Citizen: million of invisible or uncomfortably visible people
Reading Rankine's Citizen made me feel uncomfortable, and triggered a sense of oppression, hostility, and anger related to the savage labeling of human beings. Our society is built around labels aimed at de-humanizing humans, erasing any trace of individuality by enhancing the apparent duality inherent in the physical.
Man/Woman, White/Black, Light/Dark, Good/Bad.
Man, white, light, good are all associated with power, either physical or spiritual. Whereas the words woman, black, dark, and bad are often associated with sin, inferiority, and danger. Labels, empty words without value that rule individual lives as if they were fundamental norms without which chaos would reign sovereign. In a vain attempt to escape the anxiety, which looked after me like a hungry animal that after days of futile chasing is finally face to face with a succulent prey, I decided to "steal a glance" at the last verses of the book.
The sunrise is slow and cloudy, dragging the light in, but barely.
Did you win? he asks.
It wasn’t a match, I say. It was a lesson (Rankine 737-739).
Dear reader, there is still a ray of hope, but barely. And no, it is not a sermon or a harangue; it is a life lesson. Suddenly, I felt relieved but only for a matter of seconds, since sliding my finger on the glass of the tablet I …show more content…
I have never known any person belonging to a mafia clan, not to my knowledge. I do eat pizza and spaghetti. I assume this makes me an Italian, although I consider my-self self a citizen of the world or better a free spirit. I feel also a connection with the author, and her style, even though I would have added a pinch of satire here and there to lessen the weight of a distressing topic. As a woman, a rebel one, born in a male-dominated society, I have been labeled, judged, and belittled eventually feeling invisible or uncomfortably visible. Unwanted.
Reading Rankine's Citizen made me feel uncomfortable, and triggered a sense of oppression, hostility, and anger related to the savage labeling of human beings. Our society is built around labels aimed at de-humanizing humans, erasing any trace of individuality by enhancing the apparent duality inherent in the physical.
Man/Woman, White/Black, Light/Dark, Good/Bad.
Man, white, light, good are all associated with power, either physical or spiritual. Whereas the words woman, black, dark, and bad are often associated with sin, inferiority, and danger. Labels, empty words without value that rule individual lives as if they were fundamental norms without which chaos would reign sovereign. In a vain attempt to escape the anxiety, which looked after me like a hungry animal that after days of futile chasing is finally face to face with a succulent prey, I decided to "steal a glance" at the last verses of the book.
The sunrise is slow and cloudy, dragging the light in, but barely.
Did you win? he asks.
It wasn’t a match, I say. It was a lesson (Rankine 737-739).
Dear reader, there is still a ray of hope, but barely. And no, it is not a sermon or a harangue; it is a life lesson. Suddenly, I felt relieved but only for a matter of seconds, since sliding my finger on the glass of the tablet I …show more content…
I have never known any person belonging to a mafia clan, not to my knowledge. I do eat pizza and spaghetti. I assume this makes me an Italian, although I consider my-self self a citizen of the world or better a free spirit. I feel also a connection with the author, and her style, even though I would have added a pinch of satire here and there to lessen the weight of a distressing topic. As a woman, a rebel one, born in a male-dominated society, I have been labeled, judged, and belittled eventually feeling invisible or uncomfortably visible. Unwanted.