Black Men and Public Space Analysis Questions 1)What does the author accomplish by using the word victim in the essay's first paragraph? Is the word used literally? What tone does it set for the essay?   2

 Black Men and Public Space Analysis Questions

1)What does the author accomplish by using the word victim in the essay's first paragraph? Is the word used literally? What tone does it set for the essay?

2. What meanings apply to the following words used in the essay?: affluent, uninflammatory (pg.1); unwieldy, tyranny, pedestrians (pg. 2); intimidation (pg. 7); congenial (pg. 11); constitutionals (pg. 12).

3. paragraphs 7, 8, 9, and 11 all end with a similar sentence. What is the similarity? What is the effect of this parallelism?

4. Why does Staples juxtapose seemingly formal language (such as “errant move,” “wee hours,” and “constitutional”) with informal expressions (such as “dicey”)?

5. What does Staples mean by his final sentence: “It is my equivalent of the cowbell that hikers wear when they know that they are in bear country”? Does this statement change the terms of the “hunter and hunted” he has established in the essay?

6. What examples of irony do you find throughout the essay?