Race, Identity, and Self in Two American Poems
This paper offers a comparative close reading of two American poems: Aurora Levins Morales' 1986 "Child of the Americas" and Patricia Smith's 1991 "What It's Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't)." Both poems engage with race as a lens for self-exploration rather than a fixed label of definition. The paper examines how Morales celebrates the multiplicity of her Latina, Jewish, Puerto Rican, and American identities as a creative resource, while Smith confronts the painful socialization of black girlhood in a society that defines black womanhood through negatives. Drawing on supporting scholarship and literary criticism, the paper argues that both poets use catalogued, first-person voice to instruct readers in seeing identity beyond stereotypes and categories.
- Introduction: Race as Self-Exploration: Both poems explore race as self-definition
- Morales and the Multiplicity of Latina Identity: Morales celebrates hyphenated identity as creative resource
- The Body as Site of Identity in Morales: Body harmonizes Morales' cultural complexity
- Smith and the Painful Socialization of Black Girlhood: Smith recounts childhood discomfort with black womanhood
- Black Womanhood, Beauty Standards, and Cultural Pressure: Impossible beauty standards constrain black women's identity
- Conclusion: Speaking as an Affirmative Act: Both poets reclaim voice beyond stereotype
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its comparative argument in close textual quotation from both poems, letting the poets' own language drive the analysis rather than relying on paraphrase.
- It moves fluidly between literary criticism and cultural theory, integrating supporting voices (Roberto Bolaño, Deborah Gray White, Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye) without letting them overwhelm the primary texts.
- The contrast between Morales' celebratory, affirmative tone and Smith's uncomfortable, visceral register is sustained throughout, giving the essay a clear and coherent comparative spine.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective comparative close reading: rather than treating the two poems in isolation, it uses each as a foil for the other, highlighting how shared themes — body, race, voice, sexuality — produce radically different poetic stances. This technique reveals meaning that neither poem alone would yield.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with thematic framing about race and American identity, then analyzes Morales' poem in depth before pivoting to Smith. It builds the Smith analysis around a developmental arc — from prepubescent discomfort to adult sexualization — and closes by affirming both poems as acts of self-authorizing speech. The structure mirrors the argument: multiplicity first, then constraint, then synthesis.
Introduction: Race as Self-Exploration
Both Aurora Levins Morales' 1986 poem Child of the Americas and Patricia Smith's 1991 poem What It's Like to Be a Black Girl (For Those of You Who Aren't) examine the impact of race upon the author's sense of self and identity. America is supposed to be a class-blind and race-blind society where all people are created equal. However, throughout most of American history there has been either a subtle or not-so-subtle undercurrent of racism in terms of how citizens of non-white ethnic groups have been treated. Members of historically discriminated-against groups wish to retain their heritage without losing their individuality. The struggle to be a unique person who transcends easy categorization — yet who also honors her heritage — defines both the Morales and the Smith poems.
For Morales, the struggle to craft an identity lies in the difficulty of honoring her "hyphenated" characteristics as a Latina, Jewish, Puerto Rican, and American simultaneously. For Smith, the difficulty lies in being an African-American woman in an America that defines black womanhood in terms of negatives — as something to be erased through hair straightening, or as something exotic, sexual, and primitive in a pejorative way. Both poets must create a new narrative and a new sense of voice for themselves in order to be regarded as worthy of speaking as poets. They also seek to redefine their status as fully sexual beings in positive terms.
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