Happy Thursday and congratulations on (almost) making it through your first week of surprise online classes!
The third and final Zami lecture is ready to go. I tried to make it shorter and failed; instead, it grew longer (39:12).
Once you have listened to the lecture, please post a comment in response to one of the following discussion questions by 4 pm on Friday, April 3. As always, please make sure to incorporate and analyze a quote from the reading. Comments can be posted directly on this blog post.
Discussion questions – choose one!
- (From lecture #2) How might we use Lorde’s working-class life (having to work long hours at minimum wage jobs and even sell her blood to pay rent, eat, and survive) to think about her work?
- How does Zami depict both the exciting, creative, and imaginative possibilities of living an experimental life, as well as the risks, dangers, and/or repercussions?
- Zami concludes with a number of striking images: Afreke’s memory as an “emotional tattoo” (253), Lorde’s life as “a bridge and field of women” (255), the desire to be with women as a drive emerging from “the mother’s blood” (256). Choose one image (from these or another you liked) and describe its significance in terms of an overarching theme or question of the book.
- With reference to some specifics from Zami, what is the value of reading about other people’s lives? Why do we do this?
P.S… Are you trapped at home but longing to learn more about New York City’s gay, lesbian, and queer history? Check out (and maybe take a virtual tour of) the Lesbian Herstory Archives and explore Jack Gieseking’s interactive map of “An Everyday Queer New York.”
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I think about one of the very first poems we read, “A Litany for Survival”, and Lorde’s overarching theme of living in a world where she was never meant to survive. Lorde has struggled all of her life to be her and to live the life she wants to. These examples of Lorde’s working-class life show some of that hardship. I think the specific example of her selling her blood, could be seen as her giving everything she has to create. Even when she is selling her blood, she describes it poetically. She questions, “into whose veins would my blood soon be flowing? And what would that person then become to me? What kind of relationship was established by selling of blood one to another?” (106). Lorde is tracing the trajectory of her blood into a stranger, but wondering what kind of relationship they now have. At a time in her life where she did not have a strong relationship with anyone that connection to some stranger is all she has. She is literally selling her life force to live the life she chooses to (and eventually writes about).
Great response, Megan! I love how for Lorde, every life experience (even selling her blood) is potentially interesting and can raise philosophical, political, ethical, and artistic questions about how we are connected to other people in the world.
I was really interested in the final remarks Professor Savonick had at the end of our last lecture about the importance of this novel Zami for Audre Lorde herself, as well as the world that surrounds us today. There is value and significance to reading about other people and their own life, and it is to understand their own personal struggles and successes that made an impact to who they became. It also helps us as readers to learn and associate certain things within our own lives and take a deeper look into what we believe in and what our society can do to help everyone. As Lorde is making her way through Mexico enjoying herself, she says, “I was happier than I’d been in what seemed like a very long time. What was even better, I was wholly conscious that I was” (158). The most important piece is how she not only was happy, she could sense it and truly feel herself from the inside out. Lorde continually learns about herself, through the highs and the lows of her life, but each thing contributes to her ever-changing and ever-growing personality. These aspects that we learn from her story can be helpful in finding different ways in our communities to guide and support one another through hardships but also appreciate and value those special moments that bring us happiness.
Excellent points, Kara! By sharing what brings her pleasure, Lorde is, in a way, inviting us to expand our own capacities to recognize sources of pleasure in our own lives. If (thinking back to “Uses of the Erotic”) assembling a bookshelf can be an erotic experience, then I suppose anything can be — even if we’re not taught to think about pleasure in such expansive ways.
The beauty of reading about other people’s lives is that it opens us up to many questions that we would never consider to ask. What I mean is that personally whenever I have read about someone else’s life it has always opened me up to questions or ideas that I personally would never have thought to ask or ponder. In Zami, this book has made me wonder what life and society are like for those that are not like me, white, American, and privileged. It has also made me wonder if society has changed at all. This story has made me wonder if America has really progressed far from its homophobic and racist ways. I mean that has America truly passed the era of looking down on African Americans or even just immigrants. Also, has America really opened itself up in this day and age to gays and lesbians and not judging someone for that lifestyle or inclination. Can America truly embrace that which scares them? This also enlightens us to who Lorde is and how she became who she is. Like her question asked in the beginning, “To whom do I owe the woman I have become?” (4). This entire book was her answering this question and posing new ones and new ideas. Awakening for the reader like Lorde had her own awakening as a lesbian, black woman.
As a straight white woman, it is not too difficult to find potential romantic partners out and about in my everyday life, and I am pretty confident that that statement would ring true, during essentially any time period. Seemingly, that should be good enough, and I can go on my merry way celebrating that and living my life with that privilege amongst so many others, without truly understanding what people who do not identify as “straight” or “white” or a “woman” have to live and deal with. I think this is one small example of why we read about other people’s lives and the value that comes with that. Reading other people’s stories helps the reader understand a different narrative, and highlights the differences between cultures, beliefs, experiences, etc. I could never know what is like to be Audre Lorde, as I am not black, lesbian, a mother, an author, etc. I have never had to go through the pain and discomfort that comes with having breast cancer. I rarely have to worry about money or discrimination. While Lorde talks about the scenes at a gay bar “what we both needed was the atmosphere of other lesbians, and in 1954, gay bars were the only meeting places we knew”, I reflect thinking how ridiculous it is that a bar has to be signified as one that those that are part of the LGBTQ+ community can feel welcomed in (pg 187). The fact that a place of entertainment and fun can feel so unsafe or uncomfortable to a group of people that there needs to be a bar dedicated just for them, says something about how we as a society treat people who are different from us.
We read about other people’s lives because they matter too. They help us get a enter understanding about lives that are different than ours, and help us understand those perspectives. We read about other people’s lives to gain insight, and to not be so naive about others that we may not look/act/speak/live like. We read about other people’s lives to relate and reflect and be compassionate, and most of all, TO EDUCATE OURSELVES!!
Lorde depicts her experimental lifestyle and survival with unfiltered honesty in Zami. Initially Lorde depicts her borderline double-life with Gennie as juvenile, rebellious and exciting. As Lorde writes, “we took hours and hours attiring each other, sometimes changing entire outfits at the last minute to become two different people” (88). The escapades she went on in her youth were depicted with excitement and possibility for being someone else. They also echoed the dangers of escapism and specifically with Gennie, the avenues that can lead to death. I believe from these we can see how Lorde’s experimental life choices were deeper reflections of her attempt to find comfort and strength. As Lorde wrote, “for some of us there was no particular place, and we grabbed whatever we could from wherever we found space, comfort, quiet, a smile, non-judgement” (226). Ultimately her life was filled with equal parts adventure and danger but Lorde spared no detail in depicting the reality of her upbringing. I think for many of us, as Dr. Savonick pointed out in our lecture, who grew up in a more queer-tolerant society it is hard to imagine the life Lorde lived in a time period fraught with racism and homophobia. I think this distance in time does serve to emphasize the importance of Lorde’s experimental life and the bravery it took to live it.
The value in reading about other people’s lives gives a great deal of self-reflection to a person. Personally I have always loved reading all forms of biographies because I have always found it interesting hearing about someone else’s perspective. I feel like reading about someone’s life can teach you something about yourself in a way. I find that when I was reading Zami I was constantly comparing my upbringing to Lorde’s. It was interesting to realize how different my life was from her’s. Lorde states, ” I had received a C in Math and an A in German. This was the first day I had ever gotten the subject other than English. Of course, I was convinced that I had nothing to do with that grade. As soon as a challenge was overcome, it seems to be a challenge, becoming the expected and ordinary rather than something I need you to have difficulty and could, therefore, be justly leave proud of”(235). I found this quote interesting because it shows how tough Lorde was on her self from a young age. I think that shows her work ethic and who she is as a person throughout the whole book. I can relate to it because I remember always working harder in the subjects I struggled in and then getting a good grade and being in disbelief. I think my disbelief and Lorde’s are definitely different though. I find through reading Zami even though Lorde and I went through different experiences and had different upbringings that I still find a way to relate to her after reading this book. I feel like relating to her is a part of my self-reflection process which helps me understand the different things I’m reading in the book. I also feel like I’m able to imagine my life in a different way, even though some of the things Lorde went through I will never understand, and that’s okay.
Taking up the last question I think the value of reading about other people’s lives is to see something in a different context or in general experiencing something new through someone else, in the case of Lorde moving to Mexico, for me, this is something I wish I could do, going to another country that is, but with learning how and why she moves there’s the added context of what is going on in her life and what is happening around her and how going to this new place makes her more confident. It helps people learn about other people and their thinking processes experiences and possibly help them through tough times they may relate to what they are reading.
The value in reading about someone’s life, especially one that is underrepresented in media means it opens up access to the reader for understanding and extending deference in a way that would have otherwise been unachievable. Instead of dismissing ideas brought up within Zami, the reader can find things they relate to or things they are enlightened by. This is apparent within “Introduction” of Sister Outsider as Bereano states, ” I realized how directly Lorde’s knowledge was tied to her difference – those realities of Blackness and lesbianism that placed her outside the dominant society. She had information that I, a white woman who had lived most of my life in a middle-class heterosexual world, did not have, information I could use, information I needed” (9). One of the most striking things within Zami to me was that Lorde’s mother shielded her from racism for a good chunk of her life and up until their trip to Washington, Lorde doesn’t articulate much anger about it. For a white person, I think that chapter ten is likely to form some understanding of the way this rejection feels and this is something I believe to be important.
I felt a full circle experience happen as I read the final pages of Zami. I wanted to explore the idea of visualization further and being seen. This is such a powerful concept in Zami, Lorde’s life, and in many aspects of analysis. As you mentioned, having people notice you can make an individual act differently. There is an absolute pressure under the eyes of someone else that can see you on the outside, and to be held accountable in public. Seeing someone can also be interpreted as being part of a community of identity, seeing someone’s true intentions, and visualizing the trueness of someone’s soul or true being. The power of sight goes hand in hand to the power of speech in which Lorde finds her voice through her coming of age story. Lorde described herself as an “invisible black.” She had instances in which she felt completely unnoticed, a body of matter, “But she looked through me and my sisters as if we were glass” (143). Lorde worked to let people see the divide, not to close off communities or lessen the community itself, but to show the intersection of others. In contrast to Lorde’s invisibleness, she is now one of the most famous black, lesbian, warriors, educator, and women to ever exist and bring enlightenment to all. I feel so hurt over Lorde expressing her profound loneliness throughout her years. I wanted to reach out to hug Lorde and tell her that every single piece of identity she shared is beautiful. I feel as though Lorde’s literature, such as Zami, gives that metaphorical literary hug to the readers that connect through her poetic words. Audrey Lorde was an extremely powerful being who had the ability to touch and enlighten the public with her genius mind. I am very grateful to have been introduced to Zami, a biomythography gift!
Excellent comment, Kianna, “metaphorical literary hug” = such a great phrase! Zami gives the readers the affirmation, guidance, community, role models, and lessons that she didn’t have but wishes she did. What a profound act of generosity.
Lorde’s work is revolutionary, inspirational, and original. So much of her work focuses on helping those who face disadvantages in American society. The book “Zami” helps us to examine her life and why she chose to revolutionize the are of intersectionality. Lorde’s parents were immigrants in a time when America was especially racist and dangerous. Lorde did not have much money, which meant after high-school, Lorde faced a lot of financial trouble. Lorde states, “Being out of work brought a lot of new and starkly instructive experiences. It meant pawning my typewriter, which gave me nightmares, and selling my blood, which gave me chills. (Lorde, 242)”. Without having a financial safety net of privilege to fall back on, Lorde rose above the ranks as a writer and defied expectations. Rather than forgetting about this crucial time in her life, Lorde focused on it, made it the center of her work, and has changed numerous lives for the better in doing so. Lorde’s perspectives positively change the way the oppressed view oppress view themselves and the systems of oppression they are up against. Lorde provides enlightenment to those who need it the most.
Excerpt From: Geraldine Audre Lorde. “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.” iBooks.
Yes! Not having a financial safety net changes everything. Your comment does such a great job honoring everything Lorde went through without romanticizing her struggles and the daily difficulties she faced. It’s a difficult balance to strike when we write about working-class writers. Way to go!
Q 4: The value of reading about the lives of others is very crucial in understanding their experiences, their reasons, and their rationale to life. it allows you the reader to see who and what played a play in creating/growing the individual. Reading about the life of others gives us the ability to learn and grow from their knowledge of the world and the thing within it. It seeks to remind us that history will often repeat itself. Because if we are unable to learn or recognize the mistakes in the past or in another’s person’s life we are condemned to repeating them.
Reading about others gives up a chance to reflect on our own life and it also promotes self-discovery because they equip us valuable and successful shortcuts to help us make improvements and get results in any area of our life.
Zami is an excellent example of a book we should read about the life of others. Personally, while reading this book, I had to stop and reflect on some of the things we had in common and identify how those similarities impacted my life versus Lorde’s. An example of this was when she talks about her family structure. Another example was when she talks about how she was still talking to her friend even though her friend was dead (123). Reading about Lorde’s experiences make me realize that I wasn’t the only one who had those experiences and I was able to connect more with her story and feel the emotions she was experiencing in those moments.
In the beginning of class I was quite anxious concerning learning about other cultures and identities that I could not relate to. I was struggling to grasp how a straight, white female as myself could ever possibly relate to the obstacles of prejudice and discrimination that society cast onto Audre Lorde. However, I found there to be critical value in reading Audre’s life as I was able to identify with her in far more ways than I could have anticipated. Traveling through her journey with her and experiencing the pain, love, fear and so much more that she endured ultimately provided me with insight on how to truly connect to someone, no matter our differences. Even though I still feel as though many of her struggles are quite a distance away from mine, I found that we shared a human experience even throughout the little things. As Audre states in Chapter 25, “We shared some part of a world common to us both—school or work or poetry or some other interest beyond our sexual identity.” We are all a part of this world no matter how different we are, and it is pertinent to share our stories in order to reiterate the fact that humans are all connected no matter our circumstances. There is no skin color or sexual identity than can be protected from breast cancer; women around the world struggle through this unfortunate illness, as Audre’s friend Eudora does, “I had an operation, and it was pretty rough for both of us. Radical surgery, for cancer. I lost a breast.” This part of Eudora’s life is ultimately one that various women will experience, as Audre inevitably does. Without reading about Audre’s life or the lives of others we are evidently in the dark about the experiences that connect us as women, and as people.
To answer the last question I think it is very beneficial to read about someone’s life. It can open the readers eyes to something that they were not aware of before reading about it. I also allow the reader to feel closer to the author. I believe this because you can get an inside look as to how they are/ were feeling in that moment. For example, Lorde writes, “This made me even angrier. My fury was not going to be acknowledged by a like fury. Even my two sisters copied my parents’ pretense that nothing unusual and anti-american had occurred” (70). This quote really stood out to me because I was not alive during this time period, nor am I African American so I do not know what it is like to not be allowed to eat somewhere. However, I can sympathize with Lorde’s emotions during this time because of the way she portrayed her emotions. By saying ‘my fury was not going to be acknowledged by a like fury’ made my heart ache for her because she felt so strongly about something and was so hurt by this experience, but none of her family was acting like it was wrong. Overall, I think that reading Lorde’s writing has helped to open my eyes to different experiences.
Zami portrayed living life to its fullest by trying to create a safe space in the unknown and trying to find solidarity in that state of being. Audre Lorde did not have a queer black women role model to look up to growing up and no one she felt entirely able to help guide her in the unknowing, “I remember how being young and Black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the truth and the light and the key, but a lot of it was purely hell (176).” Lorde was outcasted by her minority groups she was part of such as the left-wing party she was involved with, the lesbian community, and the black community. Even though these marginalized groups wanted to pride themselves in solidarity they always seemed to outcast Lorde for her progressive ideas that questioned diversity among those groups. Being part of the lesbian community and being “out” to the public about it deemed her as a target that violated societal cig gender heterosexual norms during that time, along with many other queers. Finding solidarity was hard, but she felt somewhat comfortable with the white lesbians in the Village. Although when she vocalized her ideas that questioned queerness and racism she was shunned and labeled as an instigator who wanted to create a division in the lesbian community. Lorde reminds me of Socrates, always questioning societal norms and pushing boundaries that arose questions within predominant norms and norms within marginalized communities. Lorde experimented living a romantic life as a throuple with two queer women, there were no rules or set guidelines to how her romantic life could have worked out. The three queer women have to figure it out for themselves and learn about each other and themselves; which goes into the notion of relational-self.
I found the imagery that Audre Lorde uses at the end of “Zami” to be extremely interesting, especially the remark about Afrekete having left a print on Lorde’s life. Through her works, Lorde frequently mentions those who have had a lasting impact on her life, such as her ex-lover, Eudora who is mentioned earlier in the novel as well as in her other works such as “Sister Outsider”. Lorde mentions these people and their effects but none such as Afrekete (that is except in the epilogue explaining how each helped her love a new part of herself), who seems to have one of the bigger impacts on Lorde and this may be because Afrekete was the one who specifically reminded her of the love of family since she did return to see her mother and daughter (253). Lorde states, “but her print remains upon my life with the resonance and power of an emotional tattoo” (253). Such a statement directly reflects the impact Afrekete has on Lorde, Afrekete helped make Lorde better and in return Lorde helped to make Afrekete better. This relationship of theirs is exactly the meaning of ‘Zami’ as Lorde explains in the epilogue, “A Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers” (255). Afrekete directly worked together with Lorde as both friends and lovers, and as such left a powerful and permanent impact on Lorde, much like a tattoo would. Lorde and Afrekete’s relationship and the imagery Lorde uses to describe Afrekete’s impact on her relates to how Lorde titled the book, because the women helped each other, a common occurrence in the book.
Hi Marian. Excellent comment. You seem to be pointing out that there is something distinct and special about Lorde’s relationship with Afrekete, and I completely agree. There’s a reason she is the last major relationship we hear about in the book. It seems like, even though she doesn’t stick around for long, for a while their relationship was one of reciprocity and mutual flourishing: they both contributed to and received something from their relationship (rather than one exploiting the other).
I think the value in reading about other people’s lives is crucial to understanding others and more importantly yourself. It allows you to self reflect and opens your mind up to certain ideas or questions you may never would have thought of if you didn’t learn about this person’s life. It also shows us who this person really is and how they became the way they are. She asks in the beginning “To whom do I owe the woman I have become?” (4). This quote was really powerful to me because she is reflecting back on her journey through her life and what led her to where she was when she wrote this book. It makes me want to reflect on myself and my own journey that brought me to where I am today. It makes me ponder certain questions of my choices such as: What would my life be like if I didn’t choose Cortland? Where would I be today and what would I be doing differently? While reading Zami, I tried connecting with Lorde, but this book has shown me what life can be like for those who aren’t like me, white or fortunate in the ways I am. It really opened my eyes to the unfairness and difficulties faced by women like Lorde.There is definitely a huge lesson in reading about other people’s lives.
Hi Keira. Your comment does such a nice job describing the value of reading about those who are unlike ourselves. So often students want to “relate to” the reading (and I get that), but we also have so much to learn about the world from spending time with, and reading the stories of, those who are unlike us, and whom we can’t relate to. Great work!
In response to the first question I believe that with Lorde’s working-class life it helped me understand her work even more. Having to work long hours at minimum wage jobs and even having to sell her blood in order to pay rent, eat, and survive all shaped her poetry because her poetry is related to this so much. It reminds me of a litany for survival in many ways. In that poem she describes, in my mind/view on the poem, a way to survive through society. I think this ties into the last question about why we read other people’s lives. I think that some people are granted an easier life than others based on how they are born. For example, a white man who is born into the upper-class lifestyle is guaranteed many privileges that he doesn’t need to work for. This is just based on what society tells us. Whereas Lorde, a black woman, had to work extremely hard to get where she ended up used her experiences to help others who were also struggling. She wrote her poems to explain her experiences but also to help others who are in the same boat as her. One quote that really stuck out to me was on page 128 when Lorde said “One day the men had hassled me all morning, saying I was not giving them their readings fast enough, and was holding up their cuttings. At 10:00 A.M. they trooped downstairs for coffee, leaving their machines running. Under the cover of the noise, I dropped my head over the nape of the X-Ray machine and burst into tears.” This quote stood out to me because even though it is so mundane it shows how much this work had an effect on her stress levels and her everyday life.
Thinking about the last question, I think it is very important to read about other people’s lives. For me, I grew up in a white rural area. Reading about other people’s struggles and situations really puts things into perspective. I’ve never had to deal with racism or really any oppressions, besides being a female. The only understanding of racism I have, is from reading and hearing about it. Obviously I am aware of the racism in every day life, but reading about it helps me to become even more aware. Lorde does a great job of explaining her personal accounts of the racism and oppressions that she faces in her everyday life. She says, ” “I remember how being young and Black and gay and lonely felt. A lot of it was fine, feeling I had the truth and the light and the key, but a lot of it was purely hell”(176). For a lot of people, we have never felt this way, and we have not been the minority. But to read about minorities allows us to become more aware. Not only does Lorde allow me to have a sort of insight on her struggles, but this class as a whole does as well. There are people in this class that relate so much to Lorde and her struggles, being able to hear their accounts of oppression is also something I feel that is important. It is one thing to read it, but to hear it first hand from my classmates made it even more real for me. I think some people forget that racism and oppression still exists in society but that is why we need to continue to read about other people’s situations. It is important to remain aware and reading about other people’s lives enables us to do that.
Adding Alice’s comment from blog post:
As a child, I vividly recall wanting to grow up more than anything. The instant freedom and independence that I would gain once I turned the age of eighteen often enchanted my dreams at night. I dreamed of the day when bedtimes were not set by someone else and I could exit and enter my home as I pleased. I viewed my childhood as an age of limitation rather than a time of limitless imagination. It is that illusion of a new world of happiness and open possibilities that allures children to adulthood. And a young Audre Lorde, unfortunately, found herself enticed by that illusion. She hastily moved out of her parent’s home after she had graduated from high school. Lorde felt as if she had escaped her family but soon realized that she couldn’t escape the ways in which they had taught her the art of survival, especially her mother. Lorde recalls, “When I moved out of my mother’s house… I began to seek some more fruitful return than simple bitterness from this place of my mother’s exile, whose streets I came to learn better than my mother had ever learned them. But thanks to what she did know and could teach me, I survived in them better than I could have imagined.” (Lorde, 104) Navigating the demands of adulthood are very challenging, from struggling to stay employed, to paying bills and maintaining our relationships with our family, friends and even with ourselves.
Adult life is all about sacrifice. When Lorde found herself unemployed she had to tap into that survival instinct that her mother instilled in her. She remembers, “Being out of work brought a lot of new and starkly instructive experience. It meant pawning my typewriter, which gave me nightmares, and selling my blood, which gave me chills” (Lorde, 105) Lorde found herself so desperate to regain stability that she sold her own blood.From celebrating Christmas to getting an abortion, Lorde went through it alone. The hardest part of adulthood is going through it with no one by your side. This sense of loneliness can be found in Lorde’s poem, “A Litany for Survival”, in which she states, “For those of us who live at the shoreline // standing upon the constant edges of decision // crucial and alone.” When Lorde made the decision to move out of her family’s home, she made the mistake of allowing her pride to cut off any connection that she had with her family. She viewed adulthood as ‘starting over’ and completing renouncing any aspect that reminded her of her past life. But as Lorde asks in the beginning of her autobiographical novel, Zami, “To whom do I owe the symbols of my survival?”
I really enjoyed listening to your lecture! I really appreciated how you took the time to share how you have personally been moved by Lorde and her work. The value and significance to reading about other people and what they have experienced in life gives us a powerful insight on point of view through learning to understand an individual’s highs and lows. Coming to understand someone’s account of their life experiences gives us an opportunity to see how those moments have shaped them into the person they became. It also gives reader an explanation on why they might have made certain decisions in their lifetime, based on their past experiences, both negative and positive ones. I think it’s very important for a reader to personally connect with the individual’s experiences and emotions, which helps to grasp a better understanding of their past and current situation, as well as what kind of person they have become. For example, I really connected to Lorde’s experience growing up with an immigrant mother. Being that my mother is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, I know how important home is to her and always has been. Although she has been in the United States for about 25 years now, she has gone through many obstacles as an immigrant because “There was so little she really knew about the stranger’s country,” just like Lorde’s mother. My mother would tell me about how hard it was to fit into a whole different culture when she didn’t even understand it herself. Throughout the years, I’ve noticed that she’s always chose to express her Dominican identity through preserving the importance of her culture, even though she was surrounded by a completely different world then what she was used to. Zami clearly shows how Lorde values Linda’s true identity and how Grenada spiritually and culturally brings Linda back to herself, as she associates even the smallest aspects of home to stay true to her community. As a reader, you can see how Lorde wants to move away from her roots to expand opportunities and explore other cultures, but she also shows that she holds these roots close to her heart and will never lose respect for her family’s culture. Lorde also took a similar route when she was trying to find herself by exploring many different identities and moving away from societal norms, but as she does this, she will never forget or lose respect for her family’s roots.