Audre Lorde was a twentieth century feminist, civil rights activist, poet and author who provided voice to those oppressed due to their identity in American culture. Lorde was born in 1934 and throughout her lifetime she lived through some of the greatest social movements The United States of America has ever seen including: The Civil Rights Movement and The Women’s Liberation Movement. However, with this, Lorde also lived in a time of social and civil injustice and all of this seemingly sparked reason for her activism. In return, she wrote many pieces of literature including books, essays and poems that provided recognition for social injustice. In her essay, “Age, Race, Class, and Sex; Women Redefining Difference," written in 1984, Lorde describes how in American society there is a juxtaposition between what is seen as good and bad. She describes that any person who doesn’t fall in the category of being a wealthy, light-skinned, heterosexual male is seen as subordinate. Lorde utilizes strategic punctuation, diction, syntax and
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Lorde states that for some “oppression is as american as apple pie” (Lorde 114). By comparing something that is so well-known, comforting and ingrained in American society as apple pie is, Lorde is pressing how common oppression is. Furthermore, Lorde is pulling at how harsh oppression and social and civil injustice was at this time. To further this claim, Lorde utilizes an alliteration to dial in on the heart of the simile, “as american as apple pie” (Lorde 114). The repetition of the “a” sound like the use of the punctuation as seen before, exerts energy from the audience which in return relates their exhaustion to the feeling of being oppressed. Lastly, Lorde seemingly keeps the a in American uncapitalized to discount American society at this time for oppressing certain
Lorde states that for some “oppression is as american as apple pie” (Lorde 114). By comparing something that is so well-known, comforting and ingrained in American society as apple pie is, Lorde is pressing how common oppression is. Furthermore, Lorde is pulling at how harsh oppression and social and civil injustice was at this time. To further this claim, Lorde utilizes an alliteration to dial in on the heart of the simile, “as american as apple pie” (Lorde 114). The repetition of the “a” sound like the use of the punctuation as seen before, exerts energy from the audience which in return relates their exhaustion to the feeling of being oppressed. Lastly, Lorde seemingly keeps the a in American uncapitalized to discount American society at this time for oppressing certain