In Rankine’s “Citizen: An American Lyric” we are introduced to a recount of various memories and experiences that the narrator has had and experience them ourselves. Rankine makes this possible through her usage of pronouns and I argue that she “makes” us into the narrator. The pronouns that Rankine uses offer an interesting take on the narrative. Upon reading the text, the reader may be confused at first, seeing the words, “when you are alone and too tired”(Rankine), I assumed that the book was speaking to me. I was preparing myself to read something that would be relatable but I was not prepared whatsoever. The use of “you” really entails you and places you in a position where you are experiencing these events along with the narrator. The main purpose of using the second person is to tell the readers a story and to allow us to be more engaged in the story but Rankine uses it in a matter where you, the reader, are experiencing these events. Not only are you experiencing the narrators moments in which she experiences racism and discrimination, no it is way more than just that, you are also being told an important message from the perspective of a black narrator. The message of how this discrimination happens in everyday life across multiple points in a day. It is unavoidable and happens in real life or even in our digital lives. This really gets you thinking about the world around you even today. The reader experiences the discrimination firsthand and she does a beautiful job at doing this by offering various descriptions and dialogue throughout the story. We are introduced first to a child’s perspective much like in “The Bluest Eye” and are told about multiple events that transpired to the narrator. These descriptions along with the usage of the second person provide a rich narrative as we “experience” the events being told to us by the narrator. Rankine’s narrator is speaking to the reader and attempts to make us understand how it feels to be looked down upon by a white girl. A feeling that neither the reader nor the narrator enjoys.

 The story progresses as we see the narrator’s experiences move beyond childhood and into adulthood. Much like the “Invisible Man” we are introduced to an adult perspective. We are no longer children but have now become adults along with the narrator, we “grew together”. In another memory, the narrator asks a friend to babysit her child while she watches a movie with her partner. Here we are introduced to another microaggression. What makes this memory interesting is the addition of interactions with the “third persons ”. In this memory, the narrator’s neighbor mistakes her friend who is black, for a robber. We see the stereotype of the neighbor and the interaction between the narrator and her neighbor. The readers feel as if they are interacting with the neighbor which is Rankine’s overall goal. This “third person” reassures us that we are now part of the story and are no longer just the reader. At the end of the memory, we speak to the narrator’s friend and tell him to speak in the backyard next time so that he is not mistaken for a burglar. The friend rightfully is upset by this and says he can speak wherever we want. We along with the narrator are left to respond with “yes of course”, and we can see that although the narrator had good intentions, she is in the wrong. What’s magical about this event is that through Rankine’s usage of the pronouns “you” we the readers, feel bad for telling our friend that it’s his fault for being consciences that way. This usage of pronouns allows Rankine to “attach” and embeds the reader to the narrator and turns us into the narrator. She was preparing us for our role in the novel and we have now become a part of Rankine’s story as both the reader and the narrator. This foundation allows us to interpret and understand the narrative in a different way as we continue to read it. 

Post Note: I feel as if readings like The Invisible Man and The Bluest Eyes have prepared us for this text. We saw different perspectives in each story and saw the world of each novel through different lenses. These lenses, I feel, are allowing us to be a part of Rankine’s novel and allow us to become the narrator.

Polly and Cholly Breedlove are both the results of white supremacy, bad circumstance, and negative influence. Their minds have been infiltrated with “white” ideologies and have deemed themselves ugly because of this. They have lived uncircumstantial lives and have been through terrible things that have shaped them to be who they are. Even in the novel, they live in a storefront because they believed they were “ugly”. It is because of her parents, that Peccola ends up viewing herself as a subordinate to whites. I argue that the reason why she is the way she is because of her father, Cholly. He is a victim of white ideologies and experiences unfortunate circumstances that lead him to grow an aggressive nature and hateful life.

Cholly in the novel is clearly a very aggressive person but what has caused him to be this way? Here I would like to explore his backstory and how he becomes the way he is. We are told about Cholly’s past as a baby and how he was abandoned by his mother. She left him in a “junk heap by the railroad”(Morrison). This is our first segue into an explanation as to why Cholly has a hatred for women. We can analyze and see that Cholly has a hatred for his mother abandoning him even after his Aunt takes care of him. He is still unhappy with his aunt and asks for his father’s name. This is interesting especially if analyzed. You would think Cholly would be grateful and would be respectful towards his aunt for saving her but he is not. Despite being saved by another woman, Cholly still holds a subconscious hatred for women and begins to look for his father despite him not being in his life at all. Here we see how the actions of his mother shape him into forming a hatred for women. It is because of a bad circumstance that he starts this hatred towards women and this later turns him into a violent husband against his wife Polly.

In Cholly’s upbringing, he begins to work and encounters a man by the name of Blue Jack. His encounters with Blue Jake made him happy as Blue Jake told him stories of the past and how he had been with many women. It is with this happiness that Cholly wanted the comfort of fatherhood and yearned for it but he could not have it. We, the readers, get a glimpse of the few sources of happiness that Cholly had as a young child. We begin to see how Cholly has no hatred towards men at this moment but continues to develop his hatred for women.  

It is clear that Cholly views himself as ugly and that he has become a victim of white supremacy. There is an interesting scene in the novel where Cholly thinks about God and how he would look like. This scene supports my argument as he describes God as “a nice old white man, with long white hair, flowing white beard, and little blue eyes that looked sad when people died and mean when they were bad”(Morrison). With this description, we see how whiteness has overcome Cholly’s head and how he has been taught to remain inferior to white people. He sees God as a white person instead of a black person and compares himself to the devil. It was in this moment and self-realization that we see that Cholly accepts these views and begins to see himself as the “devil” or inferior to be better put. This in turn shapes him to remain in the same position in his life and accept that he is “ugly”. These views then reflect later on in the story as he instills these views on his daughter Pecola. He is a victim but it is interesting to see how grows hatred towards whites but still continues to remain in the same spot and accept his position.

Later in the novel, we are told about an experience that Cholly had with two white men. It was in this experience that Cholly had fully embraced his hatred towards women and hatred towards whites. He submits to his anger and accepts that he is inferior to whites. Rather than be angry at the men who had humiliated him, he chose to be angry at the girl that he was having sex with. He lost his humanity and this obviously mirrors his actions in the novel. He repeatedly abuses his wife and also rapes his own child. He is disrupted and this makes him turn into a “free” monster. Cholly is also afraid that Darlene is pregnant and runs away to find his father. He knows it is wrong to abandon a pregnant woman but takes after his father steps and does it anyway. It is interesting here to see the choice that young Cholly makes. I believe that his hatred for women has clouded his judgment and this in turn makes him leave Darlene despite being the product of an abandoned father. It is with this where he himself becomes distorted and no different than his father.  Cholly becomes even more distorted when he finds that his father does not care about him and neglects him. Here we see the sadness and pain that was brought to Cholly, he was utterly alone and even defecated himself to add more to the embarrassment. His one source of happiness did not even know he existed and this crushed him. He later gets the opportunity to form bonds with his children and not make the same mistakes his parents made but he does the opposite. He separates his family and becomes the people he hates so much.

It is with all occurrences that Cholly becomes a “free” man. The book’s description of Cholly’s freedom is ironic as we see how shapes into the alcoholic, aggressive, womanizer that he is presently in the novel. Morrison offers us this backstory so that we the reader could see the results of white supremacy, bad circumstance, and negative influence in his life and how it affected him negatively. Even though he is “free” he becomes a monster and encaged.

In the Invisible Man, we see how he progresses through the story. He changes many of his ideologies and he is not the same person that he was at the beginning of the novel. I argue that the Invisible Man actually becomes more open-minded and begins to analyze and understand things rather than to just accept it for what it is. The Invisible Man begins to question himself and others around him rather than just accepting what is in front of him. That goes without saying that the Invisible Man had to experience different events in order to be able to “see” in different ways. I believe that it was in this encounter that the Invisible Man learned that some things are not what they seem to be. I am referring to when the Invisible Man saw the possessions of the elderly couple on the curb as they were being evicted from their home. When the Invisible Man first sees the belongings of the couple, he refers to it as, “ junk waiting to be hauled away”(Ellison). We can see how the Invisible Man sees these items as “junk” rather than actually looking at the possessions and seeing what they actually are. Upon further inspection, the Invisible Man learns more about the situation and sees that the “junk” is actually important and valuable to the old couple. The Invisible Man gains clarity and even begins to feel anger for the couple. 

There were many items and belongings from the couple that the Invisible Man identified. One of the first belongings that made the Invisible Man begin to think and question himself was the portrait of the old couple when they were young. He had begun to feel “strange memories awakening that began an echoing in my head like that of a hysterical voice stuttering in a dark street. Seeing them look back at me as though even then in that nineteenth-century day they had expected little, and this with a grim, unillusioned pride that suddenly seemed to me both a reproach and a warning”(Ellison). He was referring to how the couple looked sad and appeared to lack dignity in the photo. In this instance he begins to analyze the photo and begins to reflect on himself, it is interesting how he takes it as a “reproach” and a “warning”. He is seeing the oppression and sadness that the couple had and still have, he is reflecting on this and becomes connected with the old couple. He begins to think about where he is presently and how he himself is still oppressed and sad much like the young couple. He begins to understand them and grows closer to them.

This sparks emotion in him and we can see this spark growing larger as he sees more items. He continues to see all the possessions the couple had from baby items, letters, pots, and various other trinkets. When the Invisible Man saw these he was entranced and I believe that he begins to think about how human the couple are and even gets an insight into their life. He begins to analyze each object and gives these items his own meanings. Even though he does not know the story, meaning, or history of these items he gains a new perspective and creates their own narratives. He no longer sees the objects as useless but rather filled with stories and life. The Invisible Man even gets a vision of his mother as he relates these objects to his own experiences and life, he says that “And with this sense of dispossession came a pang of vague recognition: this junk, these shabby chairs, these heavy, old-fashioned pressing irons, zinc washtubs with dented bottoms — all throbbed within me with more meaning than there should have been”(Ellison). The Invisible Man had begun to see the bigger picture and realized that even junk has a history. It is quite interesting to see how the Invisible Man had built narratives from these objects and how he connected them with his own.

 From these comparisons and connections, we can see how the Invisible man becomes more aware and open-minded. This encounter serves as a roadmap for what happens in the later chapters as he realizes that history is flawed and that it has various perspectives. He learns that history truly is not history as only the witness of that history decides if it is important or not, and this in itself is unfair and biased. This encounter allowed the Invisible Man to see a bigger picture and begin to be open-minded. It was the self-reflection of his own thoughts and flaws that allowed him to realize this. He saw his flaw in assuming that the items were junk and now thinks twice before accepting something for what it is. We as readers can also learn from these experiences as we too are growing just like the Invisible Man.

The discussion of race has been going on for many lifetimes, this discussion seems to have no end and is explored by countless. One thing for certain is that it has an impact on our lives, society, and the world as a whole. This impact is delved into and explored in “On Whiteness and The Racial Imaginary” and “A Fouculadian(Genealogical) Reading of Whiteness”. 

“Where writers go wrong in imagining the lives of others”(Rankine & Beth). This was the first line that greeted my eyes upon reading the text. A discussion had already started forming inside of my head, a discussion about race and how it impacts our everyday actions. I knew this time it was going to be about how race impacts our writing and writers as well. “On Whiteness and The Racial Imaginary” discusses “whiteness” and how it affects writers’ mentalities as well as the writings created by them. This idea of being able to understand other races and cultures simply because we have heard or seen their experiences is questioned and criticized. This idea does not seem right to Rankine and does not seem logical either. She further discusses why by speaking about how colored characters are being written by these white writers who have limits on the obstacles they face daily due to their privilege. This privilege limits the writers especially when they take the view of a colored person or portray them in their writings. Their “creativity/imagination” is built of their own experiences. They cannot properly portray or even begin to imagine the hardships and backlash that those who are colored have to face. They feel as if they are “transcendent” because they have tried to understand how colored people are and to think they have a grasp of that understanding but they simply don’t and can’t. As Rankine says “So to say, as a white writer, that I have a right to write about whoever I want, including writing from the point of view of characters of color—that I have a right of access and that my creativity and artistry is harmed if I am told I cannot do so—is to make a mistake”(Rankine & Loffreda). We are all human and have our own limits, we are not everyone and cannot understand everyone. This is a truth that must be accepted whether we like it or not. White writers and colored writers will always have different limitations and different understandings. One cannot fully understand the other as their mindsets are completely different. The way the white writer goes to the store will be very different from the way the colored writer goes to the store. This experience alone will create differences in the perspective that will be portrayed in their writing. This is the point that Rankine is getting at and although hers is more writing-focused these differences in fact do influence the world around us. 

With that being said I would like to follow into the article “A Fouculadian(Genealogical) Reading of Whiteness” written by George Yance. This article continues the discussion of whiteness that was started by Rankine. The argument in this text is different compared to that of “On Whiteness and The Racial Imaginary”. Yancey focuses on whiteness and its structure, his aim is to” examine whiteness as the embodiment and production of specific truth claims, claims that are inextricably linked to a (white) regime of truth and modalities of power” (Yancey). From this line alone we see his perspective on whiteness and we are delving into his mind a bit. We can clearly see the effect that whiteness has on both his research questions and writing. This article supports and reflects the argument that was being made by Rankine. The argument that this “whiteness” and racial divide affects writers writing as well as perspective. This difference in experiences can cause a difference in the writings of authors as we see here with George and various others that we have read this term. I am more then sure that if this was a white writer’s research, the aim overall argument and wording of the text would be different. George even uses a fictional character, Pecola Breedlove, to display the effect that whiteness has on writings. He makes the claim that this character sees herself as worthless due to this whiteness and how “colored people” are seen as inferior. This impact while wrong is prevalent in our world even today and George makes sure to remind us of this. 

Despite these texts being older and not recent, we can clearly see how the past and the present are still being affected by this whiteness. This whiteness is prevalent in our world today and all of us can clearly see this not only in the readings for our class but also within our own world currently.