Harlem Slang

 Word Count: 330

"What I want to steal her old pocketbook with all the money I got? I could buy a beat chick like her and give her away. I got money's mammy and Grandma change. One of my women, and not the best one I got neither, is buying me ten shag suits at one time."

Overall, Harlem Slang involves a conversation between two men that are primarily bantering about money and women. It struck me as a very degrading conversation in which the two men were consistently trying to prove superiority over the other with the money and women they have. This particular quote was at the very end after they had just spoke to a woman who was much more confident in herself and stood up for herself to these men. She was also claiming to have money and accused the men of wanting to take her pocketbook as she left. Therefore, in this quote, the men are referencing her comment and the one man states that he did not have a need to take her pocketbook. There is a sense of excessive pride and vanity in his tone in this quote as he states he would not need to steal a woman's pocketbook because he has so much money already. He then continues to further degrade this woman by stating that she is a "beat chick" and that he could "buy" her and then give her away and still have a ton of money. He continues to boast that he has a woman that buys him tons of suits. It is terrible to read how these men speak about women and how they are so degraded and viewed as objects. There is also the theme recognized that superiority comes from having money and rich women. It is terrible to read how the men are speaking about the women mentioned and even more terrible to realize that there are still many people today speaking this way about money and women.

Comments

  1. Grace CurranApril 12, 2021 at 2:44 PM

    I also thought and talked about how it was degrading for the men to prove that they're better than one another based on their money and the women they have been with. I mentioned in my analysis that it is definitely important and better to tell the truth than to lie. I really liked the quote you chose as well. It's disturbing the way men would talk about women as if they were objects. I am glad that women are much more respected today.

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  2. GraceDayApril 24, 2021 at 9:13 AM

    I would agree with the topic of pride being very present in this reading. This reading is very different from our previous ones and it offered an interesting perspective. I think that in order to maintain this pride he is willing to do anything, even if that means degrading women. Today I see that this is still prevalent in society although I feel that there is movement of this decreasing.

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  3. Quinn Van PoperingApril 24, 2021 at 1:30 PM

    The idea of pride and defending one's character is one of the central themes I found within Harlem Slang as well. The way in which the character's in this story defend themselves cross over the border into harassment, which comes with this idea that they think it is fine to make a woman, or let alone anyone you're speaking to, be uncomfortable with how you are treating them. Like you stated, the way in which these characters are speaking to a women is terrible, but it's even worse to think that this is still such a common experience most women have to deal with. I would argue that this degradation and objectification of women is even more common in today's society with social media, specifically with the general lack of accountability people have to face for their comments and posts.

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