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Post by Ms. English on May 31, 2022 7:08:58 GMT -5
Post your answers to the discussion question here. Make sure to read the responses of those posted before you and respond directly to them when appropriate before posting your own.
What adjective does Lorde use six times in the essay's one sentence final paragraph? Why do you think she chose to use it so many times?
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Post by aisacksen on Jun 25, 2022 21:11:59 GMT -5
Lorde uses the adjective "white" six times in the last sentence of the final paragraph. I think she uses it so much to emphasize how clear it was to the narrator that she was out of place. The whole last sentence empahsizes this turning point, the way that the poor experience at the ice cream counter overshadowed what should have been a good memory. This trip to the nation's capital was no longer seen as something to be proud of, as something to wonder at, as the perfect model of democracy; it was seen as something not made for her. It was tainted by the feeling of knowing she wasn't included in the pride and freedom of America. What made the narrator even more upset was her family's failure to react; In paragraph 19, Lorde writes "Even my two sisters copied my parent's pretense that nothing unusual and Anti-American had occured," (Lorde, p. 19). She realizes that America is a country of freedom and democracy, but white freedom and democracy, and she and her families existance is hampering the agenda.
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Post by afuerst on Jul 4, 2022 13:27:46 GMT -5
In the final paragraph of her essay, Lorde uses the adjective "white" six times. By using this word so frequently in one paragraph, Lorde emphasizes the importance of it and demonstrates how tied that word was to her trip in Washington DC. She began her trip to the capital mostly unaware of the full impact that racism had on both America and her, but the experience at the ice cream parlor completely changed that. After being denied service due to the fact that she wasn't white, things like the white pavement, the white sun, and the white monuments surrounding her seemed much different than how they were when she had initially arrived. Instead of being these beautiful symbols of democracy as they had seemed in the beginning, they are now symbols of exclusion that are only there to remind her of the barrier between her and the rest of society. By using the word white so many times, Lorde shows the reader how her perspective had changed after having experienced segregation and the impact of racism first hand.
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Question 1
Jul 19, 2022 14:55:28 GMT -5
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Post by iessink on Jul 19, 2022 14:55:28 GMT -5
Lords uses the adjective “white” six times in the final paragraph. I think the reason why she used white as many times as she did was to really get the point across that the world she lived in didn't allow a space for her or her family. Washington D. C. is suppose to have a lot of history of democracy and freedom America is suppose to stand for. Lorde’s use of white calls out Washington D.C. and it’s one sided perspective on history. How Lorde used white also speaks on how all her experiences on this trip were changed by something white, usually white people. Reading white six times makes it hard to forget, and I think that was another reason why Lorde repeats white six times. She doesn’t want her experience to be forgotten and she wants it to be known so something can be done for future people.
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Post by aisacksen on Jul 20, 2022 11:09:45 GMT -5
I really like Isabellas point about the one sided perspective of history, and how invalidating it must have felt to feel so unseen in your own nations history. You want to feel proud of the country your in, but when your completely disregarded and disrespected in its origins, and whole communities and groups of people are ignored, its impossible to look past that and see the country as a source of pride; while there may be good parts, you can't appreciate them when the whole image is marred. This is also seen in the complete invalidation of native people in our country; people who led and supported a mass genocide were (and still are) praised as heroes and icons of America. It also relates to the development of history today; what we see history as, how its taught in our schools, what exaclty is taught in our schools, and the debate over what is "appropriate" for youth to be learning.
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Post by gabriellebuchanan on Jul 20, 2022 14:37:51 GMT -5
Lorde uses the adjective "White' six times in the last paragraph. Lorde is on the edge of summer leaving her childhood not knowing what to expect while visiting Washington, D.C. I believe Lorde uses the adjective white six times to emphasize the amount of power " White" holds in society. Here we have a young girl visiting a area with little knowledge of how her skin color will effect the way she is treated. Lode quotes " My mother and father believed that they could best protect their children from the realities of race in America' (p.222). Lorde is still aware of racism but also sheltered on the " whys?" of racism until she experience's racism first hand while trying to get ice cream with her family. " My parents wouldn't speak on the injustice" (pg.224) I think Lorde is very shocked and left with unanswered questions, All she knows from that shocking experience is "White"
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maya
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Post by maya on Jul 22, 2022 14:38:46 GMT -5
Embedded in the last paragraph, Audre Lorde uses the adjective "white" to describe her waitress, the counter at the restaurant, her ice cream, the heat, the pavement, and the white stone monuments surrounding her at her first Washington D.C. summer. I believe Lorde emphasizes "white" to accentuate the feeling of disparity she feels between her, as a black girl, and to surrounding white people, and overall a "white" and "anti-American" United States of America. Lorde describes earlier in the essay that her parents would experience "a new and crushing reality" (Lorde, pg. 222) of American racism once they had arrived in the USA. Yet, she had never experienced, personally, head-on racism and did not know what it had felt like: foreshadowing to her feeling infuriated at her parents and siblings simply passing by the racial discrimination that had occurred once she had the waitress tell her and her family they were not able to sit at the counter.
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Post by nateyat on Jul 26, 2022 8:09:58 GMT -5
Lorde uses the word "white" in the last paragraph to describe all of her surroundings. I think the unfortunate event at the ice cream parlor changed the way she viewed the United States and her place in it. She said in the story that this was the year she enters "adulthood". I think having a more critical view of the world around her really speaks to the coming of age piece that is embedded within the story. Before this Lorde had a very broad understanding of what it means to be a black woman in America. She has experienced oppression to some degree. For example, her family had to take her sister on the trip after she graduated because she could not go on her senior trip, and Lorde not being able to eat where the rest of the people eat on the train. For the most part, her parents have been able to protect Lorde and Lorde said herself that they do not talk about racism that much. However, now that she is getting older her parents can not protect her from the racism in this country. When she stares out into her capital and sees everything is "white" she gets a taste of the melancholy truth of what her skin color really means in this country; stripping away her childhood bliss.
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Post by ASedore on Jul 27, 2022 10:34:13 GMT -5
Lorde uses the adjective "white" six times in the final paragraph. I think that she chose to put so much emphasis on the word white because of what she experienced during her trip to Washington D.C. the summer after eighth grade and the injustice she faced in the ice cream parlor. She is finally realizing and expressing the power and importance that white has in America. Before this trip she was sheltered and more or less unaware of the extent of this fact. Her parents had previously tried their best to hide this from her and try to act as if it is not a big deal. She feels angry about how her experience and parents' reaction tainted her memory of the trip. Instead of a fun, family trip, she has to remember this as the moment when her childhood ended. She emphasizes "white" to show the reader how her thinking has changed and how she has become more aware.
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Post by MVerne on Jul 28, 2022 16:03:51 GMT -5
In the last paragraph, Lorde used the adjective “white” six times. I think she chose to use this so many times to show how overwhelming the realization, and her becoming more aware of how she fit in the country around her. She notices even the smallest details that are white, but they are enough to stick into her memory. She was only hoping for a fun and memorable trip with her family, but the experience ended up being horrible and changed her perspective on her life and the country she lives in forever. Using the adjective over and over again shows that the country was surrounded and built upon white. Its entire foundation os white. The sense of being surrounded by white overwhelms the reader as well, so it not only works as her describing her experience, but it also works to reach out and tug at the heartstrings of the reader.
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Question 1
Jul 28, 2022 20:57:00 GMT -5
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Post by madelynide on Jul 28, 2022 20:57:00 GMT -5
The adjective Lorde uses six times in the essay’s one sentence final paragraph is white. I think she chose to use this adjective so many times because it was the first time that she realized that America was unfairly tipped in white people’s favor because it had been designed in their best interests. Lorde’s parents tried to prevent her from ever thinking about or experiencing racism. Her parents had told her that she shouldn’t trust white people but they never explained why to her. They considered it a “private woe” and thought that if they ignored the problem, it would disappear. Because Lorde grew up fairly sheltered from this idea of racism, she was shocked at what occured at the ice cream parlor in Washington D.C. The idea that people could simply refuse to serve them due to the color of their skin was shocking to her. It was the first time that Lorde had to confront racism head-on. After that, she stopped seeing America as a land of opportunity and rather as a place where people were judged and laws were made based on the color of their skin. She realized that America being a land of opportunity was only true for white people. She began to see everything as white because only white people were able to advance in American society. Lorde began to see America as being built for white people. Everything was meant for them, therefore to her, everything seemed white.
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Post by BraedenDavis on Jul 29, 2022 21:14:26 GMT -5
Lorde uses the adjective "white" six times in the last sentence of the essay. I believe she chose to use it that many times in order to stress the importance of how much pressure and discomfort she felt, not only in Washington D.C. but in everyday life. The choice of language was used to convey how white people in America have always had things tailored to fit to their needs, instead of the needs of everyone in the "land of the free". When she was a child, she never considered or questioned why her parents raised her the way they did, by telling her to never trust white people. And why should she question it? She was a child, and children don't tend to question what their parents tell them. However, in Washington D.C., her innocence was completely stripped away and a world was revealed to her that showed the true colors of a racist America. The last sentence paints a perfect picture of how she felt, now surrounded by the impacts that racism and oppression had on her.
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Post by Lucy L on Aug 7, 2022 10:21:46 GMT -5
Lorde uses the word "white" in the last paragraph to describe all of her surroundings. I think the unfortunate event at the ice cream parlor changed the way she viewed the United States and her place in it. She said in the story that this was the year she enters "adulthood". I think having a more critical view of the world around her really speaks to the coming of age piece that is embedded within the story. Before this Lorde had a very broad understanding of what it means to be a black woman in America. She has experienced oppression to some degree. For example, her family had to take her sister on the trip after she graduated because she could not go on her senior trip, and Lorde not being able to eat where the rest of the people eat on the train. For the most part, her parents have been able to protect Lorde and Lorde said herself that they do not talk about racism that much. However, now that she is getting older her parents can not protect her from the racism in this country. When she stares out into her capital and sees everything is "white" she gets a taste of the melancholy truth of what her skin color really means in this country; stripping away her childhood bliss. I really like what Nateya said here about how her experience in the ice cream shop at the end of the story changes her perspective of America and also of herself. In the beginning of the story, Lorde states that this trip had marked the "edge of the summer when I was supposed to stop being a child". This statement pertains to her age and starting to grow into a young woman, but also when she views the injustice and racism alive in America for her own eyes and like Nateya said "strips alway her childhood bliss". I also think that the use of the word "white" throughout the story before the incident is somewhat surface level, its used to describe the sun, statues, and physical buildings, however after the incident the word is used to describe that same trip but through a different lens.
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Post by Ella Stangl on Aug 11, 2022 14:23:30 GMT -5
Lorde uses the adjective white six times in the essay’s one-sentence final paragraph. I think she chose to use this word so many times to emphasize the discrimination they face as a black family in the white society that Washington D.C. presents. Initially, the usage of white to describe the details of the city reflects the freedom and democracy of Washington D.C. Growing up, her parents shielded her from much of the racism of America so she expected it to be a fun family trip. Being dismissed from the ice cream shop and her family's reaction of accepting that they were not allowed to be in the building due to their skin color marked the shift in her perspective of the vacation. It went from the white being a grand marker of an interesting city to the word showing how out of place she felt in this unwelcoming area.
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Post by Cameron M on Aug 14, 2022 19:10:30 GMT -5
Lorde uses the adjective white six throughout her final paragraph in her essay. I think she chose to use this adjective because it was the best way to describe her trip. Or in other words a way to describe the discrimination that she faced without even realizing it while she was a kid. Another reason why it was the best way to describe the trip because in the story we never heard of any encounter with any African Americans other than the fathers friend who owns the the place that they are staying at. So everything around her was white from the sidewalk to the people who were in the area. I also think that she was using the vocabulary that she would have as a child to go along with the dialogue in a smooth way. This does make me wonder if she wrote this at a later time would she have used a different adjective or if she would have kept it the same.
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