Throughout chapter 4 of the book Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine, the speaker expresses her struggles that occur in her everyday life. Much of these struggles stem from her memory of not only her past, but also the historical past of Black Americans. Something you can’t escape is your own memories; good or bad. A major theme that is brought out by these struggles is anger which is caused by new situations that trigger past memories. Rankine starts off the chapter by saying, “To live through the days sometimes you moan like a deer” (59). When I first read this phrase I was slightly confused because I wasn’t sure I knew what she meant by moaning like a deer. However, once I gave more thought into it I realized that Rankine was referring to the moans of pain and struggle that deer experience when they are hunted and killed. Therefore, Rankine is comparing the struggles of an animal to her own which also expresses how she was treated as less than human. After reading this page a few times I started to see a correlation between what Rankine was expressing here and in the picture from chapter 1 on page 19. The image shows a deer with a young black girl’s face sutured onto it. The piece of art represents how black people were not treated as humans, but as animals. I think that this image goes along with this quote because they both express the same idea that Rankine was treated like a deer, or less than human.
It is clear that Rankine is heavily impacted by many harsh memories in her everyday life. Naturally, when humans are experiencing something that causes pain they will do everything they can to stop it. What this looks like for Rankine is watching tennis. Rankine states, “Sitting here, there are no memories to remember, just the ball going back and forth” (64). I found this quote very relatable because I know exactly what she means when she says “there are no memories to remember”. I think that anyone who plays a sport can relate to this and I will explain my perspective. As a soccer player, when I get on the field my mind goes blank and all my focus is in the game. Any thoughts or worries I had before a game are completely washed away when the starting whistle blows. While Rankine is not physically playing tennis, she has the same sensations from watching it on her television. This appears to be Rankines’ form of coping with all of the painful thoughts that run through her mind. At the end of the chapter, Rankine repeats the phrases “Move on. Let it go. Come on” (66). In the situation that Rankine is describing, she is worried whether or not Serena Williams will be able to come back from the argument with the umpire. When Serena gets back into the game she isn’t able to finish off strongly. As Rankine watches she is extremely triggered and states, “Your fingers cover your eyes, press them deep into their sockets– too much commotion, too much for a head remembering to ache” (66). It is in this quote that Rankine realizes Serena no longer has a blank mind or is able to focus on the game. Being aware of this based on the game’s outcome, Rankine reacts repulsively pushing her fingers into eye sockets. Rankine could have simply said she put her hands over her eyes in distress. However, she uses vivid imagery and almost graphic use of language by including the phrase “deep into their sockets” (66). I think that this specific image of her shoving her fingers into her eyes gives the reader a better understanding of how strongly she felt about this situation. Going back to her repetition of the phrases about moving on, I think Rankine knows these are the thoughts that Serena is experiencing. As Rankine has expressed in previous chapters, Black people are continuously expected to move on and get over situations that offend them. As Rankine watched Serena on the court losing, it triggered her memories of having to tell herself to get over situations that hurt her based on race.
Moving into chapter 5, there is one quote that really stood out to me. Rankine states, “The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow” (72). Immediately after reading this I had to look up the definition of a blunt instrument. The definition provided by Wikipedia states, “A blunt instrument is any solid object used as a weapon, which damages its target by applying direct mechanical force, and has no penetrating point or edge, or is wielded so that the point or edge is not the part of the weapon that inflicts the injury”. The way I interpreted this quote is that the past will never stop coming back because you will always have those memories to reflect on. Just like a life sentence never ends, the pain and suffering from the past will never be completely gone. While these memories will continue to hurt you, as would a blunt instrument, they aren’t intended to do too extreme harm because of their smooth edge. What I think Rankine is trying to express here is that even though society has made huge achievements in ending racism, the past habits are always going to come back to hurt people in the future. While these habits won’t do as much harm as they once did, they will still cause damage.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you think Rankine feels she has been treated as an animal? What examples from the text support this idea?
- Do you think Rankine watching tennis is her way of coping with bad memories? Did you notice a different way she distracted herself from her harsh memories?
Work Cited
Rankine, Claudia. Citizen: An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Graywolf Press, 2014.
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This is a fantastic blog post, Ginamarie! One point of clarification (and this is mainly for our commenters, you don’t have to fix this): when we’re talking about the “main character” in the poem, we refer to them as the speaker, not Rankine. This book is not a memoir, like The Woman Warrior; this is a lyric. When we analyze poetry, the primary persona / speaking voice is the speaker. Also keep in mind, Rankine has woven the stories of many different people together to create this composite speaker. Not all of the incidents depicted necessarily occurred to her.
Hey Ginamarie, nice post and I like how you tied in your own sport to the feeling of having no memories to remember. To answer your second discussion question, I believe that tennis is a way for the speaker to cope with their bad memories. The speaker talks about how they watch tennis matches with no sound, then they say, “Yes, and though watching tennis isn’t a cure for feeling, it is a clean displacement of effort, will, and disappointment” (Rankine 62). This quote suggests that tennis is a way for them to take what they are feeling and put it in a new place. Maybe this person wants to take all of the effort, will, and disappointment in their own life and put it all into the tennis match in order to cope. At the end of chapter 4, the speaker seems to be pleading with Serena to move on and not cause a scene, but can also be viewed as the speaker talking to themselves to move on and get over a situation in their life.
Great observations, Audrey! One way to make this comment even stronger would be to incorporate direct quotes from the reading (Rankine’s actual words) to support your final point: “At the end of chapter 4, the speaker seems to be pleading with Serena to move on and not cause a scene, but can also be viewed as the speaker talking to themselves to move on and get over a situation in their life.”
Score: 5 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie! I really enjoyed your blog post! I loved when you explained the beginning deer quote of the chapter and explained how you didn’t understand it at first because I didn’t understand it at first as well until I kept reading on. To answer your first question, I definitely believe she has been treated like an animal. Looking back into the beginning of the book. Rankine has the picture of a girl’s face sewed onto a carabos body (18), after the incident she had with her trauma therapist. The trauma therapist was yelling at Rankine as if she was an animal in her yard, not treating as a person at all. The picture she put onto a blank page, that didn’t take up much room of the page, could be Rankine saying she felt like she was being treated like and compared to an animal and that she felt small, that everyone was and will always be higher than her.
Good interpretation of the caribou image, Abby! One way to strengthen this comment would be to stick more closely to the text and incorporate the actual words Rankine uses regarding the trauma therapist.
Moving forward, make sure to carefully proofread your writing. There are some mistakes with sentence fragments, spelling, and possessives (happy to talk more about those if you need help).
Score: 4 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie! This was a well-organized blog post! After reading your blog post, I was drawn back to your second paragraph about the way you compared Rankine watching tennis to your own experience playing soccer. I can also relate to this experience because as a previous athletic myself, your whole mind changes when you step onto the field; it is like you are a whole different person. Sometimes you do not think before you react like rolling your eyes at the referee over a bad call. I think that the following quote explains why Rankine is impacted by harsh memories because these memories will either haunt her or be memorable to her for the rest of her life. Rankine says, “You can’t put the past behind you” (63). I think that some of these events that Rankine is telling us are bringing back memories that relate to some of her actions from the past.
Good job with this comment, Hannah. I wonder if you could be more specific with that last sentence. What events in the speaker’s past might Rankine be referring to?
Score: 5 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie, I love your blog post. I love how you connected your personal experiences to the book because I do believe that Claudia Rankine wanted everyone to read this book on a personal level. I am going to answer your first question.
Throughout the book, Claudia Rankine is sharing her personal experiences of racism as a Black American. The experience with her new therapist shows how Rankine advances the idea that Black Americans are not treated like a citizen, but as animals. When the therapist sees a black woman on her doorstep, she starts screaming for her to leave. Rankine describes the situation “as if a wounded Doberman pinscher or a German shepard has gained the power of speech” (18). The next page is a picture of a black girl’s face on a deer that is in a fetal position (19). The description of the therapist is showing how in this case, the therapist was acting like a dog that is normally viewed as scary in society’s eyes when she saw Rankine. The picture of the deer is actually what Rankine was doing on her property. She was just trying to get to her therapy appointment. The therapist judged Rankine on the color of her skin and automatically assumed she was doing something wrong. The therapist acted like the scarier animal which goes against the way society sees situations that involve black and white people. Normally they would compare the black person with something scary but in many situations they are acting as the deer would. Rankine uses animals to describe her encounter with a new therapist, who acted as the scarier dog and Rankine who acted as the deer, to show how White people act towards Black people.
Excellent close reading and analysis here, Nina! You do an especially great job sticking closely to the text and grounding your interpretations in Rankine’s language. This makes your writing super persuasive. A skeptical reader would have a hard time disagreeing with you!
Score: 5 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie. First off your blog post is amazing, I love how you tied in your own experience into your explanation of your second quote on page 64, and your explanation and interpretations of what the speaker means in her writing were excellent. To answer your first question, I do believe that the speaker believes she has been treated like an animal, and I believe she is speaking for all Black people. She makes many references to being an animal, including your example on page 59. Another example is when the speaker said “What else to liken yourself to but an animal, the ruminant kind?”(60). Not only does she compare themselves to an animal again, she uses the word ruminant. A ruminant animal after looking up the definition means a hoofed herbivorous grazing o browsing mammal. As we all know there are millions of different animals in the world, but the speaker made sure to they are ruminant animals. These animals are generally very gentle and kind animals, but mainly they are prey, not only for other animals, but for humans too. The speaker does this to better solidify her point they are being treated like these animals and are being mistreated and hunted, and there is nothing they can do about it. They are the prey, defenseless, and the white man is the predator. Even though the prey is innocent, they will still always be hunted. This is the same for black people in that they are innocent people but are always hunted by the white man.
Fantastic analysis here, Evan! You do such a great job unpacking the significance of the “ruminant” animal. Looking back at your first blog post, your close reading skills have increased exponentially throughout the semester (and we’re not even done yet!). Way to go!
Score: 5 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie, great blog post this week! I love how you spoke about your own experiences in your post. I can also relate to this post because I also used to be an athlete myself and also found myself watching soccer on tv. To answer your second question I believe that Rankie watches Tennis for enjoyment, but also because she can relate to her memories. “Now the sound can be turned back down. Your fingers cover your eyes, press them deep into their sockets – too much commotion.” (66) This quote seems to be showing the feelings the speaker feels while watching a tennis match, it also suggests that these feelings while watching the tennis match bring back some of the speaker’s memories. While reading and ending up on this quote it also seems that the speaker is talking to themselves and using words to get over and move on from their previous situation.
Good job with this comment, Lexi! With future comments, see if you can incorporate a quote that wasn’t already used by the blogger in order to better advance the conversation.
Also be sure to review MLA-style citations, as all quotes must be introduced:
Rankine writes, “Now the sound can be turned back down. Your fingers cover your eyes, press them deep into their sockets – too much commotion” (66).
Score: 3 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie! I really enjoyed your blog post! I thought it was so full of information and insight on the chapter we just read! You did a really good job of executing your thoughts and your own personal experiences. To answer your second question I think tennis is more of a distraction to deal with her bad memories. Unfortunately, as much as we try to forget the past it always creeps up on us and we mostly can never escape it. Rankine says, “You can’t put the past behind you” (63). She knows she cannot put the past behind her because it is part of her story and who she is now. However, she uses tennis as a distraction “Yes, and though watching tennis isn’t a cure for feeling, it is a clean displacement of effort, will, and disappointment” (Rankine 62). So yes, she uses tennis to cope with her bad memories but it is just a distraction for the time being.
Great analysis of tennis as a distraction, Gabriella! You do an especially good job sticking closely to the text and supporting your interpretation with quotes from the reading.
Score: 5 out of 5
This was a great post! You did a really great job in relating Rankine’s metaphors to how she genuinely feels in situations. To answer your first question, I feel it is more than obvious Rankine has started to compare herself, as well as others who feel similar to her to animals. And her reasoning for this seems to be twofold, on the surface to explain to the reader just how degrading and mortifying these micro, and at times, macro-aggressions can feel when you are the victim of the attack. The other reason is to internally express the way she has begun to see herself due to past and present trauma. As you said, you can’t get rid of memories, good or bad, and the way she has been treated all of her life has made her literally and figuratively feel like an animal, a second class citizen. Rankine writes, “In order to survive the kind of hypocrisy sometimes displayed by otherwise well-meaning people when faced with the subject of race, I have learned to contort myself into a shape that may have nothing to do with who I am inside.” (Chapter 4) Which ties back into her title “Citizen” and how that can be read ironically. To your second question, I don’t know if her watching tennis is her way to deal with “memories” more-so a way to deal with life in general. We all have outlets to cope with the daily struggles life can bring for everyone, and to me it seems tennis was her relief from the daily grind. Rankine constantly makes it very clear when she is referring one thing to something seemingly irrelevant, like when she says “moaning like a deer” so if there was a direct correlation between the memories and her watching tennis I would agree, but In my reading I couldn’t find any.
Good job with this comment, Terrence! One way to strengthen it would be to say more about that rich quote you’ve identified. What do you picture in that image of the speaker having to “contort” herself? Such a fascinating verb!
Keep in mind, too, that you don’t have to answer all of the blogger’s questions. Rather, your comment can focus on one particular idea, supported by the analysis of textual evidence.
Score: 5 out of 5
Ginamarie, I really liked that you included the quote about the past being a life sentence in your paragraph about chapter five. That quote stuck out to me while I was reading as well. The past really is a life sentence when your memories greatly affect you. Rankine writes, “You can’t put the past behind you. It’s buried in you; it’s turned your flesh into its own cupboard” (63). I believe the speakers in this lyric do feel that they have been treated like animals, and the memories of this treatment really stay with them. Just as Rankine wrote, words and memories stick with you. Every speaker in this book, including Rankine, has experienced unfair treatment from people because of the color of their skin. When reading the chapter about Hurricane Katrina, Rankine writes, “Being honest with you, in my opinion, they forgot about us” (84). These people were left behind like all of the pets and animals that owners could not or did not want to take. These people who were left behind genuinely got the same treatment as animals who were not a priority to their families or the public. Their memories are not only that they lost their houses or loved ones, but that they were also treated as less than human.
GinaMarie, Great blog post. You have a very good way with words. I can also relate to your athletic mentality pushing everything to the side and strictly focusing on the matter in hand. To answer your first question, Yes I do. I believe the speaker feels as if she is being treated like an animal. There are actually many references throughout the book so far that point us in that direction. For example, on page 59 the speaker begins the chapter with “To live through the day sometimes you must moan like a deer.” (Rankine 59) Just like I assume your head did, My head immediately jumped to the first image we saw inside of the lyric. The image of the deer with the human face. One can assume the deer has been battered and bruised and left on the side of the road to die, much like the stories of characters in this book. So for the speaker to say you must moan like a deer and you will continue on is a testament to their strength. Essentially because of the society around them, it is difficult to progress and the struggle to continue daily life gets harder. Comparatively, like a deer hit by a car on the side of the road, in pain because of the obstacle that hit them, sits there moaning. This little excerpt has much more meaning attached to it than previously expected. Great stuff GinaMarie!
Good job with this comment, James! With future comments, see if you can bring in additional quotes (or images) that haven’t already been analyzed by the blogger and other commenters. This will help advance the conversation further.
Score: 4 out of 5
Fascinating observations, Mackenzie! I hadn’t thought about the abandonment of Black Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in terms of dehumanization (treating someone like an animal, rather than a human). I’m curious what you make of that unusual image of the “flesh” as a kind of “cupboard.”
Score: 5 out of 5
Good afternoon Ginamarie, Your blog post is intriguing, and I love how you related yourself with her in soccer, you said “When I step on the field I don’t think about anything outside, the only thing I care about is playing.” I can agree with this when someone steps onto a field to play the sport they love, all the outside problems vanish. I feel that it’s not only just the player, but I also went to a rangers game while I was on break and I can relate to Rakine when she is talking about how it’s the same feeling watching. But anyway when I went to the game with my friend we step into the arena and automatically didn’t think about anything that is happening outside of the rink. The atmosphere of madison square garden was electric and it brought us all joy to watch and not think about our problems. As Rankine played tennis her whole life she would always follow Serena, and she shows bad sportsmanship.. Rankine talks about how Serena had the same sportsmanship as McEnroe but got treated differently because she was black. As you were talking about the picture of the deer with the black women’s face, Rankine said “The player says something and the formerly professional umpire looks down from her high chair as if regarding an unreasonable child, a small animal.” (71) She is stating that Serena wasn’t treated right because she was black and show that the umpire is looking at her like an animal and not a human. So I agree with the second question that she uses tennis as a coping technique.
My quote might not be on the same page as in the hard cover because I’m using the PDF.
Good job with this comment, Mikey! You’ve identified an especially important quote from the reading related to dehumanization. For future comments, just make sure to carefully proofread your writing. There are some errors here with spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
Score: 4 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie, I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I like how in your second paragraph you related what the speaker was going through to an experience you went through yourself. I also felt like I was able to relate to the speaker when she says “Sitting here, there are no memories to remember, just the ball going back and forth” (Rankine 64). Even though the speaker was not physically playing the sport she was still able to put herself in the athletes’ shoes and have the feeling as if she was really on the court. When I played softball and would step on the field for a game, I also felt like my mind was going blank and that all I could focus on was being present in the game.
To answer your first question, I do believe that she feels like she is being treated as an animal. One example where I saw her being treated as an animal is when she went to meet up with her therapist that she has only talked to on the phone. She shares how when she got to the therapist house and the therapist realized she was a person of color she started to yell at her. We see this when the speaker says “When the door finally opens, the woman standing there yells, at the top of her lungs, Get away from my house! What are you doing in my yard?” (Rankine 18). The speaker than says “It’s as if a wounded Doberman pinscher or a German shepherd has gained the power of speech” (Rankine 18). This shows us that the speaker is comparing herself to an animal. I believe that the image we see on page 19 of the animal with the human face does a good job showing the reader how the speaker felt like she was just an animal to her therapist and was not being seen for who she really is.
Great job with this comment, Maddy! You’ve identified several important moments related to dehumanization and stuck closely to Rankine’s actual language.
Score: 5 out of 5
Your comment was really enjoyable to read, you were very clear on starting your points and making them tie all together. Especially your focus on quotes and how they relate to the story as a whole. One in particular is the quote about why Rankine watches tennis which I will use to answer your second question. This along with her stating, “Yes, and though watching tennis isn’t a cure for feeling, it is a clean displacement of effort, will, and disappointment” (Rankine, PDF File so I don’t know the correct Page #), it shows that watching tennis was a way of coping with bad memories. This is also supported when she literally says Memory is a tough place earlier in the chapter and what questions and memories can arise to make it that way. So, when she watches tennis it displaces the tough mental state, she’s in.
Good job with this comment, Kenari. One way to strengthen it would be to stick more closely to Rankine’s actual language and incorporate the second quote you allude to regarding memory. The more textual evidence you can point to, the more persuasive your interpretations will be.
Score: 5 out of 5
To answer your question I do think Rakine was using tennis as a coping mechanism. She states, “Memory is a tough place. You were there. If this is not the truth, it is also not a lie. There are benefits to being without nostalgia. Certainly nostalgia and being without nostalgia relieve the past” (Rakine 64). The word that really sticks out to me in this passage of the text is nostalgia. The definition of nostalgia according to Merriam Webster is, a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to or of some past period of irrecoverable condition. So if she is having nostalgia she is yearning for the past. If she is not having nostalgia she is not able to focus on the past. In this instance she is focusing on Tennis, which you supported in your blog post. I do think she is also trying to cope other ways as well, for example her work says, “Appetite won’t attach you to anything no matter how depleted you feel”(Rakine 79). Here it implies she is using her appetite to cope with her feelings. On the same page she also uses Red Wine and, the Gym to cope with her feelings. I think Rakine is coping the best way she can, her memories are with her regardless of what she does.
Great analysis, Stephannie! I love how you’ve brought in the definition of nostalgia as well as eating as a potential (though perhaps ineffective) coping strategy. Moving forward, make sure you’re spelling Rankine’s name correctly. You also don’t need to capitalize tennis, red wine, or gym.
Score: 5 out of 5
Ginamarie, I really enjoyed your blog post and I feel that it is not only a great representation of chapter 4, but of everything that we have read so far. I also really liked how you talked about your own personal circumstances, and how you felt that tied into the book.
In my opinion, your first question is one of the absolute biggest points of the book. Whether it is being compared to an animal, or even being compared to nothing at all (the idea of being invisible); Rankine wants the reader to see how she and many many others have been diminished through their lives, to the point of not being human. Dehumanization is one of the most degrading things a person could do to someone else, and the concept of micro-aggressions only proves and normalizes this point. I think the idea of being seen as an animal is equal to being seen as invisible. In the newest part we read the speaker repeats “Have you seen their faces” (pg. 85), this question is in reference to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and I believe that this anonymity that gets forced upon the victims is a direct response to feeling invisible- like the hood with no face on the cover. This invisibility answers the question perfectly, she feels not only like an animal but like she is not there at all.
Really interesting interpretation, Bella. I love your idea that “their” conveys anonymity and invisibility–the reduction of individuals to a kind of amorphous mass.
Moving forward, just make sure to review MLA citations (no “pg.” is necessary).
Score: 4 out of 5
Hi, Ginamarie, I really enjoyed reading your insight into chapter 4 of “Citizen” and thought your blog comment was very interesting. To answer your second question, I disagree that Rankine watching tennis is her way of coping with bad memories, instead, I think watching tennis is part of her bad memories. Watching Serena could be a bad memory because this globally viewed sporting event still cannot keep outside judgment and racism out. Something that showed me that these events were bad memories on pages 36 and 37 when Rankine points out how Serena had not only had to deal with covering up her anger from racism but also takes up a whole page to show the racist and un-sportsmanship acts by Dane Wozniacki. Personally, I think the way Rankine distracts herself from harsh memories is by making this book because it’s like journaling all her harsh memories together to advise and inform people of the real-world problem that need more attention.
Excellent observations here, Luella! These especially stood out:
“…watching tennis is part of her bad memories. Watching Serena could be a bad memory because this globally viewed sporting event still cannot keep outside judgment and racism out.”
“I think the way Rankine distracts herself from harsh memories is by making this book because it’s like journaling all her harsh memories together to advise and inform people of the real-world problem that need more attention.”
The main way to strengthen this comment would be to incorporate and analyze a quote from the reading. Keep in mind, your goal is to convince a skeptical reader that your interpretation is accurate. You’ll do this by incorporating and analyzing Rankine’s actual words.
Score: 3 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie! I really enjoyed reading your blog post, it was very well written and insightful. I want to answer your first question, “Do you think Rankine feels she has been treated as an animal? What examples from the text support this idea?” I do believe that Rankine feels that way, and I think the quotes you chose support that idea perfectly. I want to draw attention to the picture on page 19, of the deer with a black woman’s face on it. The inclusion of this image supports that idea by fusing a black woman and an animal that appears to be afraid and wounded, like someone had attacked it. Similarly, on page 60 Rankine writes, “what else to liken yourself to but an animal, the ruminant kind.” This quote, again, shows how she believes that she is being seen and treated as an animal. Overall, great job with your blog post.
Good job with this comment, Gianna. One way to strengthen it would be to include the definition of “ruminant,” as you did in class. Make sure also to review MLA-style citations:
Similarly, Rankine writes, “what else to liken yourself to but an animal, the ruminant kind” (60).
Score: 4 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie, I really enjoyed this blog post. I really like how you touch on the idea of the speaker feeling almost dehumanized and compares herself to an animal. I think this is really significant because the racism the speaker faces in the book can be used to spread awareness on this issue. To answer your first question, the speaker does feel like an animal. There are a few ideas from the book that support this thought. The first is the image on page 19. It is an image of some sort of animal. It can be inferred it is a deer, and it has someone’s face photoshopped on the head of the animal. This suggests feeling like an animal, specifically something like a deer because it is hunted, and targeted. It is commonly prey as well. The speaker highlights the idea of being dehumanized on page 24, “…the anger built up through experience quotidian struggles against dehumanization every brown or black person lives simply because of skin color. This other kind of anger in time can prevent, rather than sponsor, the production of anything but loneliness.” (Rankine 24). The idea of the speaker feeling dehumanized indicates they feel like they are treated like an animal. The speaker gives a glimpse into one of her coping mechanisms to deal with the trauma she has endured from feeling this way. She watches tennis in order to distract and make herself feel better. Overall, great blog post and you included the most important ideas from the reading.
Great observations about dehumanization, Olivia! Keep in mind that you don’t need “page 24” in the body of the sentence, since you give us that information in the parentheses:
The speaker highlights the idea of being dehumanized. Rankine writes, “…the anger built up through experience quotidian struggles against dehumanization every brown or black person lives simply because of skin color. This other kind of anger in time can prevent, rather than sponsor, the production of anything but loneliness” (24).
Score: 5 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie, I really liked reading your blog post. You did a great job with connecting the audience with the text by your quote from page 64 about the ball going back and forth. Anyone who has played a sport knows what it is like when you are so focused and into a game. I think Rankine has very much felt like she is or has been treated like an animal. Something that comes to mind for me is the text on page 50. The speaker is standing outside a conference room overhearing two white men speak about black people. “You hear one say to the other that being around black people is like watching a foreign film without translation” (Ranking 50). To those two men, black people are like a completely different species, they are so different from them that they can not understand the language they speak, even though, they all speak the same language. The men in this text see black people as lesser than them and act as if they are untraslatable beings. The ending of this section stuck with me strongly. Something similar to this takes place on page 51, the woman is showing a house to the speaker, and her friend. “The real estate woman… spends much of the walk-through telling your friend, repeatedly, how comfortable she feels around her” (Rankine 51). The reader can assume that the speaker’s friend is black. The real estate woman is sees the friend as below her and already has this stereotype in her mind that she is dangerous, like an animal. The woman made a prejudgment and already had a set idea of they were, before they even met them.
Great analysis here, Timmy! Just keep in mind that with MLA style citations, all quotes should be introduced:
Rankine writes, “The real estate woman… spends much of the walk-through telling your friend, repeatedly, how comfortable she feels around her” (51).
Score: 4 out of 5
Hi Ginamarie, I really like your blog post. As an African American I can really relate to racism and how black people are being treated less than humans. You mentioned how Rankine starts off the chapter by saying, “To live through the days sometimes you moan like a deer” (Rankine, 59) and how “Rankine was referring to the moans of pain and struggle that deer experience when they are hunted and killed.” You then went on to connect it to how “the piece of art represents how black people were not treated as humans, but as animals.” It reminds me of the lynching of African Americans. Though it was more frequent from the 1890s and 1920s lynchings were still occuring in the 21st century. His name was Ahmaud Arbery, a black man killed on February 23, 2020 in the street by white men for no reasoning. That was only 3 years ago. According to “The History of Lynching in America by NAACP,” “White Americans used lynching to terrorize and control Black people in the 19th and early 20th centuries.”(NAACP) Black people were treated less than humans, they were murdered simply because of their skin color.
Good job with this comment, Michaile!
5/5