Close Reading #3

In the short excerpt, “In The Imagination”, Eula Biss uses multiple perspectives to examine different sides racial inequality. In the first half of the piece she focuses on her cousin’s experience as a white person in South Africa. Biss quotes her cousin when she says, “‘I realized this is what white people do to each other—they cultivate each other’s fear. It’s very violent’” (43). By implementing an outside quote like this that uses short simple language, the author is able to be clear with their point. This being that white people create their own fear among themselves when it comes to racial inequality. Throughout this paragraph the author writes about her cousin’s perspective. Constantly saying “her” and “she”, establishing one clear side of the issue. In the next paragraph, Biss switches voice to talk about her own life and the things that her and her husband notice. Here she repeatedly uses the word “we”. This furthering the relationship between the audience and the author. By stating thoughts such as “We know that white folks have reaped some ill-gotten gains in this country. And so, privately, quietly, as a result of our own complicated guilt, we believe that we deserve to be hated, to be hurt, and to be killed” (43) Biss engages the audience and makes them feel apart of the problem. When someone feels like they are affected by an issue, it naturally makes them want to create change.

This method of using different sides of the issue brings the reader into the text and makes the audience realize that feeling a certain way based on your race is all about perspective. Biss shows how in South Africa a person that identifies as white may feel unsafe. Whereas in the United States, white people feel guilty about the privilege they recieve. The common aspect being, all of this is based on one’s surrounding and upbringing.