Alexis Eason

2B
Fourth of July Analysis
Within her narrative Fourth of July articulating the camouflaged realities that represent
the deceptive statures which characterized the amaurotic brightness of Washington, D.C., those
who are blind to acts of discrimination and prejudice witness a transition in which Lorde
intelligibly shifts from a girl who possesses faultless qualities of innocence to an adult who
evokes resentment towards her parents after the loss of her abstruse childhood which figuratively
highlights her dilated and vulnerable eyes (P9) to utter the veiled realisms and truths which
connote the euphemistic existence of bigotry and the ability of injustice to tear both the minds
and hearts of distinctive ethnical groups.
After Lorde first discovers that she would be visiting Washington D.C., she expresses
emotions which pertain to a combination of anticipation and nervousness. She uses several types
of illuminative diction to establish a transformation which defines the revealed actualities of
racism. The polysyndeton, I spent my afternoon squinting up at monument to free and past
presidencies and democracy, (P12) ironically expresses Lordes emotions which connote
innocence and her reconstructed perspective towards reality to justify her innocuous actions.
While the monuments of Washington D.C. were supposed to symbolize freedom, they did so
only towards a particular group of people being the reason for Lordes squinting. As a child, she
is unable to see the absoluteness of the world around her for the brightness of the sun, a
representation of reality, hurts her eyes. Her consistent squinting divulges how she is affected by
existing bias which leads to resentment because no matter how hard she tries to comprehend
practicalities of the world, she is always a step behind. In addition, the word and, which
separates the abstract language embellished throughout the quote, elongates the defamation
implied within the polysyndeton which is symbolic to societys misleading acts. In addition, the

Alexis Eason
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word and, emphasizes the ideas of freedom and democracy; however, while Lorde was blinded
by fallacies, she could not recognize that these promises of the nation did not apply to her.
Equally important, Lorde expresses displeasing tone within the quote, the waitress was
whitethe counter was white.made me sick to my stomach, (P20) an epiphora which is
established by a polysyndeton to heighten the whiteness of her surroundings and amplify the
views of the narrator. The repetition of white shows that it was the only thing she while colors
similar to her complexion were nonexistent or imperceptible. The quote implies that while the
color, symbolic of African American rights, is an unseen characteristic within society, it
possesses little to no importance. Lorde is sick to her stomach as a result of the realization; a
realization that color being inferior to white is accepted. In contrast, the white also blinds her as
its brightness causes pain to her eyes and stomach, but its helps to reveal humanitys fabrications
which Lordes parents attempted to hide from her. The white is a mere representation of the
freedom in which only whites, have. Her pain is a result of fear from society while throughout
her entire life, everyone has blinded her with believable truths. Furthermore, the white is
demonstrative of what Lorde left with after visiting D.C., catching attention to the narrators
transformation, where she is finally able to comprehend the immoral truth.
If people such as Audre Lorde did not possess the bravery to speak of racism and come to
realization that it was an important issue of society, the world would still be in a stage of
immoral injustice and mistreatment. One would be blessed to experience the freedoms of
equality and democracy for if these were nonexistent, we a war between races in America would
remain unfinished. Acts of courage are needed within society to address the existing conflict and
make change to wrongdoings.

Alexis Eason
2B