Comparing Racism Essays - 955 Words

To compare how the two essays â€Å"Meaning of a Word† by Gloria Naylor and â€Å"White Guilt† by Shelby Steele, I will address what each essay says about stereotypes, anger and racism in three individual sections. First, I will review the stereotypes. In the first Essay â€Å"Meaning of a Word,† stereotypes are not heavily addressed. But if I look deeper into the way the family members were talking about the guy who made a lot of money, this was as stereotype. It was the stereotype that a black person should be poor and not have made a lot of money. Although they themselves are black, they apply a negative stereotype against themselves; such as by believing they should all be poor because they are black. In the second essay, â€Å"White Guilt,†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Some people deal with a problem or stress by laughing about it. Even though they know it is serious, they need to somehow make it less serious. By turning this word around and taking ownership of it, using it in daily language, using it to describe success rather than failure, the author’s family and friends diluted its hateful message. This made it less likely to anger them when the term was heard. Much like using the good China or fancy glasses for everyday meals the specialty of the word was made to be common place and less special. This reduced its potency when used. However, the N-word does retain its hateful potency when use by any non-black person, because the latter would interpret its use as an insult and not as a form of verbal play or self-deprecation. In â€Å"White Guilt† the anger was very deep seated within the author’s friend in the bathroom encounter. His feeling of resentment at being oppressed and at suffering social inequality were so high that he would lash out against complete strangers, such as in the bathroom. This kind of anger helped to create a social movement against people that were perceived to have benefitted from unjust gains. The civil rights movement also led to many whites to feel guilty at the causes of black anger; namely, oppression and inequality about the reasons behind the anger. For people to experience emotions of guilt when they themselves wereShow MoreRelatedRacism: Two Short Stories894 Words   |  4 PagesIndividual Oral Presentation Essay (IOP) Comparing First and Third Person Narratives: Racism Note: This essay intends to explain the differences in first and third person narratives, highlighting examples within the two stories â€Å"Let them call it Jazz† and â€Å"A sense of shame†, both of which deal with racism and its subcultures in a first and third person perspective, respectively. The arguments presented are limited to that of first and third person perspectives only. The differences between firstRead MoreRacism: Two Short Stories880 Words   |  4 PagesIndividual Oral Presentation Essay (IOP) Comparing First and Third Person Narratives: Racism Note: This essay intends to explain the differences in first and third person narratives, highlighting examples within the two stories â€Å"Let them call it Jazz† and â€Å"A sense of shame†, both of which deal with racism and its subcultures in a first and third person perspective, respectively. The arguments presented are limited to that of first and third person perspectives only. The differences betweenRead MoreReflection Paper About English Composition930 Words   |  4 Pagesinto my essays, with proper citation if needed. Before taking the English Composition course, I was not one to organize my essays in an ordeal order to clearly state the point of the work. 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