ENGLISH 325 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Serena Williams
6 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Mikaela Bradley
English 325
6/5/18
Reading Reflection
Claudia Rakie’s Citizen was a powerful lyrical essay that really exposed a lot of issues
surrounding race and discrimination. Published in 2014, it talks about events going on in the
present, highlighting that maybe things have not changed as much as we would like them to
believe since the civil rights movement. I was struck by all of the individual stories about people
facing injustices due to the color of their skin, like the young man who was pulled over because
he as alas the gu ho fit the descriptio. I felt like this episode echoes what we see in
the news a lot, especially when all of the instances of police brutality were occurring these past
few years. The part about Serena Williams also stood out as a prominent example and left me
with the thoughts that despite how amazing a tennis player she was and how recognized she
became, people still did not like her because she was African American. After Moda’s class, it
was easier to pick out the multiple forms of essay and see how Rankine intertwined memoir
and social commentary into her lyric. The use of I as strikig as it ade the eperieces
ore persoal as did the use of ou. Her application of multimodality through both words,
paintings, and photographs helped make the experience of reading more holistic. I was drawn
particularly to the two pieces that we saw at UMMA yesterday as I thought the really showed
the contrast between the white and the black and Ranking positioned them well within her
text. I also spent a decent amount of time looking at the side portrait of the person that was
made of primarily reds and blacks toward the end of the piece. At first it looked like just a
silhouette, but there were many tiny details and pictures within the larger image. Rankine plays
ith the idea of differet seles and what they mean. Personally, I found the title to be
slightly ironic as the acts of racism she describes are not acts you would think would be
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Document Summary
Claudia ra(cid:374)ki(cid:374)e"s citizen was a powerful lyrical essay that really exposed a lot of issues surrounding race and discrimination. Published in 2014, it talks about events going on in the present, highlighting that maybe things have not changed as much as we would like them to believe since the civil rights movement. I was struck by all of the individual stories about people facing injustices due to the color of their skin, like the young man who was pulled over because (cid:862)he (cid:449)as al(cid:449)a(cid:455)s the gu(cid:455) (cid:449)ho fit the descriptio(cid:374)(cid:863). I felt like this episode echoes what we see in the news a lot, especially when all of the instances of police brutality were occurring these past few years. After mo(cid:374)da(cid:455)"s class, it was easier to pick out the multiple forms of essay and see how rankine intertwined memoir and social commentary into her lyric.
