The book Citizen published in 2014 deals with racism, sexism and other pressing societal issue of the 21st century in America. She uses visual images and prose to display African American experience. The novel begins from the second person view point, and makes the reader in a way (metaphorically) be present in the story. Author Claudia Rankine, employs the concept of “microaggression” in the begging of her novel, and she ties it to the everyday racist actions that go unnoticed to those who aren’t directly effected. I remember in one of my classes a student explained to me what microaggression is, because at that time I did not understand and was frustrated why people are always upset by small actions. I was told that to a black individual, walking into a store, means having everyone look at you, or having store clerks follow you, that is a form of a micro aggression, that the store clerk wouldn’t understand because he isn’t effected by those actions, nor does he understand that his actions causes an unnecessary discomfort for the individual.

IN the novel microaggression is act but can also be greatly expressed in words, as the author demonstrated in the novel, and words can truly shape someones reality, and in many cases limit it. For Rankine, racist acts and words add to her shell “puke runs down your blouse, a dampness drawing your stomach in towards your rib cage” (pg 5) and she is in constant fight with it, desiring to be a “power wash” that is able to cleanse that pain that comes daily with microaggression

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