The Prison We Call Home Analysis

In the article “The Prison We Call Home,” author Siobhan Brooks uses many of her personal experiences to relay her story. While Brooks’s experiences draw in readers and creates an image of what is happening in society, she fails to provide statistical evidence to prove to the readers her claim. Since she is using a large amount of pathos she is lacking in ethos, which hinders her case of proving to the world the racial divide. Brooks experiences are very significant and range from a large number of problems and people against her such as; many people not knowing many black people, feeling isolated from society, being watched by parents as she is in her friend's house, and finally by being scared of her neighbors. In one particular situation Brooks states that there was a “Black man running from unit to unit in sunnydale breaking windows. He had been stabbed and wanted someone to call for help,” (Brooks 34) she proves by writing about this situation that as a black person living in the projects not many people are trusted or willing to help others. Now if this scenario were to happen in a white neighborhood that someone would have helped this man and not think twice about it, showing that there are two completely different worlds. …show more content…
In today's society we can see that there is not as big of a racial divide as there was many years ago. Today we see many people of all races living in the same places and in the same social classes; however, there are still places similar to the projects like the one Brooks grew up in, although they are consisted of both blacks and whites now. If Brooks would have used ethos to help prove to the readers the significance of the racial divide her writing would have been more credible and would prove to the readers the hardships that the blacks, like herself,