Killing Rage: Ending Racism is a cogent text that is unique in many different ways. Instead of being a traditional chapter by chapter novel, this book is composed of 23 different essays written together. These essays are all nonfiction and center around the real events and the feelings the author had during those events, all of which focused on the topic of racial and gender discrimination faced by a black woman during American society in the 1970s. The author is the backbone of this anthology and it is important to know about her.
bell hooks (who writes her authorial name using intentional lowercase) is actually the nom de plume of the author and her real name is Gloria Jean Watkins. She decided to use this name symbolically because her great-grandmother's name was Bell Blaire Hooks and the author wanted to dedicate this text and the sufferings contained within it to her late great-grandmother. As a child, the author was raised in the rural South. Although this gave her a strong sense of community and inclusion with her family, it also made her experience racial discrimination first-hand, as the South had the most prevalent attitudes of bigotry. An identifying factor of the author is her education, which was extremely rare for the time, due to both her race and gender. She studied at the University of Wisconsin, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and the prestigious Stanford University, a feat that was difficult for white men at the time, much less black women. The author was able to use this higher education to effectively create her essays to represent the community and what she felt. Because of this, she can convey her tone and story in a powerful way.
As the reader winds throughout the different essays in the anthology, they are able to encounter multiple different themes. One is the idea of discrimination. This idea is prominent and is the central focus of the author's work. Society is full of discrimination and even the groups fighting for the rights of one group often discriminate against other civil rights groups. Another powerful idea is the idea of bitterness and rage that the author feels. She is harassed, assaulted, and essentially spat upon everywhere she goes solely because of characteristics she cannot control. This leads to an enormous feeling of rage within her, which sometimes peaks in her wanting to murder the people who oppress her. Throughout the essays, she struggles to rein in this anger and bitterness so that she may fight for the better cause. A final powerful idea that the author is able to weave through the eloquence of her words is the idea of fighting for change. She strongly emphasizes that people must not be passive in their fight for equality and her essay about the frog and boiling water fully represents how committed she is to showcasing this ideal. Overall, Gloria Watkins is able to create a beautiful and haunting story of the fight against racism through the 23 essays that captured moments in her own life.
