Wright: Of language and tools
A tool, in the meaning we Yale students commonly give the word, is a pathological and pretentious social climber. Writing pretentious editorials and generally being pretentious are signs one is a tool.
A tool is also one who does not realize he or she is being used. And in a third meaning, tools are the objects the oppressor uses to assert his authority.
When Audre Lorde spoke of “tools” in a speech she titled “The Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House,” she seems to say the oppressed classes (namely, African-Americans, gays and the poor) will not produce any...
You seem to have copy-pasted a large part of your American Lit essay halfway through this piece. It's not a very smooth transition, and only tangentially relates to the rest of the argument, so I have to wonder why. Did you really just need to fill out the space?
"By immersing themselves in knowledge, the marginalized have a greater capacity to participate in the public discourse. Marginalized groups gain agency by contributing to the collective pot of ideas."
Did someone say something about tools?