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

In the first chapter of Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric, the term ‘microaggression’ takes on an enhanced meaning. The racist comments central to each narrative Rankine presents in her first section take a physical toll on their audiences; she shows us that microaggressions feel invasive not just on a psychological level but in the body. In Descartes’ theory of the mind-body connection, he argues that the body, being made of matter, can be ‘extended,’ and that this is what differentiates it from the mind. He argues that souls, lacking matter, cannot move bodies. Rankine seems to suggest that microaggressions take on the characteristic of extension, with the result of their prompting people of color to react bodily.

“Certain moments send adrenaline to the heart, dry out the tongue, and clog the lungs. Like thunder they drown you in sound, no, like lightning they strike you across the larynx” (4). Here, words become tangible things. Instead of making their way harmlessly through the air to their listener’s ears, they thicken, creating a stoppage in the lungs. In another passage, words become like rotten food that makes you vomit. Some microaggressions fill you up, Rankine seems to suggest, and we can imagine that there must be little room left for their subjects to form their own identities, or even to allow themselves to be filled up with positive affirmations.

Some instances bring to mind uncleanliness for Rankine. “[…] puke runs down your blouse, a dampness drawing your stomach in towards your rib cage” (5). At another point, you “want time to function like a power wash.” Rankine hopes that the farther behind her the racism she has faced gets, the less she will feel its impact. As things stand as she writes Citizen, it seems that thus far each microaggression she has heard of or personally experienced has only added to the grime coating her body. She has not found a way to clean herself of it permanently, though at times the vomit-covered blouse gets rinsed and she smells good again. The dirt which remains must be stubborn, for Rankine is not yearning for time to function like a shower or a hose, but a power wash. The microaggressions are caked on, again taking away space that Rankine could have used to develop her own identity. The fact that it is a blouse that gets covered in puke is also significant. We can assume that the subject of this narrative has dressed up for something, perhaps a professional engagement. But because she is surrounded by racism, it is as though she is deprived even of the ability to choose to look nice against the white background that makes her color stand out so starkly.

Rankine’s writing seems to play with the word microaggression. Her subjects do not only face insensitive words, they face aggression, and are affected as a victim of a violent crime would be. Because of the force behind them, and because of the physical impact they have, microaggressions can be extended per Descartes’ definition, becoming like weapons.

Claudia Rankine in Citizen uses Serena Williams, who is relevant in today’s time period, to show discrimination and racism in modern times. The struggle and what Rankine calls isolation, the anger that’s built up inside and finding a balance in-between worlds. This second chapter allows readers to see the discrimination made against Serena Williams which on a broader level applies to a race as a whole. Having to make a choice on what the next step is and how to react. Do you stay quiet and not address it or fight back when clear injustice is happening and be labeled as “crazy” or “the angry black woman”? Besides addressing it, then there’s how to address it, do I scream, do I shout, Do I cry or make a press conference? Either way the only person who will still be labeled as aggressive and an outsider will be the colored person who stood up for themselves.

The theme of anger is essential in this piece. A constant reminded you’re still not fully “in” and an outsider. Serena Williams a professional and highly successful tennis player is always questioned and critiqued on things other tennis players are also engaged in. A dance made after winning a big competition is the main focus of the media and is the only thing talked about meanwhile she just won a major victory. Situations like these you just cant help but wonder what are the real motives and why is this dance being called to question. You don’t have to say its because shes black to come to the realization that the reason shes being questioned is actually because shes black. Now lets say it was someone else who did it and wasn’t colored, would they be questioned? Would their dance overpower the new victory and championship? Most likely not. Serena Williams an American tennis player, isn’t supported by her American people and is instead portrayed as loud and aggressive. She was fined and banned from playing because she called out the ref who kept giving her trouble. It was clear to other sports anchors that she was indeed right for calling the ref out because they were pointing out things that aren’t really penalized but since its her, Serena, the black tennis player, of course its reprimanded and not tolerated. What Rankine does in this chapter is makes us feel like Serena, tell a story using pop culture, images and YouTube to show the racial discrimination happening today in America and letting us know what it means to be a black American in America.

Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye is a novel that captures the reality of what black families face as well as white families and the struggles their children have to face in society.
Morrison does an excellent job expressing how these families want to keep their children safe, but with society’s way of thinking it’s almost impossible to keep their children from thinking the wrong way. ‘Dick and Jane’, Shirley Temple, as well as the Mary Jane candies show children what is suppose to be a ‘typical’ look for a child.  But in reality it’s wrong, having white skin with blue eyes is all over in advertisement’s which confuse many children on what is actually correct. Children want to become like Jane, and Shirley Temple so that they may be accepted into society. Morrison expresses an issue that still goes on today, fitting in, and perfection. Perfection is being changed everyday which shows girls that their body is not perfect. Yet, everyone is perfect, the way we were created is perfect to someone. To our families we are perfect, society is always changing what perfection is which makes something perfect never the same the following day. Pecola goes throughout the novel believing having blue eyes like the Mary Jane on the candies as well as having a lighter skin complexion as Shirley Temple. Pecola does everything she can so that she may gain a lighter skin complexion and to also have the perfect blue eyes. Although Pecola goes through a lot knowing she is invisible like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, that doesn’t stop her from trying to fit in. Soon Pecola will learn that having a lighter skin and blue eyes is not what makes people jealous and not everything is seen as perfect to everyone which is okay. Pecola will also learn that trying to please everyone by trying to fit in is going to be impossible. With society changing constantly, people’s views on different people change constantly.