Countee Cullen's Incident

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The poem Incident by Countee Cullen describes racism seen through the perspective of a child, and how racism can impact the lives of its victims. The social commentary helps portray Cullen’s claim to understand what about racism as a child can do. The time of the Harlem Renaissance depict the struggles African Americans dealt with before recognition, however, before then the issues African Americans dealt with were just everyday scenarios. In addition, Cullen proves with his poem, Incident, that the American culture can be ruthless when it came to racism. People didn’t consider nor thought before their actions portray racism. Likewise, the first encounter Cullen had with racism took place in Baltimore. The literary device, alliteration, portrays the attitude Cullen had once in Baltimore, “Heart-filled, heart-filled with glee”. (Cullen, 1925) …show more content…
Yet the more Cullen observes the city of Baltimore, Cullen then notices a man that has been glaring at him. “I saw a Baltimorean keep looking straight at me.” (Cullen, 1925) With this in mind, as a child, when you notice someone that has been constantly looking at you, you were always taught to have respect towards your elders and smile in return. Nevertheless, when returning the polite gesture, the man calls Cullen a name out of hatred, instead of addressing Cullen like he would a child in the white culture. “And so I smiled, but he poked out his tongue, and called me, Nigger”. (Cullen,
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