Brent Staples Just Walk On By Analysis

Brent Staples’ Just Walk On By shows a skilled use of diction and personal anecdotes to convey the author’s wholesome message to the audience and to connect with his audience on a more personal level. Staples’ use of diction in Just Walk On By begins promptly, and the author chooses to make his word choice quite intricate in order to allow the audience to better visualize hardships that he, as an African American man, had to endure. He begins the story with stating “my first victim was a woman” (Staples 542). His usage of the word “victim” clearly reflects some troubled values within society that not only existed when the story was written but also very much exists in modern day. The woman he speaks of in the first sentence was not his …show more content…
It’s the experience he has in being discriminated against in daily life that makes him one the most credible sources to be writing on the topic of racism forged into society. The author also shows a wholesome understanding of the topic and makes sure to acknowledge that (not just caucasian) women are “particularly vulnerable to street violence,” but also makes sure to include the basis of his message which is that young African American males are “drastically overrepresented” among the statistics of the kind of violence described. Brent Staples uses his personal experience as an African American male walking through the city streets as a basis for his credibility, which is important for the audience to perceive about him. The author’s credibility is important because it allows the audience to truly buy into his message that racism, as something that should make people concerned about the state of society’s standards, has become alarmingly normal. The author said “I was indistinguishable from the muggers” (Staples 542) which tells the audience that his physical characteristics are quite similar to what an average caucasian American would find threatening while walking on a sidewalk at night. The author uses the credibility that he builds to his advantage. He uses it to build an unknowing personal connection with readers, where the readers think to themselves that this author truly understands and lives the topic he’s writing about, therefore, this story is very credible. The thought process that readers go through when making that connection with the author is the reason that Staples’ message is so effective and evidently a famous essay that’s used as a teaching tool in American classrooms. Staples talks about his jewelry store encounter, which was one of many mishaps involved in his daily life as a black male in America. He walked into a jewelry store