How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neale Hurston (1928)

Zora Neale Hurston, author of How It Feels to Be Colored Me, grew up in an all-Black community in Florida. In her early adulthood she quickly became a member of the Harlem Renaissance and won a scholarship to Barnard College, where she was the first Black woman to attend. Hurston wrote many award-winning novels and inspired other novels through her research. In her essay How It Feels to Be Colored Me, she explores her self identity with the purpose of convincing society that no matter what color skin someone has, we are all filled with the same “priceless and worthless” (Hurston 117) things.

Hurston shares anecdotes in which she feels she “[has] no race” (Hurston 117) and instances in which her “color comes” (Hurston 116). She explains that in her childhood, “white people differed from colored…only in that they rode through town and never lived there” (Hurston 115) but when she moved to a different school, she could feel her color; although, she was “not tragically colored…[she did] not mind at all” (Hurston 115). Her use of imagery when describing her experiences successfully attributes to the reader’s understanding of her message that skin does not matter. This attitude of hers is addressed once again at the end of the essay with her analogy of people to paper bags against a wall. She says that other bags are “white, red and yellow” and if one were to “pour out the contents,” they would discover “a jumble of small things priceless and worthless” (Hurston 117). She then exclaims that if all the paper bags were to be emptied of their contents, they could all be “refilled without altering the content of any greatly” (Hurston 117). This metaphorical analogy successfully presents Hurston’s argument that we are all generally the same inside. Hurston’s use of imagery, metaphors and analogies successfully communicate her message that people consist of the same things inside of them, regardless of how they look on the outside.

We are made up of "priceless and worthless" (Hurston 117) things.
https://academysuccess.com/opportunity-cost-of-stuff/

Bop By Langston Hughes (1949)

Langston Hughes, the author of Bop, was the first African American writer to have an international literary reputation. After abandoning Columbia University where he studied engineering, and leaving the merchant marines, Hughes helped to initiate the Harlem Renaissance with his two revolutionary books of poetry. Written in the time leading up to the Civil Rights Movement, Hughes’ essay Bop addresses society and sheds light on the obvious inequality between Blacks and Whites. This narrative-style essay conveys his argument – that Blacks are treated as inferior – through conversation with the witty character named Simple.

            The narration begins with the narrator walking past Simple. Simple starts a conversation with the narrator who declares that Bop music is “nonsense” (Hughes 190). Simple convinces the narrator that race “is in everything” (Hughes 190) and that “Be-Bop [music] is the real thing like the colored boys play” (Hughes 190). Hughes indirectly addresses and challenges society’s viewpoint as he highlights the mistreatment of Black people through Simple’s interpretation of Bop music. Simple says that Bop music is for people who “have seen dark days” (Hughes 191) because it originates “From the police beating Negroes’ heads” (Hughes 191). Simple’s hyperbolic statements about the origin of Bop music effectively asserts Hughes’ message about the inferior treatment of Blacks. Hughes’ characterization of Simple in this essay serves as a powerful tool in his successful portrayal of the unequal treatment of Black people. Simple rants that he may be stopped “because [he] is a black man in a white neighborhood” and “a cop is liable to grab me almost any time and beat my head – just for being colored” (Hughes 191). In this way, Hughes highlights the extent of the mistreatment of Blacks. In addition to this, Hughes’ use of colloquialisms in Simple’s speech allows for readers to connect and understand the message of the essay in a way that they would not be able to if it was written more formally. Hughes’ use of rhetorical strategies such as hyperboles, colloquialisms and narrative-style writing are effective in communicating his message that Blacks are treated as inferior to White people.

Do you know what Be-Bop music is?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/14/what-if-jazz-giant-john-coltrane-had-lived.html

Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood by Richard Rodriguez (1980)

Richard Rodriguez, a highly educated writer, received his Bachelors Degree in English at Stanford; Masters Degree in Philosophy at Columbia; a Graduate Degree in English Renaissance Literature at University of California, Berkeley; he completed even more research on a Fulbright Fellowship at the Warburg Institute in London. In his essay Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Rodriguez further establishes his credibility by sharing his personal experiences. In this essay Rodriguez presents his argument that Bilingual Education assists in the public alienation of ethnic Americans. He achieves his purpose of making a convincing argument to challenge supporters of Bilingual Education about the importance of ethnic assimilation in a public educational setting.

Rodriguez was born into a Spanish-speaking family living in Sacramento, California. He explains that for approximately the first seven years of his life, he could barely string words together to form a sentence in English; therefore, he regarded native-English speakers with fear and only felt happiness within the confines of his own Spanish-speaking home. When his teachers suggested to his parents that they begin to speak only English at home, Rodriguez originally felt as if his home had lost all its “intimacy.” However, as he began to become more and more comfortable speaking English in public, he was able to establish his public identity as well as develop private sense of self. By sharing anecdotes from his childhood, Rodriguez successfully presents his argument that if he hadn’t been forced to learn in English, he never would have escaped from the public alienation he felt.

Rodriguez poses many rhetorical questions to underscore his position against Bilingual Education. His fluid use of imagery and metaphors establish pathos and effectively communicate his struggle and eventual success because of the cultural assimilation forced upon him at school. Throughout the essay, Rodriguez continually addresses the counter-argument and then discusses his own experiences in a successful juxtaposition. This strategy succeeds in negating the opposing view that supports Bilingual Education. Overall, Rodriguez’ use of figurative language, comparisons and pathos contributes to his successful argument against Bilingual Education.

"It is not possible for a child, any child, ever to use his family's language in school." (Rodriguez 448).
http://www.nippon.com/en/tag/classroom-breakdown/