West African American Identity Analysis

In this synthesis I will discuss the quotes from Yaeger, Soto, Fanon, and Davis. Both Yaeger’s and Soto’s quotations parallel one another in a way in which the laborer is dehumanized. The slave or laborer no longer has an identity to him or her, but is instead just a faceless human who performs labor-intensive duties to provide for him or herself or to the family. Yaeger describes the slaves in the triangular trade just as flesh, not an actual human being, therefore accentuating the loss in the sense of identity to each slave. The “flesh” on the slave ship is nothing more than just an object that can be overworked and thrown out once it no longer functions. The white-man/owners do not care for this loss because there is an excess of the supply of slaves coming in from West Africa. Soto’s character is a lot like the slaves that Yaeger illustrates because the Chicano is overworked and suffers from fatigue much like the slaves do in the New World. Mexicans come into the Americas looking for a new living and a new source of income, and they sometimes have no other choice but to settle for such a labor-intensive job. The Chicano is overcome with such fatigue and emptiness that they begin to strip their own sense of identity from themselves. Both the slaves and Chicanos focus on one thing, and that is the prospect of a
The laborer looks up to the white-man and catches a glimpse of a life that he or she wishes to have, but instead has the fate of working endlessly in a field due to the color of skin. A stripped sense of identity leads these laborers to long for a table to sit at, or a bed to sleep on with a loved one. The envy generated from the colonized man further strips away any residue of the soul within the laborer. The laborer is left with just an empty shell longing to be filled with endless