Question

A) What is Naylor's purpose in writing "The Meaning of a Word"?

Explain with concrete examples from her essay cited with correct MLA8 in-text citation formatting.

B) Who is Naylor's target audience?

Explain with concrete examples from her essay cited with correct MLA8 in-text citation formatting.

Clearly label your answers A and B.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary. Also, I have used the term “the N-word” in certain places. Although you may change the word as the author explicitly uses it in the essay.

(Answer) (A) Gloria Naylor uses this essay to talk about the facets of perspective and how a small change in these facets can have a completely different result. Naylor uses the “N-word” as an analogy. She talks about how it is not really a mean word, based on its origin and meaning. However, it has come to mean something very derogatory because how spitefully and derisively it has been used to address the especially the African-Americans. The tiny changes in who uses the word, how it is used, different implications and other tones have caused the word to be seen from a whole different perspective in contemporary times.

(B) Naylor targets those individuals who know the “N-word” and have used it. As a child, Naylor’s mother explained the meaning of the word to her and the connotations. Naylor similarly tries to explain the implications of the word from an etymological point of view and what it has come to mean. Furthermore, she tries to explain the different impacts the word has caused over the years. To those who have used the word, she tries to explain how she subjectively and even objectively feels about it.