People say I’m too black; they say I'm different because of my coarse black hair, full lips, and curvaceous body. This stereotype above is what many people use to describe black people, but it is false and should not exist. To add to the stereotype many of my peers wound me by saying repugnant comments like “you ain’t neva gone be nothin” or “only thing you will be good at is lying on your back.” These factors contribute to the constant suffering I go through. Is this all I'm good for? Why can’t I be lifted up for once? I sit in my cramped, somber room wishing I was more, wishing that I could accomplish my goals without feeling incompetent, vacuous, or unwise. My attention was drawn to the smell of smothered chicken and mashed potatoes. For …show more content…
“The woman who survives intact and happy must be at once tender and tough. She must have convinced herself, or be in the unending process of convincing herself, that she, her values, and her choices are important.” said Mama. Thus it is vital that I not let people's stereotypical ways diminish or harm me, I must not allow them to get under my skin. Getting out of bed is wearying. I wake up comb my thick hair, brush my teeth, and get dressed. Numerous times I have thought about kids taunting me however, I began to recollect what mama said to me. She left the book on the kitchen table for me to read. I stood on the porch looking out past the yellow field, to the dirt road where the bus picks me up. My stomach cringes at the thought of going to school, but the rain soothed me, music was made and when the sun came out, a flawless ornamentation …show more content…
Anna, a white girl with blond hair with purple ribbons in it threw a piece of bread at me. Why would she do that? Why is that amusing to the other white kids? The bus ride became nerve-racking. Walking into the school was even more stressful. My attention was now drawn to the fondness of my first period. Ms. Jackson was aware of the tyrannizing caused by the egotistical children, she helps and supports me. “Ms. Jackson, why is Nema always so dirty?” said Anna. The feeling of disgust in myself came back. “Now how would ya feel if someone told you that?” said Ms. Jackson as she walked away from the board. The Bell rung and the children darted out the door. I sat by myself in the room, my heart beating as fast as the streaming rain. “Nema, what ya readin’?” asked Ms Jackson. “Wouldn’t Take Nothing For My Journey Now, by Maya Angelou” I said. She walked over toward my desk and stood there, I guess she wanted me to read it to
"Angelou, Maya (née Marguerite Annie Johnson)." Encyclopedia of African-american Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 12 March 2014.
Attending an integrated school like Handley all my life, I have never opened my eyes to the true brutality of racism. I catch myself rolling my eyes every time someone declares something racist because it seems that it is called for attention. I learn about more racism stories in history classes every year to the point that it no longer influences my opinion of the subject. Racism seems so normal because of the fact that the south has always been a racist place, but my generation did not live through the worst of it. The most racist times in the south can only be explained to us in videos and text books, but these will never elucidate the true struggles African Americans were put through. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou delineates
Maya Angelou was one of America’s greatest writers in history. She was known for her many writings and for her part in Civil Rights Movements. Maya Angelou went through many hardships during her childhood, the most prevalent of those, racism over her skin color. This racism affected where she grew up, where she went to school, even where she got a job. “My education and that of my Black associates were quite different from the education of our white schoolmates. In the classroom we all learned past participles, but in the streets and in our homes the Blacks learned to drops s’s from plurals and suffixes from past tense verbs.” (Angelou 221) Maya Angelou was a strong believer in a good education and many of those beliefs were described in her
`Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl' and `I Know Why the Caged Bird
"I had decided that St. Louis was a foreign country. In my mind I had only stayed there for a few weeks. As quickly as I understood that I had not reached my home, I sneaked away to Robin's Hood's Forest and the caves of Alley Oop where all reality was unreal and even that changed my day. I carried the same shield that I had used in Stamps: 'I didn't come to stay.'"
Maya Angelou is an author and poet who has risen to fame for her emotionally filled novels and her deep, heartfelt poetry. Her novels mainly focus on her life and humanity with special emphasis on her ideas of what it means to live. The way she utilizes many different styles to grab and keep readers’ attention through something as simple as an autobiography is astounding. This command of the English language and the grace with which she writes allows for a pleasant reading experience. Her style is especially prominent in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", where the early events of Angelou’s life are vividly described to the reader in the postmodern literary fashion.
Throughout life each individual goes through experiences both bad and good that help shape who they are and will become. These experiences often teach us our values and beliefs systems. We take these learned values and apply them to how we view the world around us. Maya Angelou is a great example of a woman who through her trials and tribulations became a better person willing to fight for what she believed to be right. Maya Angelou uses the literary device of theme to portray what she has learned through her life experiences.
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird and Maya Angelou’s I know Why the Caged Bird Sings both take aim at the same topic: racism in the American South. And they do so through a similar medium too. In both cases, the protagonist of the tale is a young girl, an innocent, who is observing the corruption around her. The biggest difference between them, however, is the difference of race. The protagonist of Lee’s work, Scout, is a white girl born into a position of privilege, and Angelou’s self-styled character Maya is a black girl experiencing the disadvantages that come not just with her skin color but also from living with poverty as well. The experiences that each girl lives through are very different because of their positions in society, but
Hello everyone, I am Naya-Monet Sembe . First off, I just want to thank everyone for taking the time out of your day to listen to my speech. Have you ever heard a wise saying by Maya Angelou “ I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel .” Now I really want to hit some good points today in regards to the reputation of African- Americans. What I see in this world today is the outlook African-Americans have that white people view as a bad habit, i’m not racist. Everyday it seems like we are living in the same building split into both sides. An example, would be protest. What does protest have to do with anything? I feels as though that for us African-Americans we have the “ Black Lives Matter”
The early 1930’s a time where segregation was still an issue in the United States it was especially hard for a young African American girl who is trying to grow and become an independent woman. At this time, many young girls like Maya Angelou grew up wishing they were a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes. That was just the start of Angelou's problems though. In the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou goes into great depth about her tragic childhood, from moving around to different houses, and running away and having a child at the age of 16. This shows how Maya overcame many struggles as a young girl.
The joy of the upcoming days getting close-up to a special event of her 8th graduation from Lafayette County Training School in Stamps, Arkansas was the main focus of Maya Angelou’s “Graduation.” A young African American flourishing scholar waiting with excitement and hope for her graduation moment, and to began a new journey in the real world. Angelou implies her overall excitement into the conflicts of issues that shows a reflection of societal problems that still occur in today’s society. It emphasizes how people have to be strong in everyday life as Maya Angelou did with all circumstances; referring to racism. All Maya’s dreams, hopes and expectations to her graduation day were suddenly shut by a white politician man known as Mr. Edward
Maya Angelou’s poem, the Mothering Blackness, tells the reader a story about a girl and her relationship with her mother. Within the poem, there are three stages of progression, where each stanza embodies one of them. In the first stanza first the girl returning is home. The second is the way she acts when she returns. Finally the last stanza is about the situation she returns to. Each stanza has the same structure of line indents and word phrasing. Repetition adds an emphasis on the situation description of the poem. As for the situation, it helps to provide a setting for the concept of blackness. For example, blackness is personified as the girl’s mother but the idea also attempts to tackle the complex idea of how blackness is viewed, in not only the narrator’s life but society as well. This paper
Maya Angelou is a well acclaimed poet, author, and civil rights activist. Though she passed away in 2014, her work continues to awe and inspire people worldwide. Angelou had written numerous poems, but in this analysis I will be focusing on “Caged Bird,” “Phenomenal Woman,” and finally “Touched by An Angel.” In these works we see her approach issues such as equality, racism, feminism, love and many more issues as well. Angelou is a very skilled poet; though some people find her work too straight forward and little more than common text broken into stanzas. Maya Angelou 's poems are easy to understand; and though I do enjoy her work, I find that how she structures her poems can be confusing
Society creates the thought of what makes an ideal woman; however, Maya Angelou shows us what truly makes an authentic woman in her poem, “Phenomenal Woman.” The word “Phenomenal” is defined as something that is magnificent, remarkable, breathtaking, as well as extraordinary. This poem illustrates confidence and beauty from within, instead of the conventional view that society tends to have, which only focuses on the appearance. She shows how to acknowledge womanhood. One is able to appreciate the poem, even further, by analyzing many of the poetry elements that Maya Angelou illustrates, such as imagery, tone, and diction.
It is said that when we look in the mirror, we see our reflection; but what is it that we really see? Some people look through the glass and see a totally different person. All across the world identity is an issue that many women have. Woman today must be skinny, tall, thick, fair skinned and have long hair in order to be considered beautiful. Maya Angelou feels otherwise, as she gives women another way to look at themselves through her poem "Phenomenal Woman".