Works Cited Page 

Djawoto, Olivia. “Poetry in the Post-Truth Era: Formal Structures in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric.” Forum (Edinburgh) 25.25 (2017): n. pag. Print.

• Olivia Djawoto discusses the impact that the poetry in “Citizen: An American Lyric “ has on the overall narrative piece itself as well as the impact on the reader. This argument is fully developed throughout the piece as the writer speaks about how the book speaks about the importance of “truth” about the racial inequities in America. She dives into how the title holds an underlying meaning in the message that Rankine is spreading, that “citizenship” is not given to everyone. This is one of the many things discussed in the article and we see more topics discussed such as how Rankine’s use of the second person affects the reader’s perspective on the injustices in the book. Overall the article makes the reader think about the “truth” of the “post-racial” world we live in today. 

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.

• This is the literary piece that will be used to compare/contrast. The paper centers around this piece.

Frisina, Kyle. “From Performativity to Performance: Claudia Rankine’s Citizen and Autotheory.” The Arizona quarterly 76.1 (2020): 141–166. Web.

• Kyle C. Frisina continues the conversation of how the use of “you” affects the piece as well as the reader. In this case of the arguments used here is how the usage of “you” comforts the reader and allows the reader to share their own microaggressions by forming a connection to the narrator in the book. The article focuses on how these connections allow for a “performance” from both the reader and the narrator.

  Hartung, Burke. “Taking Perspective: Personal Pronouns Affect Experiential Aspects of Literary Reading.” PloS one 11.5 (2016): e0154732–e0154732. Web.

• Burke Hartung explains the usage of pronouns in literature and how they change the literature in which they are being used. This article explains and discusses the first, second, and third-person perspectives in literature and how they affect the reader. He takes a psychological approach as we see how these different usages can provide different outcomes for individuals who are reading the literature.

Larkin, Lesley. “Close Reading “You”: Ralph Ellison.” In Race and the Literary Encounter: Black Literature from James Weldon Johnson to Percival Everett, 92-123. Indiana University Press, 2015. Accessed November 10, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17t75c3.7.

• Lesley Larkin in this chapter of the textbook discusses the use of the second person throughout the novel. She analyzes and investigates its impact on the novel and how this different perspective can perhaps change the meaning of the novel or add a new meaning to it.

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen : An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota :Graywolf Press, 2014.

• This is the literary piece that will be used to compare/contrast. The paper centers around this piece.

Simecek, Karen. “Cultivating Intimacy: The Use of the Second Person in Lyric Poetry.” Philosophy and Literature 43.2 (2019): 501–518. Web.

• Karen Simecek focuses entirely on the use of the second person in “Citizen: An American Lyric” and how this use encaptures the reader. She also discusses how the use of the second person makes an “intimate” connection with the reader and the narrator of the work. This concept is further discussed throughout the article as examples are given to further explain it.

When looking for these articles I proceeded to use the Hunter College Library Database. I used JStor, Onesearch, and Gale Literature at first to look for research articles. I then proceeded to use terms such as “third person, pronouns, you, perspective, impact, and literature” to narrow down searches for my research paper. This helped out as at first I was not getting many articles relevant to my topic but as I made my terms more to the point, I found more sources. I also ensured that the articles were  “peer-reviewed” so that they were reliable sources. I also read it to make sure it would support my argument and also see if it would expand my own knowledge so that I could incorporate it into my paper. The research did take me a while to find as Rankine wrote Citizen in 2014 but narrowing it down helped to find articles that were relevant to my topic.

In the zoom webinar, “Just You” was spoken about. It was just published in September and the message of the book is to try to engage in deep conversation rather than to ignore it. The section, Ethical Loneliness of the book was read and discussed, and then there was a Q&A. I was overly impressed by the questions and the discussions that were being had by the graduate students and Claudia. We were given some insight as to how the play was written and how the dialogue was written to make the writing more believable. Claudia then started to bring more conversations into the writing and added them into her process of writing.  We also had an interesting conversation about being a black poet in a white filled subject field. I was impressed by Claudia’s response as she was honest and said that you would never know who could help you or who wouldn’t despite their race or gender in this subject field. We were also told about how Claudias “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely” received negative criticism by her past publishers and white friends, and how she continued to persevere regardless because of how passionate she was about what she wrote. This to me was powerful and aspiring. We also were told a bit about Claudia’s friendship with her white friend and how she has a lot of patience with her. It was exciting and cool to hear the writer of Citizen, as I enjoyed her book very much. She seemed very passionate but also open which is also the case in her books.

In Rankine’s, “Citizen” we are introduced to situations. These “situations” convey a message while using and altering an event. It “situates” the reader and puts them into these situations. The reader almost lives through them and can get an idea of just how traumatizing they are. When paired with the corresponding video, these situations become more realistic and dense. We see graphic depictions of discrimination that African Americans endure and we are left with different emotions.  We are put in situations where we feel anger and sadness for these events, We, the readers feel the need to make a change.

For example, In “situation 5” we see and read a “situation video”. In this case, it is about Trayvon Martin and his death. The situation is in “memory” of him and we the readers are left to question whether this is the voice of Trayvon Martin or someone else speaking after the events of his unjust death. We the readers are well aware of the backlash and rage that followed after Trayvon Martin’s death. For moments people were unified as everyone fought against discrimination, violence, and police brutality. This is how the situation begins as it says “My brothers are notorious”. We are shown how African Americans are racially profiled and sent unjustly to jail or even killed. Despite this, the beginning also shows the unification that the narrator is trying to create to fight the injustices of the past and present. 

The situation speaks about the unfair circumstances that African Americans had to endure. The narrator while speaking says “they will never forget our way through”. This further continues that unification but also promotes a sense of peacefulness while doing so. Peaceful protesting is present in our lives even today and we can see just how much of an impact that can have on society. This is what the narrator is trying to convince us to do. The video also plays jazz music and creates a calm scenery despite the violence and police brutality in the background. We, the reader see the narrator’s continuous peaceful stance on all this and even persuades the reader to fight back peacefully for justice. The reader, of course, is lead to confusion as they do not know whether or not to be peaceful or angry but the narrator attempts to guide us to peace. Despite the harsh treatments, the narrator wishes for unification and justice through peace, not through violence as that would make matters worse. We see both the anger and sadness but must not forget to fight justly or else we will be no better than our discriminators. 

 The situation attempts to educate the reader while also allowing the reader to “see” the hardships of the past and the present for African Americans. The unfair realities and the crap that they had to go through and still go through to this day. We see the narrator investigate the past and present as he speaks about the Jim Crow Laws and the racial profiling of the now. We are told to never forget about the past as history may repeat itself. We are made aware so that we could continue the fight for justice and a better tomorrow.

All these messages relate to the rest of Rankine’s texts as the reader is put into the shoes of the narrator and experiences these discriminations. Of course in this situation, the focus is mostly on police brutality and racial profiling but we are also taught more. Although we could never truly understand the brutality of these events, we are shown them and can see that the world we live in is not just at all. This is the message Rankine sets throughout her book, the message that African Americans endure racism daily and are expected to just “get over it”. She wants the readers to be aware of these discrepancies and wants society to face reality. This situation does that perfectly as we see how unjust and corrupt “America” truly is. In the video along with the text, there are many occasions where the scenery goes red and blue. This may signify police brutality as Trayvon Martin was subject to this and show just how corrupt some of our “protectors” are. This can also signify the irony of the American Flag and depict how America is filled with hatred and racism despite the flag’s meaning. The words and the picture used in the situational video bounce off each other to spread the message of racial profiling and just how it can lead to death for an African American. We are left with a desire for change.

*I posted a link to a song that speaks about police brutality and figured it would be relevant given the situation I wrote about”

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        Works Cited Page 

Djawoto, Olivia. “Poetry in the Post-Truth Era: Formal Structures in Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric.” Forum (Edinburgh) 25.25 (2017): n. pag. Print.

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage International, 1995. Print.

Frisina, Kyle. “From Performativity to Performance: Claudia Rankine’s Citizen and Autotheory.” The Arizona quarterly 76.1 (2020): 141–166. Web.

Hartung, Burke. “Taking Perspective: Personal Pronouns Affect Experiential Aspects of Literary Reading.” PloS one 11.5 (2016): e0154732–e0154732. Web.

Larkin, Lesley. “Close Reading “You”: Ralph Ellison.” In Race and the Literary Encounter: Black Literature from James Weldon Johnson to Percival Everett, 92-123. Indiana University Press, 2015. Accessed November 10, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17t75c3.7.

Rankine, Claudia, 1963- author. Citizen : An American Lyric. Minneapolis, Minnesota :Graywolf Press, 2014.

Simecek, Karen. “Cultivating Intimacy: The Use of the Second Person in Lyric Poetry.” Philosophy and literature 43.2 (2019): 501–518. Web.

When looking for these articles I proceeded to use the Hunter College Library Database. I used JStor, Onesearch, and Gale Literature at first to look for research articles. I then proceeded to use terms such as “third person, pronouns, you, perspective, impact, and literature” in order to narrow down searches for my research paper. This helped out as at first I was not getting many articles relevant to my topic but as I made my terms more to the point, I found more sources. I also ensured that the articles were  “peer-reviewed” so that they were reliable sources. I also read it to make sure it would support my argument and also see if it would expand my own knowledge so that I could incorporate it into my paper. The research did take me a while to find as Rankine wrote Citizen in 2014 but narrowing it down definitely helped finding articles that were relevant to my topic.

The Importance of the use of the “second/third person” in the novel and how it impacts the overall story. How does it affect the reader and if the novel would be as impactful if it was done in the first person compared to that like the Invisible Man?