June 22, 2015, the President of the United States of America used the ‘N’ word when addressing the nation. News feeds buzzed, jaws dropped and the whole World was in disbelief. Someone had actually said the full word. It is a word, a powerful word, a word that plagues the one who says it and the one who receives it. There are some words so powerful that they are never said and should be kept locked away. Language is a powerful tool that is used everyday to suppress others. However, language should never be used in a violent way. Handling language is important as someone can interpret something said and take that and turn it into something else. Language used to oppress others is evident and implemented in Kindred by Octavia Butler and in my
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Dana is an African American whose bloodline developed during the time of slavery. We never really know why but Dana travels from present to past and experiences the severe conditions that African Americans underwent in the 1800s. Inhumane work conditions were provided and the punishment for average was the laceration from the owners whip. “At almost the same moment, Fowler lashed me hard across the back” (Butler 212). Dana had been sent to the fields and the overseer thought she performed unsatisfactory and the punishment was brutal. However in the 1800s, language held the power between white slave owners and the slave. The ‘N’ word was used on a continual basis from the owner to the slave and obtained the power the owner possessed over the slave. “Did you say he used a whip on you, …show more content…
Perry, a new Army recruit, is overseas for the first time and he notices the way language is used to hurt others by his own troops. One of his closest friends in the Army even begins to pick on the people of the Middle East. “Lame people,” she answered. “Most of them look all right, but you see a lot of people with birth defects and things they would have taken care of in the States” (Myers 60). Marla realizes there are alot of birth defect victims in the Middle East and began to pick on them and joke about them to Perry. Myers made sure that the people of the middle east were not the only ones who got oppressed. He did a wonderful job of showing what War was actually like for the soldiers and how chippy it got between the own units. “She’s humping behind a desk,” Marla said. “I haven’t seen her out here ducking bullets or playing hide-and-go-seek with Pablo” (Myers 167). Marla has seen her own team members shot and killed and is frustrated that her Captain is not doing anything besides sit behind her desk. At multiple moments in the book, Myers shows how language erupts among the soldiers and it gets fierce. War is very serious and Myers did a wonderful job showing how violent language can get between the Army and the people of the Middle
Dana is an African American whose bloodline developed during the time of slavery. We never really know why but Dana travels from present to past and experiences the severe conditions that African Americans underwent in the 1800s. Inhumane work conditions were provided and the punishment for average was the laceration from the owners whip. “At almost the same moment, Fowler lashed me hard across the back” (Butler 212). Dana had been sent to the fields and the overseer thought she performed unsatisfactory and the punishment was brutal. However in the 1800s, language held the power between white slave owners and the slave. The ‘N’ word was used on a continual basis from the owner to the slave and obtained the power the owner possessed over the slave. “Did you say he used a whip on you, …show more content…
Perry, a new Army recruit, is overseas for the first time and he notices the way language is used to hurt others by his own troops. One of his closest friends in the Army even begins to pick on the people of the Middle East. “Lame people,” she answered. “Most of them look all right, but you see a lot of people with birth defects and things they would have taken care of in the States” (Myers 60). Marla realizes there are alot of birth defect victims in the Middle East and began to pick on them and joke about them to Perry. Myers made sure that the people of the middle east were not the only ones who got oppressed. He did a wonderful job of showing what War was actually like for the soldiers and how chippy it got between the own units. “She’s humping behind a desk,” Marla said. “I haven’t seen her out here ducking bullets or playing hide-and-go-seek with Pablo” (Myers 167). Marla has seen her own team members shot and killed and is frustrated that her Captain is not doing anything besides sit behind her desk. At multiple moments in the book, Myers shows how language erupts among the soldiers and it gets fierce. War is very serious and Myers did a wonderful job showing how violent language can get between the Army and the people of the Middle