...Sarah Liette Coach 6-8-2015 Maya Angelou “Graduation” Summary Graduation Graduation is an important transition time in every person’s life. It is about moving on to something better and more important and to use your knowledge to achieve life goals. This is what the children attending the grammar school believed as well, including Maya Angelou. Given from her point of view, the story Graduation has ethos because as an African American girl, she shared the same thoughts and feelings as everyone standing on the stage or in the auditorium when Mr. Edward Donleavy passively demeaned everything the students had worked so hard to achieve. This story is told by a women who had surpassed all of the difficulties in life to get to this day, and through her learned, and personal, figurative, and detailed writing, has been able to pass on both the ill feelings and the warm feelings of that experience from Mr. Donleavy’s speech, to that of Henry Reed. What Angelou does best is evoke feelings and empathy from her readers. By relating to them and broadcasting her emotions for everyone to see, she emphasizes her sense of being wronged. When she is describing the excitement and anxiety in the people around her, she is relating to what everyone feels when they are about to graduate. “The children in Stamps trembled visibly with anticipation...the whole young population had come down with graduation epidemic.” (22). This is the opening of the story. Immediately what does...
Words: 927 - Pages: 4
...Running head: Analysis of “Still I Rise” 1 Analysis of “Still I Rise” When reading, “Still I Rise”, by Maya Angelou, I immediately get a sense of perseverance and pride. The author seems to be addressing her adversaries directly through her words. I love the imagery used in this poem. I can almost see the dust rising and can feel the swelling of the black ocean that the author mentions. “Cause I walk like I got oil wells pumping in my living room”(Angelou, 1978), and, “Laugh like I’ve got gold mines diggin’ in my own back yard” (Angelou, 1978), tells me that the author feels that her life is joyous and priceless, and can’t be taken away. As the phrase, “I Rise” (Angelou, 1978), is repeated again and again, it’s as if I can hear the author’s voice becoming louder and louder, declaring that her spirit will not be broken. It is the voice of someone who has not only persevered, but has triumphed and now thrives! “Still I Rise” was published in 1978, during the postmodern era. This was a period that saw much political and social change, particularly for African Americans. The 60’s brought about desegregation and the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. Maya Angelou lived in the South, Arkansas, for a time during her childhood. There was much white resistance to the ending of segregation in the Southern states. During the 60’s and 70’s, many American cities were swept by race riots. Civil Rights activists organized marches and protests around the country...
Words: 958 - Pages: 4
...Peoples English IV CP Blankenship 3/21/14 Maya Angelou Known as one of the most influential voices of our time, Dr. Maya Angelou is a global renaissance woman, a celebrated poet, novelist, educator and holds many other titles. She has proven the point that sex and race cannot hinder dreams and goals. In this paper, Dr. Maya Angelou’s failures as well as successes will be recognized and discussed. Born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. Maya Angelou's former name was Marguerite Ann Johnson. Maya got the nickname from her older brother Bailey, who had a speech issue and could not pronounce Marguerite (Longly, 2013). He started calling her Maya because he read a book on Mayan indians, and the name stuck. In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture (Angelou, 2012). Growing up in Stamps, AK, Angelou learned what it was like to be a black girl in a world whose boundaries were set by whites (Longly, 2013). As a child, she always dreamed of waking to find her "nappy black hair" metamorphosed to a long blond bob because she felt life was better for a white girl than for a black girl (Franks, n.d.). Despite the odds, her grandmother instilled pride in Angelou with religion as an important element in their home. Maya Angelou contributed to black history by publicizing...
Words: 2403 - Pages: 10
...Analysis of the Themes of Loss and Gain The theme of loss and gain has always been popular among the people worldwide. In general, the majority of persons prefers gaining than losing. However, loss and gain usually come together. When losing something, do not be upset. Maybe luck will appear soon. As Shakespeare’s poem says, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” Everyone’s life just likes a drama, sometimes you are on top, sometimes on the bottom. In Maya Angelou’s “Graduation”, she shows her experience in high school which is in Stamps, Arkansas. Unlike white students, she cannot share an equal education. She nevertheless obtained a lot of knowledge which is essential to her success. The other text “Coming to an Awareness of Language” is written by Malcolm X and is about his loss and gain when he started to learn language with his teacher--- a dictionary. After he suffered a lot while he used a dictionary to study the language, he finally was coming to an awareness of language. Both texts have the themes of loss and gain; however, Maya’s text pays more attention about her loss but I get lots of positive information from Malcolm X’s text. In "Coming to an Awareness of Language", the theme of loss is shown through the discussion about Malcolm X improving his literacy skills. While the lack of education made Malcolm unable to convey his ideas through letters, so he did a lot effort to improve his language. During this time, he actually had a tough...
Words: 590 - Pages: 3
...Later in 1935, the children were returned to the care of their mother in Chicago, Illinois, but were sent back to Stamps after it was discovered that her mother’s boyfriend had sexually molested Maya. He was arrested and kept in a cell for 1 day, however after his release he was later found dead. While living with the Grandmother, Maya became an elected mute; she felt her words had such power that they caused the death of others (her mother’s boyfriend) and as result choose not to speak at all. While living with her Grandmother, she responded with the following words: “Sister, Momma don’t care what these people say, that you must be an idiot, a moron, ’cause you can’t talk. Momma don’t care. Momma know that when you and the good Lord get ready, you gon’ be a teacher.” As a teenager, Dr. Angelou’s love for the arts won her a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labor School. At 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor. She later finished high school, giving birth to her son, Guy, a few weeks after graduation. As a young single mother, she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook, however her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take center stage. In 1954 and 1955, Dr. Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and, in 1957, recorded her first...
Words: 756 - Pages: 4
...Reaction Paper-Week IV Beverly L. Clanton University of Phoenix Eng/125 Molly Holmes 06/26//09 Reaction Paper-Week IV The nonfiction stories I read for this assignment were “Salvation, by Langston Hughes and Graduation, by Maya Angelou.” In the story “Salvation,” a young sinner, Langston Hughes, is brought to church by his aunt to “find Jesus." Even though Langston felt no connection to Jesus, he felt obligated to pretend, due to his love for his aunt. In our lives, many of our decisions are influenced by the ones close to us because of the love we have for them. We do not want to disappoint our love ones; therefore, occasionally one may defer goals and aspirations in fear of not receiving approval. When Langston Hughes says “So I decided that maybe to save further trouble, I‘d rather lie too, and say that Jesus had come, and get up and be saved.” Having said this, young Langston has apparently overlooked his personal belief to receive an approval of salvation by the congregation. After reading this story, I realized that everyday individuals are faced with hundreds of decisions and choices. Sometimes our consciences conflict with one another and it is hard to make the most beneficial decision. This happens so often that most of the time it will go past unnoticed. Peer pressure is one of the most common of these "bad consciences." Teenagers are the most vulnerable to peer pressure because of their desire to receive approval from their friends. Even in my own...
Words: 886 - Pages: 4
...Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture. As a teenager, Dr. Angelou’s love for the arts won her a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labor School. At 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor. She later finished high school, giving birth to her son, a few weeks after graduation. As a young single mother, she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook, however her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take center stage. In 1954 and 1955, Dr. Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and, in 1957, recorded her first album, Calypso Lady. In 1958, she moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, acted in the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks and wrote and performed Cabaret for Freedom. In 1960, Dr....
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
...Essay Dr Maya Angelou is a celebrated poet, and successful novelist, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, and civil rights activist. She was born on April 4th, 1928 in St Louis. When she was 14, she dropped out of school to be the frist african- american cable car conductor. She also finished school giving birth to her son Guy, just a few weeks after graduation. In the poem 'Still I Rise' Maya talks about black people fighting for justice against racist people. She tells the victims of racism to be confident, fight for their freedom, and don't let them put you down. In Stanza 1, Maya's message to the bullies and racists that they can make her feel like dirt, as if she's not normal, but still like dust, she'll rise. "You May write me down in history, With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt, But still like dust i'll rise." The expression "You may write me down in history" suggests that the poet adresses the bully, and the message is, i'm not afraid of the bullies, and i'm not afraid to stand up to them. The expression "You may trod me in the very dirt" implies that, the bullies can make the victims feel like dirt and unwanted, "But still like dust, i'll rise" is a similie and indicates, these bullies can shout horrible and nasty things, but they'll never be enough to knock their victim down. In this stanza, The poet adresses the bullies and racist and her message to them is, All you bullies can say whatever they want, they could scream...
Words: 1178 - Pages: 5
...“On Compassion” by Barbara Lazear Ascher focuses on where compassion comes from. While Ascher ultimately believes that people are not necessarily born with compassion but rather it is learned through experience, she also brings up the point that it is ultimately hard to tell what drives people to be compassionate and to what extant. I feel like Ascher focuses a lot on pathos in her essay. She paints a vivid picture of the message she is trying to tell about compassion and really attracts the reader by exposing them to the scenes and therefore willed into feeling compassion themselves. In Maya Angelou’s essay “Graduation” she writes about her graduation day and how proud she is of her academic achievements, only to have a guest speaker knock...
Words: 256 - Pages: 2
...Graduation Question 1: Presumably, all of Maya Angelou’s readers would have witnessed a graduation ceremony and brought their memories to her essay. How does she fulfill the reader’s expectations for what graduation includes? How does she surprise us with details we may not expect? When I started reading the essay, I felt like I was back in 2012 at my highschool graduation. I felt the excitement of being a part of the graduating class. It was the same feelings of nervousness and being anxious about things going wrong or tripping on the stage.The ending was exactly what I was looking forward to from the start. It ended with inspiration to keep pushing forward, which is how all graduations should end. I was not expecting the turn in events that took place because of my own blissful ignorance in forgetting how things were when these events took place. I was deeply moved by her classmate’s, Henry Reed, attitude to get everyone to overcome those feelings of inferiority and worthlessness that the author was feeling. Her ending brought tears to my eyes with hope, that maybe one day, we will reach the point of everyone realizing we are equals. Question 2: In paragraph 43 Angelou writes that “the ancient tragedy was being replayed”. What does she mean? How does her essay help to resist the tragic script?...
Words: 491 - Pages: 2
...nominative, a direct object, an adjective, or an adverb. Example: 1. Everyone in the class was eager to learn more about the life of Maya Angelou. 1. to learn more about the life of Maya Angelou – adverb 1. Our assignment was to read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. to read I Know Why the Caged Bird sings – noun (predicate nominative) 2. I decided to write a report on May Angelou’s descriptions of her childhood. to write a report on Maya Angelou’s descriptions of her childhood. – noun (direct object) 3. To grow up in Stamps, Arkansas, in the 1930s was to know great hardship. To grow up in Stamp’s Arkansas in the 1930s – noun (subject) 4. Maya Angelou tried to show the everyday lives of African Americans during the Great Depression. to show the everyday lives of African Americans during the great Depression – noun (direct object) 5. To accomplish this purpose meant including many descriptions; one such passage told about the process of curing pork sausage. To accomplish this purpose – noun (subject) 6. Angelou has an extraordinary ability to capture vivid details in her writing. to capture vivid details in her writing – adjective 7. She helps us to see her grandmother’s store through the eyes of a fascinated child. to see her grandmother’s store through the eyes of a fascinated child – adverb 8. Angelou was eager to experience life beyond her hometown. to experience life beyond her hometown – adverb 9. Her talents and ambition...
Words: 2177 - Pages: 9
...Since human beings have been able to think, they were asking themselves about their life, their meaning: they have taken into consideration their existence. The deepest discussed ethical questions are about life, innocence and experience. The purpose of this discussion is to demonstrate that experience can improve human life where disappointment is the essential passage from innocence to experience. Admittedly it is going to far to assert that experience also can't improve the life, for instance if a little boy affront to be subjected to the war, he could be psychologically shock for all his life. In this sense experience can destroy the future boy life. The disappointment has for result the experience which is something indelible in our memory. In the following pages we will first look at the relationship between innocence and experience at the beginning of life before seeing that all the illusions of childhood are destroyed by a gain of experience in the beginning of adulthood. To qualify experience through human life, we have firstly to define it. The notion of experience is, of course, quite difficult to determine. But , according to some people, it is the experience of our own being. In this sense, it exists a need of experience, demonstrated by Shopenhawer ( French philosopher), which is a constituent of our humanity. Indeed, experience is a fact of acquiring a moral knowledge, a process which starts at your birth. Now we will try to describe children' innocence trough...
Words: 401 - Pages: 2
...English 100-501 20 September 2012 What Are You Talking About? Maya Angelou once said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” The language used in this quote, is uplifting but sobering. As a poet, Maya Angelou uses the written expression of language to describe her experiences as an African American woman. How we utilize the gift of language can not only determine our success or failure in life, but it can also affect those exposed to it. As an African American female, attending predominantly white private schools, I quickly realized the life changing effects language could have on me. I was misunderstood and labeled by the African American kids who went to public school and made to feel unworthy by the white kids who attended private school. I should not be characterized as “stuck up’, or “acting white”, nor made to feel as though I do not belong just because I attended a predominately white private school. We all know that language can be used not only to inform, educate, and inspire, but also to discourage, degrade, and judge. African Americans in public schools often thought I was “stuck up” just because I went to a private school. Sometimes, I was actually called “stuck up” other times their body language told me how they felt. I can remember one time my best friend, who went to a public school, and I...
Words: 1869 - Pages: 8
...Danielle mordon Zora Neale Hurston's love of African-American folklore and her work as an anthropologist are reflected in her novels and short stories--where she employed the rich indigenous dialects of her native rural Florida and the Caribbean. In her foreword to Hurston's autiobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road, Maya Angelou wrote, "Her books and folktales vibrate with tragedy, humor and the real music of Black American speech." A published short story writer by the time she came to New York in 1925, Hurston studied anthropology at Barnard, where she was the college's first African-American student. After graduation, Hurston pursued graduate work at Columbia with renowned anthropologist Franz Boas. She left New York to conduct research in Florida and in Haiti and Jamaica, and her field work resulted in the folklore collections Mules and Men (1935) and Tell My Horse (1938). Her classic novel Their Eyes Were Watching God was published in 1937. Still, Hurston never received the financial rewards she deserved. (The largest royalty she ever earned from any of her books was $943.75.) So when she died on Jan. 28, 1960--at age 69, after suffering a stroke. Her neighbors in Fort Pierce, Florida, had to take up a collection for her February 7 funeral. The collection didn't yield enough to pay for a headstone, however, so Hurston was buried in a grave that remained unmarked until 1973. In 1975, Ms. Magazine published Alice Walker's essay, "In Search of Zora Neale Hurston" reviving...
Words: 491 - Pages: 2
...Day after day, we are faced with challenges, many people may call it problems, others may say it's just bad luck. We are forced to act upon those situations and make decisions that may impact us in the short run, and others may impact us for the rest of our lives. Moments in life, we might find ourselves losing touch with the world. There is that voice in your head that sneaks up and says that your useless, pathetic, and will never accomplish anything in life. Now imagine if that voice was actually someone or even worse a family member; who teared you down every time you saw each other. That negative voice was my heartless uncle Alfredo. Uncle Alfredo, works everyday, takes care of his family, is pretty much the average citizen, except he...
Words: 565 - Pages: 3
