What Is The Difference Between What's In A Name And Finishing School

Reading the stories “What’s in a Name” and “Finishing School” provided insight into the mistreatment of people of color during a very defining period. Prejudice has plagued cultures and civilizations since recorded history. These two stories deal with direct and indirect events experienced by the narrators. Various factors effected how the affected dealt with the demeaning situations. The two narrators in the stories had varying circumstances, yet both endured racial slurs, retaliation, and riches (or lack thereof).
One of the areas of comparison in the two stories was disrespect by the use of derogatory terms. Adam Croom noted that certain terms and words used by races (different from who the term is directed to) can leave one feeling as
In “What’s in a Name?” the narrator begged his father to correct Mr. Wilson. When his father refused, the narrator was crushed. At that moment, he decided he would never provide Mr. Wilson with the respect that he would not disperse. The narrator took the passive retaliation stance, and said,” I never again looked Mr. Wilson in the eye.” The narrator in “Finishing School” was very belligerent in her display of disgust. She came to work late, and left early. She had made up her mind that she would quit. In her last efforts to voice her discern of Mrs. Cullinan’s slurs, she found her most prized china selections and destroyed
The aforementioned statement was proven in both stories. In “What’s in a Name?” the narrator said, “my parents were treated with an odd mixture of resentment…” (Gates Jr. 6) Additionally, Mr. Wilson refused to call the father by his name, and referred to him as George. In “Finishing School” the narrator noted that her grandmother had owned the only Negro general merchandise store since the turn of the century (107) yet she could not go to a formal finishing school and was forced to work in a white woman’s