Racism in What it Like to Be a Black Girl Poem Patricia Smith and Child of the Americas by Morales - Term Paper Example

?Final Paper: Race Ethni Racism is still one of the major issues affecting the American society. Each new day, African Americans and other racial minorities find themselves at the receiving end of racial bias and discrimination. This has caused many of them to face an identity crisis given the fact that many of them are Americans by nationality but their colors deny them this right. They are descendants of people who migrated into America many years ago and through their hard labor, America is what it is today. This identity crisis has caused these racial minorities to device ways of coping with this unfairness. Some have tried to force themselves to have the “normal” American look while others have voiced their cries by demanding a place within the only society they know they belong to. Despite the pronounce discrimination, the ability to cope and mechanisms of coping are determined by how an individual from racial minority group views themselves. The two literary works that will be compared in this paper are What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl, a poem written by Patricia Smith and Child of the Americas, a poem written by Aurora Levin Morales. The two poems are most appropriate for this study because both the authors were Americans belonging to racial minority groups. Smith was an African American while Morales was a Puerto Rican (uhu.es, 2007). They were, therefore, well conversant with extreme prejudice and racism compared to authors from outside countries. Seemingly, the two poems directly expressed their views. Similarities and differences Form and Style The first similarity between the two literary works is that they are both poems. However, What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl has been written in a continuous essay like manner that allows the poet to express content of the poem in a narrative-like fashion. Through this, she has managed to explain the life of a young girl as she transitions into womanhood as well as trying to transit from being “unfinished” into being “finished.” Although the author expresses her mind through a jagged sentence structure, the readers are able to note the seriousness of her tone because of the strong and authoritative way of communicating. On the other side, Child of the Americas has been broken into five stanzas. Each stanza allows the poet to explain her feelings systematically and gives the listeners time to reflect upon its content. The use of symbols is common in both the poems. Morales uses various symbols to describe the interaction between various cultures, and how she is locked up in all of them (college.cengage.com, 2000). For example, she says, “I am Caribena island grown, Spanish is in my flesh, ripples from my tongue, lodges in my hips: the languages of garlic and mangoes, the singing in my poetry, the flying gestures of my hands.” On her part, Smith states “it’s dropping food coloring in your eyes to make them blue… It’s popping a bleached white mophead over the kinks of your hair and primping in front of the mirrors that deny your reflection.” By saying so, she symbolized her need to grow into what she felt was the “accepted” look of society described as the blue eyed, white skinned and blonde haired. In addition, she has uses personification where she states “mirrors that deny your reflection.” This reflects how hard it is to become white in all looks based on an artificially modified form. Instead, the outcome was an awkward look. The two authors used attention capturing introductions to create interest for their poems. Smith, for example, begins by stating “first of all.” This phrase creates a sense of a story being told. On her part, Morales begins in a somewhat ambushing but humorous tone, “I am a child of the Americas.” This phrase creates some form of suspense and provokes in the listeners the urge to want to know why one would say such a thing. The author has also repeated this in the stanzas, and this has allowed her to systematically reveal all the five cultures she is made up of. Content The other major similarity between the two literary works is their content. The two the poems bring out a similar theme, the theme of racism and ethnicity. They both deal with issues of racism and discrimination which existed in America before the Civil Rights Era, and are still evident in the current American society. Each of the two poems has tackled this theme by telling how a young lady from a racial minority group in America viewed themselves with varied beliefs. Although there are some similarities in content of the two poems, the poets have explained two contrasting ways that minority groups cope with the issue of racism and discrimination. The two ladies experienced racial discrimination, but their perceptions of themselves, the resultant effects, and how they managed to cope with this situation are very different. In What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl, Smith gives an insight into the life of a young African American girl transiting into African American woman-hood at a time where being both an African American girl and African American woman were welcomed (Poetry Foundation, 2011). She uses this poem to reveal to the non-blacks the psychological torture, lifestyle changes and dangerous body changing attempts that people make as a result of the need to conform to the social changing trends and evade racial discrimination. She also uses this to reveal that such attempts are regrettable, painful and sometimes impossible. However, it is clear that they are mainly demonstrated by people who are inwardly dissatisfied with themselves and it increases vulnerability among them. Seemingly, the black girl is not proud of herself and the combined pressures of puberty, and racism makes her seek ways to change her looks to look like the white women. Smith describes “dropping food coloring in your eyes… popping a bleached white mophead over the kinks of your hair… finding a space between your legs… a disturbance at your chest.” She also goes ahead to adapt their way of life and tries to balance her newly formed shape. Smith describes “jumping double Dutch until your legs pop” and “growing tall and wearing a lot of white” (Smith, 2006). This contrasts to how Morales reacted to the racial discrimination she was facing. In her poem, the Child of the Americas, Morales explains how as a Puerto Rican, she was faced with a serious cultural identity. She has just discovered that she is made up of five different cultures, and she did not know the one she fits in or belongs to. Despite knowing that she was born at the “crossroads” as she describes, Morales did not allow herself to be stressed with the fact that she belonged to the racial minority group, give excuses for being the way they are or modify her looks. Instead, she prides in her diverse cultural background that makes up the American culture and at the same time, she boldly claims her American citizenship and makes it clear that she is neither of these but only “a child of the Americas.” She states clearly “I am a U.S. Puerto Rican Jew... I am Caribena... Spanish is my flesh…. I am of Latinoamerica, rooted in the history of my continent... I am not African. Africa is in me, but I cannot return… am not taina. Taino is in me, but there is no way back... I am not European. Europe lives in me, but I have no home there… History made me.” Her highest pride is seen in the phrase “And I am whole.” Instead of feeling disadvantaged by her cultural roots, she feels this is an advantage to her, including the spanglish she speaks. She feels a like more complete American than others. Garcia (2005) explains that with such a mindset, Morales was able to confidently identify with her past and with the same attitude, she managed to fit herself in her present society. This is unlike Smith who wanted to run from her past and identify with an artificial future. Through this poem, Morales is trying to reveal the complex mixing of races and cultures that makes it to look like a new culture is formed by many races living together. She also tries to explain how American generations have merged to form a culture that is different from that of the people who once existed in it. She therefore expresses her anger towards the American society that has failed to understand the fact that cultures are unique in nature, and more so manmade and evolutionary. Rojas (1989) explains that she wanted people to learn how to live with other people from various cultural backgrounds despite their differences of culture and race. Conclusion The two poets were from racial minority groups in America, and thus they faced racial discrimination. However, the two ladies viewed their racial status from different angles and thus they resorted to completely different mechanisms as a way of coping in a society in which everything to do with white was viewed as the acceptable norm and anything else was unwelcomed. Smith tried to cope by forcing her physical looks to change and look like those of the whites. This was painful, unsuccessful and only outward. Contrarily, Morales took a global perspective of her status. She decided to take pride in her diverse cultural backgrounds and without modifying her looks or lifestyle, she boldly declares that she is a “child of the Americas”. She also provokes the American society to accept diversity because people like her are “whole,” they represent the real face of America. References college.cengage.com (2000). “Aurora Levins Morales.” Online: http://college.cengage.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/index.html. Garcia, E. (2005). “The Making of a Curandera Historian: Aurora Levins Morales.”  Centro Journal (1) pp 184-201 Patricia Smith. (2006).”WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A BLACK GIRL (FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO AREN’T).” Online: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070925085810AAXRu9I. Viewed on 16th February, 2012. Poetry Foundation (2011). “Patricia Smith.” http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/patricia-smith. Viewed on 16th February, 2012. Rojas, L. (1989). "Latinas at the Crossroads: An Affirmation of Life in Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins Morales's Getting Home Alive." In Breaking Boundaries: Latina Writing and Critical Reading, edited by A. Horno-Delgado, E. Ortega, N. Scott, and N. Saporta-Sternbach. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. uhu.es. (2007). “Aurora Levins Morales.” Online: http://www.uhu.es/antonia.dominguez/pricans/aurora_levins_morales.htm. Viewed on 16th February, 2012. Read More