Month: December 2020

In Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s piece, “The Finkelstein Five”, Adjei-Brenyah uses the perspective of a conflicted black man to highlight racial injustice in the United States. The use of a first person voice allows Adjei-Brenyah to directly connect these anecdotes with his intended audience: white people. This is achieved through the use of varying literary techniques, which will be elaborated upon below.

Adjei-Brenyah opens up his piece by contextualizing the conflict within a young black man. He uses a “blackness scale” that is referenced throughout the story as a symbol of the internal conflict that many African-Americans have with their own culture/heritage. This subconscious struggle is highlighted in the first page when Emmanuel, “it was impossible to get his [Emmanuel’s] blackness down”. The author uses this example as another reference to the white-washing of black culture, exemplifying how blacks try to ‘fit in’ society by conforming to ‘white’ standards. This train of thought also allows the readers to better understand the notion of racial profiling – a hard concept for non-blacks in American to grasp. To do this, African-american vernacular is used to give an authentic aura to the experience. Emmanuel’s backstory and personal experiences allow the audience to connect more with him, making them more disheartened when they read the implicit bias he faces. Parallelism is implemented throughout the text to highlight the difference in treatment by the justice system towards whites and non-whites. On page 5, the judge takes the side of George Wilson Dunn, “I’ll allow it”, while security guards regard Emmanuel with suspicion and “trail him”.

The author also uses the text to focus on the ideas of identity and representation by providing multiple perspectives. The verdict on the white man on page 3 underscores how tight-knit the black community is, “his father cursed. His mother punched honks”. This scene also exhibits how discrimination is shared by all minority communities, “friends of many different races…had gathered”. Within the black experience, the author presents an important dynamic in the black community: the father-son relationship. Emmanuel’s connection to his father links to how he attempts to subvert his inner blackness. However, after experiencing racism, this subversion capitulates. This culmination of personal experiences with racism and subtle racism directed towards blacks in media, “African diaspora (9)”, makes Emmanuel’s path to violence more plausible. The technique of switching between George’s perspective and Emmanuel’s life corresponds to the double standards of America’s justice system. George is shown to be calm and collected as he knows he will be protected, while Emmanuel feels paranoid because he knows of the system’s track record with African-Americans.

Adjei-Brenyah uses this story to connect to many themes of black culture. He expresses blacks’ internal struggle with their heritage and also their experiences with racism to draw greater attention for his readers. To conclude, racial injustice is clearly portrayed through the use of a dual perspective and recurring themes relating to black culture.

In Coates’ piece, “Letter to My Son”, the author uses a range of techniques to initiate an intricate focus on America’s race problem. He writes from the perspective of a father, making his piece more intimate and connecting for the reader. His shift of focus to the dynamics of black society not only allows us to understand blacks in America but the nature of American society/history as a whole.

Coates introduces the topic by using a personal anecdote. His conversation with this reporter pushes him to question why people in America have this fixed mindset on race. His voice in these opening lines is one that is filled with sadness, but also implies he has reconciled with this grim reality, “I had expected to fail”. When Coates is being interviewed he mentions how he feels that this “constant interrogation” makes him feel that American society is hesitant to acknowledge racism. These questions probe him to wonder why American history is treated with such veneration, rather, he expresses contempt for the effect it has had on blacks. Such an unorthodox approach to American history makes us, the readers, question our own beliefs on the most influential country in world history. The author also alludes to modern segregation in America. Blacks and whites live in such different worlds that political polarization in America is one of the main effects of this, “the only people I knew were black”. This juxtaposition when referencing life in black society against life in white society aims to highlight the difference in living standards in the US. Additionally, it shows how black society has been made the way it is by whites. Coates’ experience with death only underscores the normality of such a situation and the difference in society, truly sickening in the land of the free. The later reference to America as a “body” shows how it is a living, changing entity.

Coates uses a variety of literary techniques and the incorporation of different perspectives to connect with the reader. The piece as a whole directly connects to us readers because Coates refers to the audience in the second person, “You”. This connection is reiterated when Coates refers to the audience as “black boy”, allowing us to better empathize with the feelings and actions of black child. This father-son dynamic is used to stress the importance of this relationship in a society where too often than not, doesn’t exist. A child is used so Coates can easily explain ideas about race to his audience. The author uses a controversial stance on whites, “pillaging of life”, to connect to a broader idea that whites seek to subjugate, control and destroy the “black body”. When comparing white America with black America, Coates uses relatable anecdotes, “Memorial day..”, to highlight this difference. This symbol of a body is used to show how whites have exploited blacks: Once during slavery for profit and now for power. With this take Coates subtly hints at the topic of white privilege. The will to bend cultures towards white society – like the whitewashing of blacks, “desire to live by the standards of Bellow” – leads Coates to draw to the conclusion that whites encompass a “demon religion”. Furthermore, Coates takes aim at the common perception of a black man, “dipped in Russell sweats”, by arguing that this misconception fails to acknowledge the fear that black men have towards white people, “girding themselves against the ghosts of the bad old days”.

To conclude, the text asks us readers to question how black society can change in a white nationalist America. This encourages the audience to fight back against white nationalism and support black culture. Several literary techniques including anecdotes, symbols, and diction help to convey this message.