Humiliation By Toi Derricotte Analysis

In this reading the three tools that stuck out to me were, “Switching tenses,” “Inflexible insistence on the rules,” and “Humiliation” (Heinrichs 180). In her essay, Toi Derricotte describes, what one can consider to be, a miserable childhood in which she received very little love from either of her parents. She describes not having much interaction with her mother, and longing for the approval from her father. It is in the relationship with her father that the reader can identify the three tools by Heinrichs listed above.
The first tool I noticed was “Switching tenses” (Heinrichs 180). Derricotte describes her father asking this question several times, “Who do you think you are?” (45). Here her father uses the present tense to force her into
staying a “nobody.” He does not ask her “Who will you be?” but rather, “who do you think you are?” causing her to have no authority and remain in her status of nothing (Derricotte 45). He uses this rhetoric to maintain his power and persuade his daughter into believing that she can be nothing more than an object under his control.
The second tool I noticed was “Inflexible insistence on the rules” (Heinrichs 180).
Several times in this essay the reader sees Derricotte’s father take on the role of God. For example, Derricotte writes, “He was the ruler of my body. I had to learn that. He had to be deep in me, deeper than instinct, like the commander of a submarine during times of war” (44). Derricotte’s father had beaten Derricotte down, both physically and mentally, to the point at which she was persuaded that he was an all-powerful being. He gave her only one option, that he was all knowing, and what he said goes. Thus, Derricotte was convinced that her father was right and she had to do whatever he said.
The last tool I saw was “humiliation” (Heinrichs 180). This tool is seen when Derricotte describes how her father beat her when her cousin came to visit. Derricotte describes, “he’d pull me by my arm and close the kitchen door, which had glass panes so that my cousin could see” (55). In this situation, Derricotte’s father wanted her cousin to see Derricotte’s beating. He wanted to humiliate his daughter to further instill the fact that he is “god.” This tool also gives Derricotte no other choice and she is forced to sub come to her father’s
will.
This esaay is a great example of all the fallacies given by Heinrichs. However, it is unfortunate to see these fallacies in such a cruel context. I wish that Derricotte could have had better recognition of the fallacies presented by her father and prevent some of the misery she experienced.