Instructor ENG 111 2 September 2014 Brent Staples' essay Black Men and Public Space, explores racism and its difficulties. Staples tells his experiences with racism and what growing up as a black male was like. Staples describes his hardships with racism in order to show how he overcame these incidents and become a better man. The intended audience could be anyone really, particularly people struggling with racism themselves. Staples suggest that people still tend to portray black men as violent and dangerous individuals from racial tendencies without rationalizing and thus causing stress to the victims (black men) because they’re seen as threats despite their true nature.
The main point of the essay is that as a result of racial prejudice and discrimination, black men are constantly being mistaken due to completely falsified beliefs. Staples did a great job of highlighting the key points of the situation, proposing an alternative solution to the problem, and backing up his reasoning as to why he thought it was best to make himself appear less
Choose 3 quotes and write a detailed, analytical response for each. Be unprepared and suffer “Sorrow is better than fear. Fear is a journey, a terrible journey, but sorrow is at least an arrival. When the story threatens, a man is afraid for his house. But when the house is destroyed, there is something to do.
Critical Analysis Essay Scott Whitebird English 1301 Brent Staples In Brent Staples' "Black Men and Public Space", he talks to us about the stereotypes that he had to deal with being a black male and the ways he sometimes dealt with it. He uses several writing techniques to show us different things he wanted us to see or understand. In the first paragraph of this essay, Staples chooses a rather unique choice of words. When he says "My first victim" (Staples 314), the audience is led into thinking that this essay will be Staples talking about some type of criminal activity, when in fact he is leading us in a completely different direction. What is also unusual about this beginning sentence, is that Staples describes himself as an offender, even though he is the one being stereotyped.
It is a horrible journey, and one that seems to have no end. Complete uncertainty surrounds him at all times and is overwhelming, a feeling that everyone can relate to. Take for example when Kumalo is searching for his son Absalom and each time he thinks he's getting close to finding him, he is led in another direction. Kumalo is “beating himself up” so to speak with the fear of the unknown. He makes the anticipation of bad news worse than the bad news itself.
He used John to show the struggles that African Americans experience in America trying to find their identity. He draws attention to the conflicting forces that pull them in all directions. This novel he wrote has been and is important to African American who are struggling with their identity. “Go Tell It On The Mountain” shows truly the obstacles and hurdles African Americans who are trying to install their own identity. It tells them that finding their identity is worth it.
Daniel Bridgers English 1102 27 October 2014 Alford Reflective Response In the essay, “Black Men and Public Space,” Staples expresses the difficulties African Americans may face in today’s society. Through detailed description, Staples explains how he had been negatively stereotyped throughout is life. It taught him to take precaution in the places he would visit and the people he would encounter.. The wording used is very powerful. It vividly depicts how society views race.
It became a form of resistance and hope; a way to resist social death. African American slaves would create religious songs and sing in the working fields, songs that told the story of the struggle they have been through. In the “Souls of Black Folk”, Du Bois tells of that double consciousness with the black people, to never forget who they are as a black first; then an American. He speaks of relating to the American society, but not losing your identity in this transformation. The fight is about being accepted for a human being first, then an African
The actions of the oppressor get increasingly worst and eventually lead to a subhuman mindset known as dehumanization. Dehumanization can be defined as, “One group denies the humanity of the other group. Members of it are equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases” (Stanton). Douglass at the beginning of his autobiography described how slaves would sing when they were at their saddest, and the affect it had on him. “To those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery.
Waynick 1 Victoria Waynick Mr. Jones English 101 03 November 2014 Rhetorical Analysis of… In his narration “Black Men and Public Space” Brent Staples shows examples of racial profiling (stereotyping) and the risks, dangers, and the alienation of being the suspect associated with it. Staples uses Standard methods of development such as, argumentation (?) and exemplification to show a level of distrust as well as, fear towards the african-american male. Staples executes examples from his personal life to show his “ability to alter public space in ugly ways.” (Staples 314). Staples writes to the american society to show the nature of racial profiling that often occurred in the United States during his time.