Folks and This Land is Your Land by Woodie Guthrie, Citizen takes on a very distinct impression of separate identities competing in one person. W.E.B. Dubois seems to lay the foundation for the recurring experience described or seemingly described in Citizen when he says, â€Å"It is a peculiar sensation, this double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his two-ness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.† (Dubois) This passage from Dubois sets up the experience in Citizen, explaining the sensation of being judged and viewed by yourself and by society around you. To Dubois, the life of the ‘negro’ is lived in duality between being black (or negro, as Dubois says) and being American. The key implication from this described duality is the separation in identity between being ‘negro’ and being ‘American’. The sameShow MoreRelatedCitizen An American Lyric By Claudia Rankine1505 Words   |  7 PagesCitize n An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine is a unique piece of literature that truly encompasses the concept of being a Black Intellectual assessing the state of Black people in the American society. Among many of Rankine s passages in Citizen, she addresses microaggressions, racial incidents and current events surrounding Black Americans. From there her novel further transitions into assessing high profiled racial and political cases in America of Blacks who have died unjust deaths, as wellRead MoreRacial Profiling And Discrimination By Claudia Rankine s Citizen : An American Lyric Essay1366 Words   |  6 Pagestheme in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric. The author uses everyday encounters to expose the harsh reality African American people live. Rankine’s perspective on racism is applicable to years dating from 1860 and to present day occurrences. Discrimination against African Americans is a continuing problem. Although slavery does not exist today, Afric an Americans continually grieve the agony their ancestors faced throughout the Civil War up to World War II. African Americans overcame slaveryRead MoreDiscussing Theme Of The Works Of Claudia Rankine896 Words   |  4 PagesDiscussing theme in the works of Claudia Rankine Claudia Rankine can best be described as a Jamaican American poet who is constantly â€Å"challenging notions of what poetry should look like.† (Leszkiewicz) Spending most of her life in a predominately white neighborhood, Rankine is an advocate for black lives and notes in one of her poems â€Å"by transforming the slain black body into a public spectacle, America is able to observe such tragedies at a distance.† (Rankine) By discussing what people are uncomfortableRead More##toric Themes In Claudia Rankines Citizen : An American Lyric834 Words   |  4 PagesUnited States. Claudia Rankine’s collection of poems, â€Å"Citizen: An American Lyric† explores these themes. The lyrical themes found in Midnight Oil’s songs relate to Citizen as they exemplify the racial struggle between the Aborigines and the white settlers of Australia which can easily be related to the struggle of the blacks and whites in the US which is exemplified in the songs Beds A re Burning, Warakurna, and The Dead Heart. In the collection of poems, Citizen: An American Lyric, the author,Read MoreIn Claudia Rankine’S Citizen: An American Lyric, Many Themes1170 Words   |  5 PagesIn Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, many themes come together to show the intricate and fragile lives of black people within the racist construct of America. Anything from the game of tennis filled with bad calls to the outright brutality of police violence against blacks is represented by Citizen. Rankine creates a narrative of the everyday lives of blacks through not only her own experiences but the experiences of others. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine seeks to bringRead MoreAnalysis Of Claudia Rankines Citizen931 Words   |  4 Pagesseveral times of resistance movements for the rights of the black, Americans even have gone through the Civil War which almost ruined the U.S., they still could not be totally free and earn most peoples respect yet. After reading Claudia Rankine s â€Å"Citizen†, it becomes much clearer about the racial discrimination in our real daily life. Claudia Rankine is a poet who is good at writing lyric poetry, her book â€Å"Citizen: A American Lyric† reveals a tragic fact that even as a powerful developed countryRead MoreCitizen : An American Lyric1454 Words   |  6 Pagesconnects all Americans† (â€Å"Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities†). However, regardless of possessing a citizenship, there is an apparent divide in race, highlighted in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, as the author exposes the daily experiences of having dark skin in the United States, which can strip the feeling of being American for people. For every citizen to feel like a true citizen of America, a citizenship should not be the only â€Å"thread that connects all Americans† (â€Å"Citizenship†)Read MoreClaudia Rankine s Citizen Contains A Number Of Intricate Images905 Words   |  4 PagesClaudia Rankine’s Citizen contains a number of intricate images usually following a story within a section of the lyric. Using the context of the story, one is able to perceive his or her own meaning for why the image was included. The images provoke thought and emotion in many different ways. While an image may seem sad to some, others may decipher a positive or progressive view of their own. The true beauty of these images alongside their text is that they will bring forth a unique response fromRead MoreAnalysis Of Claudia Rankines Citizen : An American Lyric1099 Words   |  5 PagesA finalist for the National Book Award in poetry, Claudia Rankine’s â€Å"Citizen: An American Lyric† is audacious in form. But what is perhaps especially striking about the book is that it has achieved something that eludes much modern poetry: urgency. â€Å"Citizen† is both insistently topical, with references to Trayvon Martin and stop-and-frisk police tactics, and concerned with intimate moments when racial impasses spring up between friends and colleagues. Stylistically, it takes readers on a ride overRead MoreCitizen : An American Lyric Breaks The Continuum Of A Linear Narrative Essay1692 Words   |  7 Pages Citizen: An American Lyric breaks the continuum of a linear narrative. It forces the reader to pause and engage with the visuals included in it. Furthermore, Claudia Rankine uses commentaries as a literary genre that effectively extends the ways and expressions in which Americans still encounter racism. Visuals and texts juxtapose to create captioned artworks; which Rankine interprets for the reader. Thus, those interpretations function as informative: telling the venues and forms where racism is