Invisibility In Claudia Rankine's American Lyric

In Claudia Rankine’s American Lyric, Citizen, Rankine enhances invisibility emotionally, physically, and socially through daily interactions.

Although invisibility is illustrated to not be physically seen is false. The woman in the subway was not harming anyone. Innocently waiting for the train to come with her son when Suddenly, “a man knocked over her son in the subway” (17). Fortunately, the son was okay, however, the audacity to push the innocent boy into the tracks is what matters. Being so fed up, the lady tries to get the man to apologize. The lady is trying to break the invisibility of herself and most importantly her son. Being black and having the woman's son thrown into the tracks is challenging to emotionally absorb. The apology is brutal because the lady is forcing the apology. It is not the apology that satisfies the women rather, the apology gives the women a taste of authority. Deep down the women continues to feel insecure because the apology was an act. …show more content…
The lady is ready to pick up her drugs and go home until “he walks in front of you and puts his things on the counter” (77). The man expects the cashier to stand up for him until he sees the lady he cut in line. The man is trying to hide his blushing face but screams “ oh my god, I didn’t see you” (78). The woman insists the man to go first. Fearing a fight, the man lets the lady go first because he fears the tension of a fight rising let alone is desperate to save his innocent reputation. The man tries even harder to release the tension of being embarrassed rather than emotionally facing what he did wrong. Like rain, “as light as the rain seems, it still rains down on you” (9). No matter how nice the man was trying to be towards the lady, the man can not erase her emotional pain. In addition, to the rain, even if a little pours on you, you can not say you did not get