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The Protagonist (“You”)
The speaker is the voice that narrates the events that take place throughout Citizen or, more ambiguously, the voice that delivers poetic ruminations about selfhood, racial identity, and virtually everything else that comes up in the book. In some ways, the speaker could be seen as Claudia Rankine herself, especially since some sections of Citizen take the form of poetry that isn’t necessarily directly tied to the protagonist’s perspective. In other moments, though, the speaker morphs into an unidentifiable presence. At times, it seems like the speaker and the unnamed protagonist (“you”) are one in the same. This, however, doesn’t remain consistent, since there are moments in which the speaker appears to address the protagonist and converse with her. In this way, the speaker’s fluid presence throughout the book accentuates Rankine’s interest in the idea of identity construction and the ways in which perspective influences a person’s sense of self.
The Speaker Quotes in Citizen: An American Lyric
The Citizen: An American Lyric quotes below are all either spoken by The Speaker or refer to The Speaker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Youngman's suggestions are meant to expose expectations for blackness as well as to underscore the difficulty inherent in any attempt by black artists to metabolize real rage. The commodified anger his video advocates rests lightly on the surface for spectacle's sake. It can be engaged or played like the race card and is tied solely to the performance of blackness and not to the emotional state of particular individuals in particular situations.
On the bridge between this sellable anger and "the artist" resides, at times, an actual anger. Youngman in his video doesn't address this type of anger: the anger built up through experience and the quotidian struggles against dehumanization every brown or black person lives simply because of skin color. This other kind of anger in time can prevent, rather than sponsor, the production of anything except loneliness.
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Chapter 5
Quotes
The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow.
Drag that first person out of the social death of history, then we're kin.
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Chapter 6
Quotes
Boys will be boys being boys feeling their capacity heaving butting heads righting their wrongs in the violence of aggravated adolescence charging forward in their way experiencing the position of positioning which is a position for only one kind of boy face it know it for the other boy for the other boys the fists the feet criminalized already are weapons already exploding the landscape and then the litigious hitting back is life imprisoned.
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Chapter 7
Quotes
Yesterday, I begin, I was waiting in the car for time to pass. A woman pulled in and started to park her car facing mine. Our eyes met and what passed passed as quickly as the look away. She backed up and parked on the other side of the lot. I could have followed her to worry my question but I had to go, I was expected on court, I grabbed my racket.
[…]
Did you win? he asks.
It wasn't a match, I say. It was a lesson.
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The Speaker Quotes in Citizen: An American Lyric
The Citizen: An American Lyric quotes below are all either spoken by The Speaker or refer to The Speaker. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 2
Quotes
Youngman's suggestions are meant to expose expectations for blackness as well as to underscore the difficulty inherent in any attempt by black artists to metabolize real rage. The commodified anger his video advocates rests lightly on the surface for spectacle's sake. It can be engaged or played like the race card and is tied solely to the performance of blackness and not to the emotional state of particular individuals in particular situations.
On the bridge between this sellable anger and "the artist" resides, at times, an actual anger. Youngman in his video doesn't address this type of anger: the anger built up through experience and the quotidian struggles against dehumanization every brown or black person lives simply because of skin color. This other kind of anger in time can prevent, rather than sponsor, the production of anything except loneliness.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5
Quotes
The past is a life sentence, a blunt instrument aimed at tomorrow.
Drag that first person out of the social death of history, then we're kin.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
Boys will be boys being boys feeling their capacity heaving butting heads righting their wrongs in the violence of aggravated adolescence charging forward in their way experiencing the position of positioning which is a position for only one kind of boy face it know it for the other boy for the other boys the fists the feet criminalized already are weapons already exploding the landscape and then the litigious hitting back is life imprisoned.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7
Quotes
Yesterday, I begin, I was waiting in the car for time to pass. A woman pulled in and started to park her car facing mine. Our eyes met and what passed passed as quickly as the look away. She backed up and parked on the other side of the lot. I could have followed her to worry my question but I had to go, I was expected on court, I grabbed my racket.
[…]
Did you win? he asks.
It wasn't a match, I say. It was a lesson.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
