Comparative Analysis Paper

A common structure we seek to dismantle in life as in many pieces of literature demonstrate is the concept of society as a whole, a concept that rules over us and soon becomes us when we decide to follow its teachings. The poetic novel Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine discusses the extensive lengths of institutionalized racism in America and how it is perpetuated by society on a daily basis. Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera also shares the recurring theme of racism in America and how as a society it allows free reign to be racist to immigrants. While in Excess— The factory by Leslie Kaplan it holds its recurring theme of being displeased in a society but it also speaks on a different objective and that being a capitalist society that only seeks profit with no compensation for its people. Though these texts all face a common enemy each text upholds their ideas through different tones which translate in their usage of words and how cohesively they create a continuing mood. 

All three texts share a similar anguish of sorts in regards to society and the discomfort of living in it when its concern isn’t humanity in itself. In Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera we are presented with Makina, a woman traveling to America to seek out her brother who gets into an altercation with a cop on arrival. “You think you can just come here and put your feet up without earning it, said the cop. Well I got news for you: patriots like me are on the lookout and we’re going to teach you some manners” (Herrera, 150). A cop stops a couple of mexican men along with Makina and he commences to torment them and taunt them. Self and the other is so visible in the line drawn between the cop and the lineup of mexican men and Makina. The cop representing America the other and Makina and the men being the isolated marginalized group whose sense of self only matters then in that moment. Their sense of self is substantial only in population, they seem to only matter when put against the “standard”  group that is favored which is the privileged stereotypical white person of America. “I told you to write, not look at me, you piece of shit. Keep your eyes on the paper and write why you think you’re up the creek, why you think your ass is in the hands of this patriotic officer” (Herrera, 151-152). The cop racially profiled them all and assumed they were below him because they didn’t know english but Makina steps in and surprises the cop when she is able to write in english. The cops superiority clearly comes from a racist view of upholding white people to a higher standard than other people. 

In Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine it also combats the issues of racism in a society that loudly endorses it through its racial aggressions. It fights the internal battle of existing and that alone waging a war between themselves and the other being society who constantly tears them down. Rankine’s novel offers insight to the reality of being a minority and coexisting in a community built on seeking the comfortability of everyone but them. “When the door finally opens, the woman standing there yells, at the top of her lungs, Get away from my house! What are you doing in my yard?” (Rankine, 32). The narrator has kept an active relationship with her new therapist through the phone, the relationship derails when meeting in person since the therapist is incapable of drawing anything but racist assumptions. The therapists switch in persona once met with the realization that her patient is a person of color is instantaneous the depiction of her prejudice against them. “On your way home your phone rings. Your neighbor tells you he is standing at his window watching a menacing black guy casing both your homes” (Rankine, 27). Turns out the narrator’s friend was just talking on the phone because he was babysitting for her, it holds a racist connotation due to the neighbors correlating being black to being inherently violent without provocation. All these racist stigmas are perpetrated by society and infiltrated into it and it influences people to be inherently racist as a normality or way of life.

Excess— The factory by Leslie Kaplan shines light on the extremely bad conditions of working in a factory where your self of identity is stripped away until you are just a working machine. You exist for the other that being a profitable capitalist society and your sense of self deteriorates the longer you spend confined to a life overcome by work. “The room is a room. You pay rent. You live, you die, each instant” (Kaplan, 41). It sums up the meaning of their life, the way of their life and how clearly miserable the people at the factory find it but feel as though it’s inevitable for them.The passage indulges us in the reality of having no splendors to life, the factory is solely working and living off only the bare necessities.  “You are in the factory, you go on. You unfold, you advance. You move your thoughts a little” (kaplan, 27). The usage of you is very strategic and aids the reader in understanding how much of an influence the factory is, it has a sense of doing this and not questioning it. The narrator has developed this sense of selflessness to the job where her needs aren’t even in question. It’s primarily the job before the individual and you only progress more violently into this cycle and you disregard yourself completely to the point of no return. The factory which represents society symbolically has a grasp on the life of its employees. They seek profit only for them and off them, profit outside work doesn’t exist.

All three texts are very commonly aligned in their resentment toward society and its deplorable standards and expectations but they are singularly different in their motives and emotional depiction when discussing the issues. Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine criticizes society for its racism and makes people understand the pain of being black in a predominately white society. In Signs Preceding the End of the World it channels the problem of racism as well but now in the perspective of immigrants coming to America and how dehumanized they are. In Excess— the Factory by Leslie Kaplan it criticizes a capitalist society on its ideals and ways of life for its citizens. We yet again see the negative effects of society and how we are almost forever indebted to it. They follow a common theme but a difference between the three would have to be in the tone of the work and how the message is brought across. In Excess— the Factory the tone was very dull and lifeless as the writing held depressing undertones as it was probably intended that way to make the reader feel the environment that the factory exhibited. The tone in this particular text was necessary to the plot since the factory was a negative influence on the narrator and it was intended to demonstrate where all the bad was coming from. The same as in Citizen: An American Lyric the tone was eerie and held a lot of shock value in the sense of how easily you can partake in a tone deaf racist conversation and how easy racist comments are dropped. It  held a depressing tone as there was grief and sadness behind every experience. It is meant to come across kind of cold and devoid of emotions as every experience was dehumanizing when you base the treatment of a person on the color of their skin alone. The significant difference between the three texts had to do with Signs Preceding the End of the World as it was a story full of hardships and yet still told in an uplifting manner. It was a hard experience for many, such as migrating to a different country and telling it in an empowering way by the characters nonchalant to it all. This book was very in itself  because the author managed to make the characters’ voices truly heard and so make their experience very unique. The huge contrast from a grief stricken perspective from the other books to this very positive change in tone given their situation was refreshing and individualized it all. As well as allowing the reader this new perspective and way of seeing such a journey as well as how the character handled the prejudice with strength and never backing down.

Together all the works share in common the weight of society on its people and how distinct everyone’s experience under it may be. The common theme of racism and a society that hinders its people by its unjustified standards and expectations. However they all connect to this idea of the self which they grapple with within themselves. As well as the constant bickering of their self identity and discovery at the hands of the other which only tears them apart and dictates them. The other being society and its culture and how it can  infiltrate every aspect of your being and how it affects your existence alone. Each text comes together to fit a separate aspect of the dilemma of existing in a society and its many problems and yet find a way to shine light on many different undermined parts in society as well.