“Unraveling the Self through Language” (2023-2024)

The assignment for this essay was deceptively simple: assesses the value of a primary text against itself and three additional texts. The challenge of this project came from the nature of the essay as an art form. As a writer, I was to take my reader on a journey—draw them in with an idea and let that idea evolve along with my understanding of the world after reading my source material. At first, I had no clue where to start this journey–there were too many directions I could take.

In order to narrow the scope of my project, I decided to select an essay I enjoyed and go from there. As I perused the list of possible primary texts, I saw the name Audre Lorde, an author I had long been meaning to look into. After reading the first sentence of her essay, “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” I decided that this work would be the basis for my essay. I eagerly continued to read Lorde’s words and identified with her passion, experience as a woman of color, and belief in the powers and dangers of language. Lorde’s work led me to wonder: how does the language we use affect our experience within our world?

The more I read on the use of language and its relationship to control, the more intrigued I became. My professor had introduced my class to Susanne K. Langer’s essay“Language and Thought,” in which Langer asserts that the purpose of language is to describe our world. On my own, I discovered Baldwin’s “Stranger in the Village,” which is a commentary on how language controls us just as much as we control it. Finally, interviews with artist Titus Kaphar exposed me to the ways in which control manifests itself within the language of visual art. Ultimately, Lorde, Langer, Baldwin, and Kaphar provided me with the vocabulary to explore a question that I had long pondered: how does language define us, and is this definition absolute? Slowly, my essay came together around these texts, and the focus of my project shifted away from how language controls us and toward the ways we can control language in order to break free from the social constructions that trap us within their definitions.

Maria Beatriz, “Bia,” Silva moved from Utah to New York City when she was seven years old. Expecting diversity from her new environment, she was surprised to encounter racial discrimination. In New York City, Bia was ascribed labels that reduced her to only one part of her identity: the daughter of Brazilian immigrants. Bia’s essay was driven largely by her experience with labels, which serve as reminders of the ever-present effects of racial and gender-based discrimination. As a sophomore majoring in computer science and a Presidential Honors Scholar at NYU’s College of Arts and Science, Bia hopes to combine her STEM background with her desire for social change by focusing on algorithmic fairness.