While reading "Citizen," many of Rankine's lines have stood out to me. Her short stories and accounts of the many microaggressions she and others like her face serve to paint an ugly, accurate portrait of the realities of American antiblack racism. However, one particular line stood out to me: "The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow" (72).
I was greatly impressed by the line on its own. Her language is honest and violent, suggesting that the past is inherently weaponized and detrimental to the future. Taken within the context of the passage--the beginning of section V--it is even more profound. The two pages before this quote references the meaning of pronouns. Rankine writes, "Sometimes 'I' is supposed to hold what is not there until it is. Then what is comes apart the closer you are to it. This makes the first person a symbol for something. The pronoun barely holding the person together ... You said 'I' has so much power; it's insane" (71). I know that my understanding of poetry is often very limited, and I can't tell Rankine's exact intent with this section. However, I gather that her conception of the pronoun "I" is that it solidifies and humanizes a person that might feel disjointed or degraded as a complete, unified entity. This is powerful because it allows the speaker to see themself as a subject in their own lives. The idea of the past being a 'life sentence' then seems to reference grammar - facing oppression and internalized hatred in one's past makes it hard to place oneself as a complete subject in the 'sentence' of their experiences.
Additionally, life sentence has a clear connection to imprisonment, and the idea of its being a blunt instrument is consistent with the disproportionately harsh and lasting effects of racism and incarceration on one's present and future. Rankine is masterful at using multidimensional language to convey many different aspects of oppression.
Your analysis of this part of the novel is really interesting. When I read this I was also struck by the line about yesterday being a blunt weapon aimed at tomorrow, but the context was confusing. You explain it well, and I think you bring up a good point about "I" being a humanizing word.
ReplyDeleteI like how you interpreted the poetry in this section. It is sometimes difficult to see connections and understand the story as a whole in Citizen. However, this idea of humanizing, and dehumanizing, really draws it together, and it is a motif that can be seen throughout the book, such as the one picture of a black person's face on a deer and the corresponding story.
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