Maya Angelou Graduation Day Analysis

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A smile expresses joy or hides grief. Specific words, however, solidify the intention and emotion of human interactions. Maya Angelou's memoir, "Graduation Day", illustrates confusing, condescending, and encouraging words from her eighth grade graduation ceremony. The fateful ceremony leaves a life-long impression on Angelou's maturing process of coping with adversity as spoken words transition from one position to another with each presenter. Spoken words inspire success or dictate failure, which shape the hearers' opinion of both the speaker and themselves.
Words direct emotions in a powerful way. Angelou looks to the principal of the Lafayette County Training School as one who's words instill confidence and encouragement. As the host of the graduation ceremony and the first speaker at the platform, the principal expresses himself with polite words, even though …show more content…

The guest speaker of the graduation, Mr. Donleavy, uses condescending comparison of the black school to the privileged white school in order to contrast the educational expectations of the schools to both the graduates and their parents. He manipulates the thoughtless words, "[glad] to see the work going on just as it was in the other schools", (Angelou, 2014, p. 185), demeaning the graduates' education. Angelou and Henry Reed reach the top of their class, yet Mr. Donleavy conveys no respect for the quality of education earned at Lafayette, condemning them to be "maids and farmers, handymen and washerwoman, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous" (Angelou, 2014, p. 186). His words leave the feeling of failure upon the class which cannot be overcome, even by the recitation of "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" (Angelou, 2014, p. 187). Because derogatory words allow lies to fester, Angelou feels she has "no control over [her] life" and thinks "we should all be dead" (Angelou, 2014, p.

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