Lupita Nyong’os speech commentary

Passage:

I want to take this opportunity to talk about beauty, Black beauty, dark beauty. I received a letter from a girl and I’d like to share just a small part of it with you: "Dear Lupita," it reads, "I think you're really lucky to be this Black but yet this successful in Hollywood overnight. I was just about to buy Dencia's Whitenicious cream to lighten my skin when you appeared on the world map and saved me."

I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin, I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter skinned. The morning would come, and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of a mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. And every day, I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before. I tried to negotiate with God, I told him I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me what I wanted, I would listen to my mother's every word and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter. But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because He never listened.

But a flower couldn't help but bloom inside of me, when I saw Alek [Wek], I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now, I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far-away gatekeepers of beauty. But around me the preference for my skin prevailed, to the courters that I thought mattered, I was still unbeautiful. And my mother again would say to me you can't eat beauty, it doesn't feed you, and these words plagued and bothered me; I didn't really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.

Paper 1 | Commentary

Within this passage of Lupita Nyongo’s speech, she emphasizes through the use of rhetorical- and literary devices how stereotypical pressures are put upon black-skinned women by society. As a result of this passage, the effects of beauty ideals set by society upon dark-skinned women are shown through the perception of her own self-worth. She develops an overarching theme of inner conflict due to the perception of her own beauty, and the ideals set by society, where her changing perspective stresses the effect of this internal struggle which many young black girls are still facing.

Within the first section of the passage, Lupita Nyong’o develops the inner conflict which she faced as a young girl, as a result of a letter she received from a fan. Throughout this section, she emphasizes the absurdity of these stereotypical pressures put on young girls by society.

Lupita evokes an image of the black skin, “beauty, black beauty. Dark beauty” (line 1-2), using amplification to emphasize and evoke the movement of resistance against the stereotypical pressures of fitting in with the ‘white’ beauty ideal. The impression of black inferiority is aroused since ‘black’ seems to be negative. Reading from the letter she received, she re-enforces the staggering effect which these ideals have led to, highlighting the admiring fan who thinks she’s “lucky to be this black but yet this successful in Hollywood” (line 4), with this antithesis establishing the idea that black people cannot be successful (in the entertainment industry) due to their skin color. This highlights the social and political context in which black people are looked down upon for being unsuccessful in contrast to whites who are represented as more successful. Lupita appeals to pathos arousing the emotion of compassion and astonishment when reading that the girl was “about to buy … Whitenicious cream to lighten my skin (until) you appeared on the world map and saved me” (line 6). Stressing the effect that her success was a form of hope for acceptance of the young girl’s black identity, rather than conforming to fit in with society. Conveying the impression of nostalgia, Lupita recalls “a time when I too felt unbeautiful” (line 7), utilizing neologism to mimic the ugliness of not being beautiful. With the metaphor “teased and taunted about my nigh-shaded skin” (line 8) she implies the repulsion towards black skin from her peers. Creating a desperate-like mood, she recalls the memory of “disappointment of being just as dark as I was the day before” (line 14), establishing the idea that her skin color caused her to struggle with her own appearance led her into huge dissatisfaction with herself. She therefore evokes the mood of desperation through her childishly attempts to fit in by becoming white-skinned. Lupita transition the tone further into absurdity, mocking her attempts to “stop stealing sugar cubes” (line 15) and “listen to (her) mother’s every word” (line 16) if “he (god) just made me a little lighter” (line 17). She refers to God as having the ability to change her skin color, thus reinforcing God as the ruler of her faith, and disappointment of her own identity as a younger child. She therefore connotes the sense that her skin color led her into deep self-dissatisfaction with her skin color, thus her identity and appearance which was ruled by her faith of being black.

Following the sense of absurdity and mock towards Lupita’s inner struggle as a young black girl, she transitions the mood in the second section to rather optimistic. Using a few rhetorical devices and recalling previous experiences, Lupita develops the movement of hope.

Lupita evokes a tone of optimism, with figurative language used to denote the way “a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside of me” (line 24), meaning that hope and resilience sparked in her life, contrasting to the depressing tone which Lupita’s struggles created. Parallel to the young girl who wrote her, Lupita finds herself as a young girl looking up to “Alek [Wek]” (line 24). Using the allusion of Alek Wek, Lupita familiarizes the audience with the impact that Wek had made to Lupita’s perception of her own beauty. She implies that Wek had aroused “as spring in my (Lupita’s) step” (line 26), imagery for the emotion of revitalization of her own self-perception of beauty. Thus, stressing the effect of a successful icon who looked similar to her, namely she was dark skinned. As an effect of this change of perception, Lupita commenced to have “felt more seen, more appreciated by the far-away gatekeepers of beauty” (line 27). The metaphorical representation of gatekeepers of beauty refers to the stereotypical standards and ideals set by a white society, suggesting the idea that now black women were also being accepted more for their talents despite their skin color. This is a very contrasting scene to the first section of the passage, where Lupita seemed to create a rather pessimistic mood around her own self-perception of beauty, in contrast to her transitioning perception of her own beauty. Lupita uncovers using an anticlimax that she “was still unbeautiful” (line 29), the negative neologism still is used to describe her own Beauty, however Lupita coveys the impression that “unbeautiful” is not as negative as given the impression in the previous section. As a conclusion Lupita states she “finally realized beauty was not a thing that [she] could acquire or consume, it was something that I just had to be.” (line 31-3). This epiphany suggests the idea that ‘black’ can be beautiful if you perceive it to be so, and that one cannot use cosmetics or other products to conform to a beauty ideal, but that one has to change their perception of beauty in order to be satisfied with their (black) skin.

Concluding from this passage, Lupita Nyong’o highlights through the use of rhetorical- and literary devices how stereotypical pressures and beauty ideals affects black-skinned women. How the need to conform to a specific beauty (or racial) ideal is suppressed upon young women, implying how the social context of this passage reveals the mechanism of beauty expectations in the society we live in. And how through the experiences of her own adversity, Lupita came to reveal that one has to adapt her perception of beauty in order to find satisfaction with their own beauty. In conclusion Lupita stressed this overarching theme of beauty and self-appreciation to empower black women struggling with their self-perception due to the ideals and expectations set by society, and how to overcome this by maintaining their true selves and changing their perception of beauty instead of changing themselves.