In this article, Gloria Naylor
explains how words get their
meaning. She does this by using examples from her past. She was
called a “nigger” by one of her third grade classmates. Even though she didn’t know what it meant she knew it had to be appalling because of the way her classmate used the word. She then told her teacher and the boy got scolded for what he had said to her. Naylor then realized that the word “nigger” had been used in front of her before but not in a negative sense. Sometimes her family would say it in a form of approval for a person or a woman would be talking about her husband. In Naylor’s opinion, the word “nigger” will never disappear from “white minds” and they will always stereotype black people to “niggers” even if they don’t know them. In conclusion, this
article clearly
explains that the way words get their meaning is by the individual who says it and the way they use the word.