Black Men And Public Space By Brent Staples Essay
In “Black Men and Public Space” Brent Staples utilizes anecdotes or stories as a literary technique to convey by prejudice affected him in his career and as a person in his everyday life. Early on in his anecdote, he sets the scene and utilizes descriptive language to evokes a feeling or nervousness and uncertainty from the reader. However, he also creates a situation where the reader feels compassion for him. It is evident that women and men pre-judged him based on his race. Although not everyone can feel sympathetic towards him, the reader should definitely feel compassionate. Staples decides to start the second paragraph out by telling the reader how he is a well educated man. The reason that he does this is to convey how he is a respectable man. At a young age he realized that he had
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“the ability to alter public spaces in the ugly ways.” Although this is unfortunate, he has a good head on his shoulders. It is obvious that he knows how to handle situations where he is prejudiced against. He describes himself as “calm and extremely congenial” which only illustrates how balanced he is. One might tend to react negatively towards a situation like this. Honestly, it would be understandable. By writing in the first person and using an omniscience point of view, the mood is set early on. The reader can tell the atmosphere almost immediately. “I often see women who fear the worst from me. They seem to have set their face on neutral, and with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled.”
This powerful story only evokes emotion from the reader.
The vivid descriptions and connotative meanings are such efficient examples are effective literary techniques. The imagery alone illustrates his anecdotes perfectly. “Virtually everybody seems to sense that a mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It is my equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.”
He wants to stand out, and wants to show the world that he is human like everyone else. It can be inferred that he learns mutiple lessons about human nature throughout all of his stories. It is an effective literary technique, because he can illustrate and convey everything exactly how he wants it to come across. The readers can also learn from Staples anecdotes. The resolution that Staples has come to is that he would be prejudiced throughout life, and it was something that he would have to accept. Although, people should be ashamed of prejudice, everyone does judge others on a daily basis whether or not it is based on race. It is an unfortunate situation to be in; however, since a lesson can be learned it might have been
beneficial.
“the ability to alter public spaces in the ugly ways.” Although this is unfortunate, he has a good head on his shoulders. It is obvious that he knows how to handle situations where he is prejudiced against. He describes himself as “calm and extremely congenial” which only illustrates how balanced he is. One might tend to react negatively towards a situation like this. Honestly, it would be understandable. By writing in the first person and using an omniscience point of view, the mood is set early on. The reader can tell the atmosphere almost immediately. “I often see women who fear the worst from me. They seem to have set their face on neutral, and with their purse straps strung across their chests bandolier-style, they forge ahead as though bracing themselves against being tackled.”
This powerful story only evokes emotion from the reader.
The vivid descriptions and connotative meanings are such efficient examples are effective literary techniques. The imagery alone illustrates his anecdotes perfectly. “Virtually everybody seems to sense that a mugger wouldn’t be warbling bright, sunny selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. It is my equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear when they know they are in bear country.”
He wants to stand out, and wants to show the world that he is human like everyone else. It can be inferred that he learns mutiple lessons about human nature throughout all of his stories. It is an effective literary technique, because he can illustrate and convey everything exactly how he wants it to come across. The readers can also learn from Staples anecdotes. The resolution that Staples has come to is that he would be prejudiced throughout life, and it was something that he would have to accept. Although, people should be ashamed of prejudice, everyone does judge others on a daily basis whether or not it is based on race. It is an unfortunate situation to be in; however, since a lesson can be learned it might have been
beneficial.