Citizen: American Lyric by Claudia Rankine | Teen Ink

Citizen: American Lyric by Claudia Rankine

December 24, 2016
By Gabrielle Smith SILVER, Washington, District Of Columbia
Gabrielle Smith SILVER, Washington, District Of Columbia
5 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric is a book highlighting the racial issues of all races but also highlights previous police brutality cases of African Americans. Over the course of the book, Rankine gives insights both women and men lives in America and speaks people living all over the world. This book has no characters, but the speaker relays the message of racial identity problems. Rankine writes scenarios about prejudice encounters with victims of a white supremacist world. She moments of her life when she was racially profiled. One of her examples were about the World Tennis Champion Serena Williams. In 2004, Williams’ tennis opponent talked about her thick figure which made a big controversy about how different women are shaped. She mentioned the past victims of police brutality consisting of Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, and others. I liked how she decided more than one page to the many victims of police brutality. Her dedication page showed she was not ignoring their existence. The first literary device Rankine used was euphemism when describing the descriptions of the “guy” that fits the description. The second literary device Rankine used was metaphors when comparing the treatment of African Americans that are treated bad to the moments in slavery. The language use of these two literary devices helps the reader understand how society works. From reading this book, I learned that a person’s racial identity is important, and whether or not society appreciates it, make sure to stand up for your own identity.


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