The Power Of The Spoken Word Essays - English Words, Profanity

The Power Of The Spoken Word Allen Huggins The Power of the Spoken Word Words themselves are innocuous; it is the consensus that gives them true power (Naylor, 344). The consensus governs our society because of the power it holds. The understanding of the spoken word, especially derogatory terms, shapes our world because of the power these vile words hold in balancing or tilting race relations. The American Heritage College Dictionary defines power as political, social, or economic control (1072). White America has social control over the consensus, but in Mommy What Does 'Nigger' Mean? Gloria Naylor shows that African-American minorities can reclaim the power of the consensus and give new, equal meanings to words that have plagued African Americans for ages. Gloria Naylor uses a young boy in her third-grade class as an example of white America's social control over the consensus. In her third-grade class she recalls the young white boy getting a lower score on a math test and her rubbing it in. Upon hearing her mockery, he spit out that word (344). He had learned the word nigger as a mode of humiliation, probably from his parents, showing how white America views the meaning of the word nigger. As our country's majority, white America has the most influence on such hateful terms that drastically tilt the racial balance. Such influence over the consensus exemplifies the statement language is power because of the malicious manner in which the word nigger is used. One small word gave a third-grade boy a sense of power over Naylor that she had never experienced. The impact of such words occurs daily because America regards the derogatory use of the word nigger as a singular definition of the word, ceasing to acknowledge a positive meaning. As an example of a more positive meaning of the word nigger, Naylor introduces her southern, black family and its use of such controversial words. Naylor's family is an example of a minority group retaking the power of the consensus. Instead of using nigger as a term of humiliation, her family uses the word as a term of distinction. Naylor vividly recalls one family member saying, I'm telling you, that nigger pulled in $6,000 of overtime last year referring to a man who had distinguished himself in some situation that brought [her family's] approval for his strength, intelligence, or drive (345). These men and women have reduced such a powerful term in white America to a minute expression of praise in their vocabulary. Naylor explains how the people in [her] grandmother's living room took a word that whites used to signify worthlessness or degradation and rendered it impotent (346). This impotency also illustrates the language is power motif. The family has gained a certain power because they have used a word that has slandered African Americans for years and left it powerless in their views. Degrading words can have a profound impact if they are allowed to infect a person, but the true power comes from a person that can withstand such remarks and render them worthless. Although Naylor is able to show a minority retaking the power of the consensus, the fact remains that racial relations in our society are vastly separated because of the majority's consensus and the power it allows the majority to claim. Naylor states, If the word [nigger] was to totally disappear from the mouths of even the most liberal of white society, no one in that room was na?ve enough to believe it would disappear from white minds (346). White America needs to realize that harmful words can only hurt our country and detract from its potential. Equality would create endless avenues our country could travel, yet without it, our country will only be able to go so far. Bibliography Costello, Robert B. ed. The American Heritage College Dictionary. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 1072. Naylor, Gloria. Mommy, What Does 'Nigger' Mean? New Worlds of Literature. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1994. 344-47.

Anton Chekhov Essays - Anton Chekhov, Dramaturges, Modernism

Anton Chekhov Essays - Anton Chekhov, Dramaturges, Modernism Anton Chekhov Anton Chekhov Life and Influences Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860 in Taganrog, Russia, the third of six children. His father, Pavel, was a grocer and his mother, Yevgeniya, was the daughter of a cloth merchant. In1875 Pavel's business failed and, threatened with imprisonment, he fled to Moscow. Yevgeniya remained behind with Anton and his younger siblings, but soon lost the house to a local bureaucrat. At this point, she joined Pavel in Moscow taking all the children, with the exception of Anton whom she left behind to attend school and support himself. After completing his early studies, Anton received a scholarship to study medicine at the Moscow University and at this point reunited with his family. During this time, the family continued to be plagued by financial hardship. In an effort to help support them, Anton began to write humorous short stories for comic magazine. As time went by, Chekhov developed a love of writing, preferring this to the practice of medicine, and devoted himself to his craft. After 1880, his work shifted toward more serious subject matter and is filled with realistic views of the suffering of the poor, no doubt in memory of the struggles his own family had endured. Comments and Concepts An Upheaval is classified as a short story, but does not follow the traditional short story structure as defined by Freytag's Triangle. The story begins in medias res as Mashenka enters a household already in turmoil. Rather than at the beginning, the exposition takes place throughout the story as Mashenka's thoughts and actions reveal her background and place within the household. At the end of the story, the reader is left without resolution. This abrupt end to the action without an resolving the conflict is known as a zero ending. The story An Upheaval is a slice-of-life narrative. Chekhov offers a dispassionate observation of life within an upper-class household. There is no deep psychological profiles within the story; all the characters are merely stereotypes. The view is naturalistic, with the socioeconomic background of the characters influencing their every action. The lady of the house believes she is well within her rights to search her servant's quarters when her brooch has gone missing. When Mashenka is upset by the search, the maidservant Liza reminds her somewhat delicately of her place by stating still you are as it were a servant. An Upheaval displays a rite of passage. At the beginning of the story, Mashenka is a simplistic child. She believes herself to be more than a mere servant within the household. Mashenka feels personally violated when she discovers a search of her room has been made without her knowledge. Mashenka leaps into adulthood when she realizes that although she is hired help and is, therefore, in a lesser position she is still a person within her own right. Rather than allow them to violate her sense of personal integrity, Mashenka decides to leave. Key Quotations Mashenka went into her room, and then, for the first time in her life, it was her lot to experience in all its acuteness the feeling that is so familiar to persons in dependent positions, who eat the bread of the rich and powerful, and cannot speak their minds. Mashenka begins to recognize her place within the household and within society. She acknowledges that her life is controlled by others. Though you are a young lady, still you areas it werea servant Liza forces Mashenka to acknowledge that she is a servant like the rest of them, nothing more. I don't say she took the brooch, but can you answer for her? To tell the truth, I haven't much confidence in these learned paupers. The lady of the house removes all humanity from her servants. They are nothing more to her than beasts of burden. Forgive me, Nikolay Sergeitch, but I cannot remain in your house. I feel deeply insulted by this search! Mashenka reveals her new sense of self and personal integrity. Half an hour later she was on her way. The story ends without any true sense of closure. Relation to Current Culture Today a search without permission or warrant is a criminal offense. Even as a hired servant living within someone else's household, a person is entitled to his own personal space and privacy.