A Not So Independent Independence Day (New & Improved :)

The Fourth of July by Audrey Lorde is a short essay which depicts some clear cut incidences of racial discrimination which occurred in her life. Even though the essay is short and brief, Lorde’s intention is effectively portrayed in her tone, symbolism, and all around word choice. Lorde uses many descriptive details which successfully paint a picture for her audience and symbolize so much more than what is seen on the surface. Her narration intensifies as the story unfolds and we begin to see the irony of Lorde’s Fourth of July vacation.

The Fourth of July is an account of a trip that Audrey Lorde and her family took to Washington, D.C. after Lorde’s graduation from the eighth grade. The trip was important for Lorde’s older sister who was not allowed to attend her senior class trip to Washington since the class was to stay in a hotel that did not permit blacks. I believe Lorde purposely introduces this incident of prejudice early on in her story to show the reason behind their trip and to showcase an example of irony that becomes apparent at the end. (The same discrimination they go on the trip in spite of is what they end up encountering in Washington.)

Lorde describes the care and detail that was taken into planning for the trip. It would be the family’s first time taking a train in the daytime because they usually rode at night on the milk truck, which was cheaper. They took an entire week to pack and ended up with two suitcases and one box of food. This is when Audrey Lorde takes the opportunity to depict vividly the food that her mother put so much care into making. Lorde says her mother packed chicken cut into “dainty bite-sized pieces”, “little violently iced cakes with scalloped edges”, and “peaches with the fuzz still on them individually wrapped to keep from bruising” (Lorde, 567-568). These detailed descriptions are used as tools illustrate how important the trip was and how much detail went into its preparation.

While on the train, Lorde mentions, she wanted to eat in the dining car, but her mother would not let her. Her mother’s reasoning was that is was too expensive. Lorde’s mother did not care to divulge the fact that blacks were not actually allowed to ride in the dining cars. This is only one of a few instances where Lorde’s mother would rather remain silent about the racial injustice they encountered rather than speak upon it. Lorde states, “As usual, whatever my mother did not like and could not change, she ignored. Perhaps it would go away, deprived of her attention” (Lorde, 568). Audrey Lorde maintains that her father is the same way. American racism was her parents’ “private woe” (Lorde, 568). Her parents’ silence was how they dealt with the injustice. Lorde says she and her siblings were told to never trust white people but were on no account told why. Lorde intentionally brings up her parents’ avoidance of the topic of racism to show how she was never really directly exposed to it. She was ultimately sheltered from the truth. This in a way helps us understand the intensity of Lorde’s rage when she finally comes face to face with her first real encounter with discrimination at the end of the story.

Audrey Lorde describes her younger self on the second day of the trip squinting at Lincoln Memorial “where Marian Anderson had sung after the D.A.R. refused to allow her to sing in their auditorium because she was black” (Lorde, 568). This incident involving Marian Anderson, even though it is not an actual event from Lorde’s story, is ironic since the D.A.R. (Daughters of the American Revolution) is a group “dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America's future through better education for children” (DAR National Society). But the main point of the scene with Lorde squinting out at the monument is to point out her original reason for disliking the Fourth of July as opposed to why she doesn’t like it as an adult. As a child, she disliked the “agonizing corolla of dazzling whiteness” and brightness that played upon her sensitive eyes (Lorde, 569). The intense heat from the white summer brightness could is a symbol of the whites discrimination. Lorde did not have any sunglasses to shield her eyes from the blinding light, and her parents would not be able to shield her from the truth of racism for much longer. Lorde even describes the light and heat to be stronger in D.C. than back in her hometown of New York. The pavement was also lighter. Everything is different in Washington, and it is here that Lorde will finally witness the intensity of racial discrimination that she was always sheltered from back home.

The point where Audrey Lorde’s The Fourth of July reaches its peak of irony is when her family goes to get ice-cream. While sitting at the white marble counter, her family did not hear their waitress clearly at first and remained still. (Here is the pattern of silence again.) So the waitress moves in closer and repeats herself: “‘I said I kin give you to take out, but you can’t eat here. Sorry’” (Lorde, 569). Lorde portrays her family marching, not walking, out of the ice-cream shop “straight-back and indignant”. They were “quiet and outraged, as if [they] had never been black before” (Lorde, 569). This last statement about never being black before shows that that type of discrimination was the norm and should have been expected. But Lorde was outraged and could not understand why they had to leave even though they hadn’t done anything. Her parents silence made her even angrier. Her sisters were even silent, and Lorde could not understand why. She was the only one in her family who even attempted to break their pattern of silence. Lorde even recounts writing an angry letter to the President.

This, the end of Lorde’s narration, is when all of the vivid imagery and irony can be clearly understood. It is the point at which Lorde finds a new cause to hate the Fourth of July. The Fourth of July is an ironic title since this big injustice occurred on a day when all Americans were supposed to be able to celebrate their independence and freedom to do as they pleased. Also, the fact that it took place in the nation’s capital, where patriotism should reign most high, makes it even more ironic. Lorde also describes many white aspects of Washington to symbolize the hold the whites had: the white summer brightness, the white pavement, the white waitress, the white counter, the white ice-cream they never ate, and the white monuments. Each and every one of these instances of white represents white society and their prejudice.

I found The Fourth of July to be greatly effective in showing how one small incident of injustice can affect your entire way of thinking. Lorde’s word choices play an important part as to how the story affects her reader. The imagery she uses puts us in her position, and the many ironies portrayed help to make her story more engaging and thought-provoking. Lorde’s symbolism takes us beyond her simple tale of Fourth of July trip to Washington, D.C. and into the depths of racism. I really enjoyed reading it, and I feel like Lorde pieced her words together in a way that caught, and kept, my attention through the entire narration.


Works Cited

DAR National Society. 2005. National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. 26 September 2007. <http://www.dar.org/natsociety/whoweare.cfm>

Lorde, Audrey. “The Fourth of July.” Language Awareness: Readings for College Writers. 9th ed. Ed. Virginia Clark and Alfred Rosa. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. 567-570.