Audre Lorde

In “The Fourth of July” Audre Lorde tells her readers of her thoughts and experiences while vacationing in Washington D.C, one Fourth of July in 1947. She tells her readers that the reason they were vacationing in Washington D.C was because her older sister, whom was graduating from high school, was barred from going on her senior trip which was in Washington as well, because her class was staying in a hotel which didn’t rent rooms to colored folks. Throughout the essay Lorde shares her…

struggling with their identity; Caroline Hwang in “The Good Daughter” and Elizabeth Wong “The Struggle to Be an All-American Girl” are immigrants who are becoming accustomed to American life and discovering who they are in their new culture, while Audre Lorde’s “The Fourth of July” focuses on an African-American who must face the harsh realities of American racism. Each of these stories ultimately tells a story of the narrator becoming American or finding themselves unable to be a true…

Before the equal rights movement, there were times when people of different races and ethnic backgrounds, specifically African Americans, have been discriminated against. Audre Lorde’s “The Fourth of July” focuses on some of these discriminations. Over the past sixty years, America has come a long way in the fight for equal rights. Some might say we have come too far. Many people are so concerned with being politically correct and ensuring that discrimination against the African Americans does…

The speaker in Audre Lorde’s poem “Hanging Fire” feels alone and confused about coming of age, because she believes that her innocence is being stripped away from her with no one by her side to ease the transition. The reality of this young girl's innocence being stripped away is explained as her “skin has betrayed her.” She is now entering her teenage years, the diction of the word “skin” shows he ashamed views on herself and how hormones are on the rise and there is no one there to help her…

Robert Wesley English 1302 October 12, 2015 Hanging Fire Audre Lorde’s “Hanging Fire” is a short poem of thirty five lines of free verse, without a regular rhyme scheme or meter. The persona, a fourteen-year-old female, uses simple vocabulary, declarative sentences, and speaks directly to her audience, making readers aware of her anxieties, isolation, and loneliness. Like a typical teenager, she complains of things that seem minor to adults, but are a big deal to a fourteen year old. For…

Audre Lorde “Who said it was simple.” Quote: An almost white counterman passes a waiting brother to serve them first and the ladies neither notice nor reject the slighter pleasures of their slavery- (8-11) While Feminism remained a predominant issue in the 70’s, each ethnicity didn’t always agree on why they’re protesting. In Audre Lorde’s poem “Who said it was simple”, the theme was how two different ethnicities approached protesting for Feminist rights. The third person narrator of the poem,…

Silence and conformity is heavily rooted in Japanese culture, even more so to many stigmatized that often lead hurts more than helps. In The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action by Audre Lorde, expresses the damaging effects on how silence creates a never ending loop of fear and pain. She writes, “ If I had maintained an oath of silence my whole life long for safety, I would still have suffered, and I would still die,” (Par 16). Her experience…

Kareena Karki Mrs.Buck English 12 March 01, 2016 Speaking up “The transformation of silence into language and action” was a speech ultimately given by Audre Lorde at the lesbian and literature panel.This speech was given after she was diagnosed with cancer and Lorde became more knowledgeable of her finite amount of time on earth. This speech has inspired me to write this speech of my own because after the heartbreaking event, she clearly understood the most regretted thing in…

The essay written by Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House” is a powerful piece written to highlight the struggles faced by racial and social minorities in America. She writes from the perspective of a queer feminist and also highlights that this not only relates to feminists, but to all black women. She says that the input from black women isn’t normally requested and therefore the problems faced by blacks are not addressed. Her opinion can be closely related…

home. It’s the barrier that all women should embrace, and it the place where all women exist and could express themselves completely. Feminism is the beginning of visibility of women's self actualization. In her essay “Age, Race, Class, and Sex,” Audre Lorde mentions that “All too often, the excuse given is that the literatures of women of Color can only be taught by Colored women, or that they are too difficult to understand, or that…