...THE DAY THEY BURNED THE BOOKS by Jean Rhys - Dominica Source: Tigers Are Better-Looking (1960s, collection of stories). My friend Eddie was a small, thin boy. You could see the blue veins in his wrists and temples. People said that he had consumption and wasn't long for this world. I loved, but sometimes despised him. His father, Mr Sawyer, was a strange man. Nobody could make out what he was doing in our part of the world at all. He was not a planter or a doctor or a lawyer or a banker. He didn't keep a store. He wasn't a schoolmaster or a government official. He wasn't — that was the point — a gentleman. We had several resident romantics who had fallen in love with the moon on the Caribees — they were all gentlemen and quite unlike Mr Sawyer who hadn't an 'h' in his composition. Besides, he detested the moon and everything else about the Caribbean and he didn't mind telling you so. He was agent for a small steamship line which in those days linked up Venezuela and Trinidad with the smaller islands, but he couldn't make much out of that. He must have a private income, people decided, but they never decided why he had chosen to settle in a place he didn't like and to marry a coloured woman. Though a decent, respectable, nicely educated coloured woman, mind you. Mrs Sawyer must have been very pretty once but, what with one thing and another, that was in days gone by. When Mr Sawyer was drunk — this often happened — he used to be very rude to her. She never answered...
Words: 2236 - Pages: 9
...company’s webpage. Question: Can you explain “All of our Shareholders and most of our Staff are involved in community service organizations” the community service organization is like the for example, Tax-Aid? Doing volunteer to get feedback? So from your webpage, you are looking for CPA candidate with 3-5 years working experiences, Do you have internship opportunity for next spring in Entry Level? For international student actually. 2 Rothstein Kass See documents before for interviewing RK I did apply your company few weeks ago and got an phone interview, but she (Jessica) you don’t offer H1B, So I wanna know for Audit intern, will you consider to recruit international student? 3 Tax Aid ???? Training in 2013? I registered training for next year from Jan-Mar. And Volunteer for Feb and Mar. One is SF Housing Development Corporation. And for the training register, I register many of it, I would like to know it is always same for the Training A? If it does, How can I cancel it? 4 Moss Adams Weili Wang. The office tax leader “accounting was a great career option for me, because you can do pretty much anything in business” When it comes to starting your career, it's vital that you have the right skills—and real opportunities to make the most of them. So Moss Adams, What is the right skills? Continue:...
Words: 283 - Pages: 2
...Essay) JUDY BRADY I Want a Wife (1971) Judy Brady’s essay became an instant classic when it appeared in 1971 in the premier issue of the feminist magazine Ms. As you read, analyze the definitions of “husband” and “wife” that Brady uses, and consider why this essay became so powerful in the 1970s. I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother. Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife? I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the children’s doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the children’s clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, who arranges for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes...
Words: 7074 - Pages: 29
...boyfriend. Maya told her family and that man was put in jail for only one day. He was beaten to death a few days after being released from jail, which caused her to become mute for almost 5 years. I think that with everything Maya Angelou has been through, so far in her life, if she was not a strong enough person, she probably would have drowned herself in sorrow and punished herself for all that has happened in her life. Instead, she moved back to Stamps, where her grandmother lived, and began to meet with Ms. Bertha Flowers, who was a family friend and teacher. Ms. Flowers helped Maya with literature, art, and managed to help Maya find her voice again. When Maya hit thirteen years of age, she decided to reunite with her mother in San Francisco. She attended high school and worked very hard. She also received a scholarship to study dance and drama at the California Labor School. Maya had to drop out of high school to become San Francisco’s first female, African-American streetcar conductor. Finally, she returned to school, even though she was pregnant, and still managed to graduate high school. At seventeen, Maya was a single mother, who worked numerous jobs, such as, being a cook, waitressing, and even prostituting, just to be able to support herself and her son. Once again, I feel that in order to be able to make it through high school while being pregnant, is a very challenging task to complete. Apparently, Maya Angelou was...
Words: 608 - Pages: 3
...his public activities. Both Maya Angelou and Collective Soul share the hardships and oppression, which had been given to life and other people. Poem Maya Angelou Still I Rise and song Collective Soul December showing the effects of the individual through positive and negative expression. Poetry Maya Angelou and Collective Soul are similar in some respects, when broken down correctly. Collective Soul wrote "Why drink the water from my hand contagious as you think I am?"; reflects the same idea that the actions of Maya Angelou when she said, "Are you annoyed by my boldness Why did you suffer from sadness"; These two parts of his writings to make a similar question. Why do I push one world I that you can not wait for someone else? "Do not cry, do not just think aloud Turn your head now baby just spit me not to worry, not to speak of doubt Turn your head now baby just spit on me";. This is a complicated way of saying why I respect what you missed, because you can not stand the way I am. Just go with me, I try another law that if I shit. What good do it for you, let me down? I think that the question of the collective soul asks the person or group of persons that will be installed to the slaughter. Maya Angelou asks a similar question when he wrote: "My pride is hurt;?" Do not take an awful hard, because I laugh, I got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs;. This question is your opponent who chooses to treat it differently, like what the team asked the...
Words: 851 - Pages: 4
...two factories the lumber mill and the cotton gin then she work for a years when her costumer depend on her she built a stall between them then she built market. This is the "New Directions" by Maya Angelou. Mrs. Annie Johnson the main character in the New Directions is Maya Angelous grandmother. Maya Angelou is the writer. Annie Johnson is the same person called Momma and Mrs Henderson in " I know why the caged bird sings" which was maya Angelous childhood story. In this essay maya explains how her grandmother pursued a goal of providing for her family (2 sons) at the end of the turning century, economic success was not easy for an African American woman. In many parts of the countrydiscrimination kept African Americans from obtaining an education or high paying jobs. In addition to that being a woman. Woman were considered being men's inferiors and were excluded from the best jobs. Many African American woman could only find work as servants, such as cooks or maids. Annie Johnson however was determined to overcome these obstacles. Starting off by dumping her husband, him taking everything including all the money she starts off with nothing and ends up in the end with a store with people dependent on...
Words: 282 - Pages: 2
...I know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographical account of Maya Angelou that demonstrates how love for literature and having a strong character can play a significant role in overcoming racism and distress. In the course of the story, it is evident that Maya changes from being a casualty of racism to become a young woman with self-dignity and identity that helps her to overcome prejudice. The context of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings focuses on the problems associated with racism that was prevalent in the southern states. Racist oppression is a common theme in the book that is portrayed by all the major characters; in fact, all the other themes in the book are closely related to racism, identity and segregation. In addition, the style and genre, and the structure of this literary work make significant contributions towards its thematic development, which focus on resistance to racism, the significance of the family, self-identity and definition and independence. Walker (95) argues that I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings is characterized by thematic unity, which is achieved using the structure adopted in the text that takes more of a thematic form rather than a chronological form. In addition, Angelou managed to emphasize on the universal ideas in her literary work irrespective of its periodic quality. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou used the major characters of the book to facilitate its thematic development identity, racism and literacy throughout the text...
Words: 2539 - Pages: 11
...for music. Once she published an album, Miss Calypso, she realized that she loved writing more than music and theatre. With a shift in her career, Maya devoted all of her time to become a better writer and poet. A little while after Martin Luther King Jr. passed away, she was confronted by many publishers who wanted her to write an autobiography after hearing about her interesting life. She took up the challenge, and that memoir became her first published piece of writing: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. With such a painful and horrible childhood, Maya Angelou did what most people could not do: she took the good out of it. Instead of wallowing over the negativity, she took everything that happened to her and used it for inspiration for writing. Maya went through the worst; she was poor, African-American, raped, kept silent, and young, which made a powerful memoir that readers could sympathize with. They were not only touched by the pain she experienced, but were also inspired by how she overcame everything thrown in her path. Everybody could relate to her emotions, and she was a clear reminder to suffering people that they were not alone. Patricia Rosier summed it up well. “She was not afraid to fiercely explore her self-identity so that we, too, could fully be who we are” (“Angelou’s Cultural impact”). Maya spun a beautiful web out of the dust she was left in, and her compelling voice, in writing and speech, touched the lives of many. In her collection of autobiographies, Maya...
Words: 1777 - Pages: 8
...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
...Maya Angelou's Early Life Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. Maya and her brother, Bailey, moved to live with their grandmother after the divorce of their parents. The move to Stamps, Arkansas forced Maya to encounter much racism. Despite prevalent racism in town, Maya's grandmother always made sure to teach Maya and her brother strong values. At the age of eight, Maya's mother, Vivian, took the children back to live with her in St. Louis. Shortly after the move, Maya was raped by her mother's live-in boyfriend. This traumatic event caused Maya to become mute for a period of time afterward and withdraw from family and friends. It also created a major rift between Maya and Vivian. At thirteen, Maya moved to San Francisco where she attended George Washington High School and received a scholarship to the California Labor School for dance and drama classes. Maya was one of the only black students in her school and found life in San Francisco intriguing and liberating. Maya's Young Adult Life She became pregnant with her son, Clyde, at age seventeen. Maya had just earned her high school diploma and her dreams of attending college were fleeting. Instead, she took various waitressing and cooking jobs and was even the madam of a brothel. Maya yearned for stardom in her young adult years, but her dancing career did not take off. Soon, Maya figured out that she needed to find a way...
Words: 1719 - Pages: 7
...“Still I Rise” An Inspiring Poem by Maya Angelou “Still I Rise”, a poem written by Maya Angleou in 1978, is a poem that demonstrates an inner strength of determination in accomplishing and overcoming obstacles in life. “Still I Rise”, and other poems created by Maya Angelou, may offer inspiring words of encouragement for many individuals who may be dealing with certain difficult situations in their life. Maya Angelou was born in 1928 in St. Louis Missouri. At a very young age she experienced a very traumatic experience that inspired her to become the person that she is today. During the time that her parents decided to end their marriage, she went to reside with her mother. While residing with her mother, she was sexually assaulted and raped by her mother’s boyfriend. Maya Angelou was scared, hurt, and humiliated. Not knowing where else to turn, she informed her brother of the incident. Upon hearing this, he decided it was best to inform their family. Her mother’s boyfriend was sent to jail; however, he was killed shortly after his release. When Maya Angelou found out about the death of her mother’s boyfriend, she became withdrawn and stopped speaking or talking for several years. She began to blame herself for what had happened to her mother’s boyfriend, because she felt that due to her telling what happened resulted in his death. As time passed, Maya Angelou went to reside with her grandmother. She was embraced by a close family friend who encouraged her to talk...
Words: 1253 - Pages: 6
...Whenever we look at a playground, we supposed to see some children play happily with their peers and some are not. Have you ever wonder what make their behavior are so different? Life span development studies of how people grow and change during all phase of their lives. In the book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings written by Maya Angelou proves that development is multidimensional including biological, cognitive and socioemotional. Maya is three years old and her brother, Bailey, is four experienced broken family and were sent to Stamps, Arkansas with pieces of paper attached on their bodies “to whom may it concern”. They live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, whom soon they called Momma. Maya and Bailey who was born and grew up were abandoned without the love, care and nourishment in a good environment with their biological parents have had many struggles to face during childhood to early adolescence and affect their entire life. As the beginning of the book, Maya was unable to finish her poem “What are you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay…” According to Erikson, Maya must be in initiative versus guilt stage because Maya feels that she is awkward and ugly with kinky hair and dark skin. She dreams to be a beautiful white child with the straight blonde hair and blue eyes, not because she didn’t like herself, but because was taught not to like her Blackness. The social norms with stenotype expectation influences Maya’s development and personality when...
Words: 2711 - Pages: 11
...I choose to write about the meaning that I got from reading Maya Angelou's peom "And Still I Rise" and then watching her read it. Maya Angelou was born April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Maya Angelou was raised in St. louis, MO and also Stamps Arkansas where she had to exsperience racial discrimination that was common during this time. Maya Angelou is one of the most influential voices of our times. She is a global renaissance woman. When I read Maya Angelou's poem it touched me in a very deep way. As I read the poem the meaning that I got from it was that she was speaking of a woman that had to exspreience hard time and was maybe put through some difficult situations. However through it all she did not let it hold her back or cause her to be a negative and bitter person. Maya Angelou's words are very inspirational. I also watched Maya Angelou read the poeam "And I Still Rise". Listening to her read it really changed it a lot it seemed as if the poem was much more deep and meaningful. The words and still I rise was much more powerful when I listened to her read the poem. I believe that people enjoyed reading and listening to Maya Angelou because she spoke so deeply and knowledable. She was a very smart woman who's poems reached all audiences. Her poems are very clear in words which meant they are easyly understood. Maya Angelou exprenced a lot as a child and young adult she had to deal with the rasicism the followed during her early years and even being raped by her mothers...
Words: 298 - Pages: 2
...Marguerite Johnson was born in a segregated area of St. Louis, Arkansas on April 4, 1928. After her parent’s divorce she and her brother, Bailey were sent to live with their grandmother, Annie. As children they shared a very close relationship, and was given the nickname “Maya” by her brother. They moved back to Chicago in 1935 to live with their mother. And was raped at age seven by her mother’s boyfriend. She was very traumatized about this and did not want to talk about it. Her uncle found out and killed the man . Due to this incident Maya was withdrawn from society and remained silent. In 1944 she dropped out of high school and worked as the first Black cable conductor in San Francisco. Maya decided to go back to school and graduated from Mission High school becomes a single mom, with birth of her son Guy at the age of sixteen. In order to have money to support her son and herself she performs at the Purple Onion nightclub in San Francisco and adopts the name Maya Angelou when she married Tosh Angelos. Maya started to read work by William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar were her inspirations to write. Her lyrics, which turned into poetry and short stories and her singing career succeeds to Brooklyn, New York, to join the Harlem Writers Guild. In 1960 Maya Becomes the Northeaster Regional Coordinator for Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She Appeared in a Broadway play, "The Blacks“. She directs and performs in "Cabaret for...
Words: 452 - Pages: 2
...Throughout "I know why the caged bird sings", Maya Angelou portrays her experiences with adversity, as well as the experiences of many others, how she copes with them and how she rises above them. Maya exposes the reality of adversity in all its forms and by the end of the novel we are able to learn what overcoming adversity truly means. One of the social issues seen is that Maya is not getting the attention she needs from her caregivers. The author uses literary devices to explore the issue when she says "she was like a pretty kite that floated just above my head. If I liked I could pull her to me by saying I had to go to the toilet or by starting a fight with Bailey." This simile helps to show that Maya's mother takes care of her basic needs but fails to give her the actual care and attention a child needs. The issue contributes to the text as a whole by demonstrating how Maya might act in certain situations. An example of this is when she liked the attention she was getting from Mr. Freeman at first, although she knew it wasn't right. Overcoming this adversity helped Maya to grow as a person and become more independent. As Maya goes through life she often encounters racism such as when she gets a toothache and Momma takes her to the white dentist. During this time we are able to see discrimination against blacks come to life in front of Maya. The quote "Annie, my policy is that I'd rather stick my hand in a dog's mouth than in a nigger's." is used to portray the discrimination...
Words: 433 - Pages: 2
