Through the Eyes of a Child free essay sample

Through the Eyes of a Child Why are some people judgmental towards others? Whether we judge on race, gender, or something as simple as age, judging not only causes anguish but can leave emotional scars people never recover from. Racism is one of the most common of judgmental forms still seen today in our society. Although today we do not find racism as prominent as back in the 1920s and 1930s. When reading the story â€Å"The Angel of the Candy Counter† written by Maya Angelou, we can see the damage of racism from a child’s view, and how she dealt with the experience in order to successfully allow us to understand the negative power of racism. As a result of Angelou incorporating strategies such as ethos, pathos, shocking words, and even fantasies to bring out intense emotions she is able to connect with her audience. Clearly Angelou writes as if she is speaking to a wide range of audience. She immediately opens telling a story of a child feeling as though she is being punished with a toothache: â€Å"The Angel of the Candy Counter had found me at last, and was exacting excruciating penance for all the stolen Milky Ways, Mounds, Mr. Goodbars and Hersheys with Almonds† (146). Angelou later states, â€Å"It seems terribly unfair to have a toothache and a headache and have to bear at the same time the heavy burden of Blackness† (147). With these two statements we can conclude she is focusing on children and people of color, for both are able to establish a common ground with what they are reading. On the other hand, she emphasizes the racism being portrayed by white people, and with this we can conclude she is trying to show how acts of racism affect others hoping to open the eyes of her white audience to the problem. Although, because of the wide range of audience that will be reading her story, especially her white audience, Angelou may need to remember if she is not careful with her wording, she may alienate or anger her readers in the wrong way which may defeat her objective. The direct purpose of â€Å"The Angel of the Candy Counter† is to allow Angelou, within a story setting, to pull on our heart strings, ruffle up our feathers so to speak, or even anger us in order to give an insight of how demeaning and belittling racism is. Angelou shows us how transforming reality into fantasy enables her to deal with the rejection of the white dentist. She shows satisfaction in fantasizing how her grandmother stood up against the dentists instead of allowing him the right to turn his back on them. Angelou’s fantasy describes how her grandmother â€Å"walked in that room as if she owned it† (148), and proceeded to tell the dentist how he would leave town and never practice dentistry again. This would be justice given to what Angelou calls â€Å"the evil white man† (149). At one point or another we ourselves may have found the use of escaping into fantasy in order to deal with our pains. The way Angelou uses fantasy enables us to connect with her and creates a common ground. Angelou’s purpose of ethos is to further establish a common ground between herself and her readers, for example, â€Å"Annie, you know I don’t treat nigra, colored people† (148). Using this rhetorical strategy, Angelou gives her audience the sense of alienation and humiliation she felt, her experience with the dentist, and his acts of racism. This is important because of the broad range of audience she is speaking to. She relies basically on the hope we at one time or another have experienced some form of alienation or humiliation in our lives. This forms a common ground relationship, helps establish creditability of her knowledge of knowing her audiences own experiences, and aids in creating a mutual trust between her audience and herself. The use of pathos allows Angelou to successfully evoke an emotional response in her audience, whether she creates anger, pity, the feeling of injustice, or down-right disgrace she wants to draw us closer to the feelings of her own inferiority as a young black child. Angelou notes, â€Å"If one was dying, it had to be done in style if the dying took place in whitefolks’ part of town† (147). Angelou uses this rhetoric, conveying to us how a black person must present themselves in the presence of a white person. Another way Angelou describes her feelings of inferiority, among white people, is in the way she details how pleasant the white people’s side of town is such as, â€Å"The gravel road was smoother, the stones smaller and the tree branches hung down around the path and nearly covered us† (147). While reading these statements Angelou’s adult audience for example, more so then others, may feel angered by the realization of a young child being forced to feel unimportant and unworthy. She can use the symbol of a child, knowing adults tend to shield children from feelings of grief. In doing so, she has made a connection with her adult audience by stirring them up emotionally in a protection mode. Angelou is able to use this connection as an aid in accomplishing her reason for writing. In using shocking language throughout her story, Angelou gives her audience a chance to feel her pain in a more meaningful manner for example, â€Å"Annie, my policy is I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than a nigger’s† (148). Using these strong words enables Angelou to show how the most painful of toothaches cannot compare to the burden of being black. These words are purposely intended to provoke anger and a sense of disbelief so as to once again connect with Angelou on a deeper level. Angelou wants her audience to acknowledge the pain she feels and more so acknowledge how vicious racism is. At this point, we may now be asking ourselves, why are some people judgmental towards others? This is a question with no easy or definite answer. We can only speculate that maybe it is some form of inferiority complex which makes them feel they need to belittle others to enhance their own feelings of superiority. Although, our society however has managed to lessen the blows of racism by our growth of acceptance towards each other, there are those who still have far to go.