1) What are three different perspectives on race and the construction of race in different essays and poems?
One poem that really was insightful was “To Live in the Borderlands Means You” by Gloria Anzaldua. The main perspective that is presented is that by being mixed race, you are not really anything that people are familiar with or can pinpoint. Gloria’s experience definitely sheds light on the idea that none of the races that made her mixed race wanted to be connected/associated to her in any way. It also revealed that she definitely is a “new” race, in which she incorporates all of her backgrounds. But her “new” race that is composed of all of these other races others identify with, is not one that falls into the norms.
In contrast to Anzaldua’s perspective, Teresa Williams-Leon in “Off-White” definitely takes a stronger stance in terms of others perspectives of her. Teresa is comfortable proclaiming that she is “off-white,” a mix of “white and yellow.” To Teresa she wants others to know that she is not privileged by being white on her dad’s side and yellow on her mom’s. Instead she wants people to understand that she is “off-white” and that she is not a mix of two other races.
Lastly, Langston Hughes’ poem “Cross” sheds light on the animosity a mixed race child can have on their parents for causing their “mixed” race. Hughes shows that he resented both of his parents at different times, presumably growing up wanting to either be just “white” or just “black.” However his acknowledgment that he is sorry for cursing his father and wishing his mother ill reveals his frustration in finding his identity. In the end, it was not his parents that he resents, I think it is his inability to figure out where he belongs (i.e. where he is supposed to die).
1) What are three different perspectives on race and the construction of race in different essays and poems?
In the “Beneath Two Skies,” by Merlyn, a perspective of mixed race is provided where the purity of race is questioned and confronted. Having a Mexican mother and a white father, he feels torn between a society that does not allow him to be “impure.” He relates the difficulties and struggles of living in this society by expressing his means of coping through violence, drug abuse, and his subsequent attraction to poetry. Ultimately, although society attempts to categorize him, he refuses to fit into any “box,” and admits that he loves both his parents and himself. In contrast, Suheir Hammad, in “exotic,” conveys the psychological and emotional aspects of being a colored woman that is objectified. The various descriptions of being a “belly dancer,” “town whore,” “plain pink perversion,” and other disparaging and reducing terms limit her ability to be nothing more than a body that was created for the subordination and servant of a man. Her skin color and ethnicity heighten her womanhood because of the taboo aspect that she embodies within a hegemonic society. Also, Kate Rushin, in “Rosa Revisited,” writes of the political activity that is inextricably woven into being a person of color by writing about Rosa Parks. Throughout the poem, there is an inclusion of “we.” Although American values are heavily skewed towards the individual, Kate Rushin is showing the importance and cultural difference of being a minority; more specifically, that minorities have come together as a community to ascertain individual rights.
In three different poems by multiracial poets, the writers discuss different feelings they have regarding their mixed heritage. In Half Caste by John Agard, Agard explores different images of mixing such as paint on Picasso’s art, light and shadow in nature, and keys on a piano. All these different examples use two contrasting things and create something beautiful, natural, and valuable. He plays with images where these two halves are dependent on the other for the essence of the whole to be possible. Agard then uses the concept of half as the way he is perceived, as not quite whole and not quite complete. He seems to allude to the perception that he is lesser than a “whole” man. Yet the “whole” man with a whole eye, ear, and mind cannot see him in his entirety. His poem discusses how it is the people who judge him as inadequate who are actually missing the point.
In Cross by Langston Hughes, Hughes expresses the discrepancy between his two identities, white and black. He considers his own future; since he is a mix of both races, what will be in store for him? He touches on the privileges of a white man, taking back any curses he may have had on his white father because he cannot recall. Thinking of his white mother, he remembers clearly that he wished her to hell, likely because of the stigma of Blackness at this time. His poem also shows his struggle with his identity, torn between these two races which had very different socioeconomic consequences.
In Raspa by Orlando Ricardo Menes, Menes discusses his mixed identity and how he was forced to suppress one part of his ethnic heritage. His mother thought it was distasteful that he enjoyed eating the rice crust from the rice cooker, like someone from a low class. His friends make fun of him for the very same thing, which reinforces to him when he was young how negative it is to be a part of that culture. His mom even goes on to say that if it were not for this lineage they were trying to hide, they would be just below the desirable status of white. All three of these poems discuss their own relationship with their mixed race heritage. Each poet is different in that one embraces his unique mixture of races, one discusses his torn identity, and one considers how he was forced to be ashamed of part of his heritage. All three poems demonstrate the complexity of being mixed and how it can create discrimination of different forms.
In Cross, Langston Hughes presents two races—Black and White—and each race holds a certain weight that is seemingly absolute. Hughes tells the reader that the color of one’s skin constructs a path for an individual that is independent of a person’s choice. Our paths are predetermined, based on what color of skin we are born with. Hughes appeals to the reader: If you are White you will have this life: will you be fortunate enough to die in a warm bed, made for you by someone else, placed there for you in a “fine big house.” If you are Black, you will have this life: you will live until you finally break your back. You will die in poverty. You will die in some deteriorating shed. But where someone of mixed race is concerned, there are no absolutes presented, to be found. Hughes cannot give the reader the same “certain” destination afforded to a Black or White person, to an individual who is a mixture of both societally created races. He tries to imagine his death, but it is…ambiguous.
I really resonate with Suheir Hammad’s message in her poem titled Exotic. As a Palestinian woman, she is tired of people turning the aesthetics of her self-identified race into something exotic. She has olive skin and a straight nose and dark eyes, dark long hair and suddenly, she is this sexualized object—she is different, sought to please someone’s “fetish fantasy.” It’s not her real beauty that captures men; it is this label of exotic, of “other” and “mysterious” that makes men desire her. My favorite part is when she asserts: stop making poetry out of the length, and thickness of her eye lashes. Their flicker is not sexy, the way they beat is not some pretty metaphor—“it’s just a blink get over it.” I like that she calls out those who believe they are complimenting her on her true, unique beauty when really their desire is derived from their own secret fetish of being with a “dark and mystifying” woman—a description that is forced upon her and the women who look like her. She will not take part in this fantasy. She will not play the part of the stereotypical seductive Middle-Eastern woman. She will “be not your erotic not your exotic.”
In regards to what Tina wrote for John Agard’s Half Caste, I couldn’t agree more that Agard depicts those who are mixed or part of some race as viewed by the “full-blooded” xyz man as being part of a whole—and so, less than the whole. To further her points, however, I’d like to add that the imagery used in the second stanza seems to argue against this conception of a “half-caste” man not being a whole human being. If Picasso did not mix the red and the green, he would not have his painting. If Tchaikovsky did not play both the white and black keys, his music would be unfinished—no longer as moving. Both parts come together to form this whole. The half-caste man is already complete.
The poem “A Contradicting Face” by Isabella Borgeson is about a girl’s struggle between being Filipino and white. She describes how her “grandmother in Minnesota” compliments her “exotic” nose and dark sin, while her family in the Philippines compliment her pale skin and try to “protect whiteness from sun.” This poem shows the way Borgeson is struggling with the way society views her as someone of mixed race. The totally different perspectives of each side leave her confused and effects the way she identifies herself. She ends the poem with the lines “my face/never belonged in either of my/homelands.” The poem “What Are You?” by Jelal Huyler is about how the poet is constantly confronted with questions about his racial identity. He says “See, ‘who are you?’ is cool/I understand that/But, ‘what are you?’/Its similar to being slapped.” The tone of this poem is much angrier than “A Contradicting Face.” Huyler’s poem is discussing his experience with how often one of the first questions he’s asked is what his racial background is and his realization of the need for society to know a person’s race. The poem “Hair 2” by Sabrena Taylor is about how the poet’s mother always tried to change her image and “press” and “relax” her hair. The poem is really about society’s perspective on race and how people of mixed race try to change their image to adhere to only one race and oppress the other as opposed to embracing the fact that they are mixed. Taylor ends with a positive note, saying “The one little curl society could not press and repress/My image refused to be oppressed/The one little curl stood out, shouted too LOUD/Made waves…” Through time, Taylor was able to embrace the face that she is mixed and she refuses to adhere to what society wants.
1) What are three different perspectives on race and the construction of race in different essays and poems?
ReplyDeleteOne poem that really was insightful was “To Live in the Borderlands Means You” by Gloria Anzaldua. The main perspective that is presented is that by being mixed race, you are not really anything that people are familiar with or can pinpoint. Gloria’s experience definitely sheds light on the idea that none of the races that made her mixed race wanted to be connected/associated to her in any way. It also revealed that she definitely is a “new” race, in which she incorporates all of her backgrounds. But her “new” race that is composed of all of these other races others identify with, is not one that falls into the norms.
In contrast to Anzaldua’s perspective, Teresa Williams-Leon in “Off-White” definitely takes a stronger stance in terms of others perspectives of her. Teresa is comfortable proclaiming that she is “off-white,” a mix of “white and yellow.” To Teresa she wants others to know that she is not privileged by being white on her dad’s side and yellow on her mom’s. Instead she wants people to understand that she is “off-white” and that she is not a mix of two other races.
Lastly, Langston Hughes’ poem “Cross” sheds light on the animosity a mixed race child can have on their parents for causing their “mixed” race. Hughes shows that he resented both of his parents at different times, presumably growing up wanting to either be just “white” or just “black.” However his acknowledgment that he is sorry for cursing his father and wishing his mother ill reveals his frustration in finding his identity. In the end, it was not his parents that he resents, I think it is his inability to figure out where he belongs (i.e. where he is supposed to die).
1) What are three different perspectives on race and the construction of race in different essays and poems?
ReplyDeleteIn the “Beneath Two Skies,” by Merlyn, a perspective of mixed race is provided where the purity of race is questioned and confronted. Having a Mexican mother and a white father, he feels torn between a society that does not allow him to be “impure.” He relates the difficulties and struggles of living in this society by expressing his means of coping through violence, drug abuse, and his subsequent attraction to poetry. Ultimately, although society attempts to categorize him, he refuses to fit into any “box,” and admits that he loves both his parents and himself.
In contrast, Suheir Hammad, in “exotic,” conveys the psychological and emotional aspects of being a colored woman that is objectified. The various descriptions of being a “belly dancer,” “town whore,” “plain pink perversion,” and other disparaging and reducing terms limit her ability to be nothing more than a body that was created for the subordination and servant of a man. Her skin color and ethnicity heighten her womanhood because of the taboo aspect that she embodies within a hegemonic society.
Also, Kate Rushin, in “Rosa Revisited,” writes of the political activity that is inextricably woven into being a person of color by writing about Rosa Parks. Throughout the poem, there is an inclusion of “we.” Although American values are heavily skewed towards the individual, Kate Rushin is showing the importance and cultural difference of being a minority; more specifically, that minorities have come together as a community to ascertain individual rights.
In three different poems by multiracial poets, the writers discuss different feelings they have regarding their mixed heritage. In Half Caste by John Agard, Agard explores different images of mixing such as paint on Picasso’s art, light and shadow in nature, and keys on a piano. All these different examples use two contrasting things and create something beautiful, natural, and valuable. He plays with images where these two halves are dependent on the other for the essence of the whole to be possible. Agard then uses the concept of half as the way he is perceived, as not quite whole and not quite complete. He seems to allude to the perception that he is lesser than a “whole” man. Yet the “whole” man with a whole eye, ear, and mind cannot see him in his entirety. His poem discusses how it is the people who judge him as inadequate who are actually missing the point.
ReplyDeleteIn Cross by Langston Hughes, Hughes expresses the discrepancy between his two identities, white and black. He considers his own future; since he is a mix of both races, what will be in store for him? He touches on the privileges of a white man, taking back any curses he may have had on his white father because he cannot recall. Thinking of his white mother, he remembers clearly that he wished her to hell, likely because of the stigma of Blackness at this time. His poem also shows his struggle with his identity, torn between these two races which had very different socioeconomic consequences.
In Raspa by Orlando Ricardo Menes, Menes discusses his mixed identity and how he was forced to suppress one part of his ethnic heritage. His mother thought it was distasteful that he enjoyed eating the rice crust from the rice cooker, like someone from a low class. His friends make fun of him for the very same thing, which reinforces to him when he was young how negative it is to be a part of that culture. His mom even goes on to say that if it were not for this lineage they were trying to hide, they would be just below the desirable status of white.
All three of these poems discuss their own relationship with their mixed race heritage. Each poet is different in that one embraces his unique mixture of races, one discusses his torn identity, and one considers how he was forced to be ashamed of part of his heritage. All three poems demonstrate the complexity of being mixed and how it can create discrimination of different forms.
In Cross, Langston Hughes presents two races—Black and White—and each race holds a certain weight that is seemingly absolute. Hughes tells the reader that the color of one’s skin constructs a path for an individual that is independent of a person’s choice. Our paths are predetermined, based on what color of skin we are born with. Hughes appeals to the reader: If you are White you will have this life: will you be fortunate enough to die in a warm bed, made for you by someone else, placed there for you in a “fine big house.” If you are Black, you will have this life: you will live until you finally break your back. You will die in poverty. You will die in some deteriorating shed. But where someone of mixed race is concerned, there are no absolutes presented, to be found. Hughes cannot give the reader the same “certain” destination afforded to a Black or White person, to an individual who is a mixture of both societally created races. He tries to imagine his death, but it is…ambiguous.
ReplyDeleteI really resonate with Suheir Hammad’s message in her poem titled Exotic. As a Palestinian woman, she is tired of people turning the aesthetics of her self-identified race into something exotic. She has olive skin and a straight nose and dark eyes, dark long hair and suddenly, she is this sexualized object—she is different, sought to please someone’s “fetish fantasy.” It’s not her real beauty that captures men; it is this label of exotic, of “other” and “mysterious” that makes men desire her. My favorite part is when she asserts: stop making poetry out of the length, and thickness of her eye lashes. Their flicker is not sexy, the way they beat is not some pretty metaphor—“it’s just a blink get over it.” I like that she calls out those who believe they are complimenting her on her true, unique beauty when really their desire is derived from their own secret fetish of being with a “dark and mystifying” woman—a description that is forced upon her and the women who look like her. She will not take part in this fantasy. She will not play the part of the stereotypical seductive Middle-Eastern woman. She will “be not your erotic not your exotic.”
In regards to what Tina wrote for John Agard’s Half Caste, I couldn’t agree more that Agard depicts those who are mixed or part of some race as viewed by the “full-blooded” xyz man as being part of a whole—and so, less than the whole. To further her points, however, I’d like to add that the imagery used in the second stanza seems to argue against this conception of a “half-caste” man not being a whole human being. If Picasso did not mix the red and the green, he would not have his painting. If Tchaikovsky did not play both the white and black keys, his music would be unfinished—no longer as moving. Both parts come together to form this whole. The half-caste man is already complete.
The poem “A Contradicting Face” by Isabella Borgeson is about a girl’s struggle between being Filipino and white. She describes how her “grandmother in Minnesota” compliments her “exotic” nose and dark sin, while her family in the Philippines compliment her pale skin and try to “protect whiteness from sun.” This poem shows the way Borgeson is struggling with the way society views her as someone of mixed race. The totally different perspectives of each side leave her confused and effects the way she identifies herself. She ends the poem with the lines “my face/never belonged in either of my/homelands.”
ReplyDeleteThe poem “What Are You?” by Jelal Huyler is about how the poet is constantly confronted with questions about his racial identity. He says “See, ‘who are you?’ is cool/I understand that/But, ‘what are you?’/Its similar to being slapped.” The tone of this poem is much angrier than “A Contradicting Face.” Huyler’s poem is discussing his experience with how often one of the first questions he’s asked is what his racial background is and his realization of the need for society to know a person’s race.
The poem “Hair 2” by Sabrena Taylor is about how the poet’s mother always tried to change her image and “press” and “relax” her hair. The poem is really about society’s perspective on race and how people of mixed race try to change their image to adhere to only one race and oppress the other as opposed to embracing the fact that they are mixed. Taylor ends with a positive note, saying “The one little curl society could not press and repress/My image refused to be oppressed/The one little curl stood out, shouted too LOUD/Made waves…” Through time, Taylor was able to embrace the face that she is mixed and she refuses to adhere to what society wants.