Hope is an attribute in life that many people cling to. It gives people courage and reasons to continue striving in everyday life, especially in the toughest of times. The autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, published in 1969, followed Angelou’s childhood growing up in the South as a minority, the problems that she faced because of that, how she overcame those problems, and how she still found hope. The theme represented in this autobiography is that in every storm faced in life it may feel like there’s nothing left; however, there will always be hope that can still be found.
The book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of writer and poet Maya Angelou. It is the first of six volumes about Maya’s life and the hardships she faced growing up and even in adulthood. This book covers the years from the early 1930's, up until about 1970. Out of the six, it is probably the most popular and critically acclaimed volume, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of personality and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma. All of her volumes center around the themes of family, self-discovery, and motherhood, though in expressions of writing fashion and plot each of the books are different. At the beginning of the book abandoned by their parents, three-year-old Maya and her older brother, Bailey, are sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, and as the book ends Maya becomes a mother at the age of 17. Throughout the course of the book, lessons are taught and learned and Maya is totally changed from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-confident, distinguished young woman competent of responding to discrimination.
In perhaps her most notable work I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings “Angelou’s account of her childhood and adolescence chronicles her frequent encounters with racism, sexism, and classism at the same time that she ...
... rises in the end and will continue to rise every day until the end of time. Just like moons and like suns (Angelou 8). By using this comparison it gives off an aura of invincibility because there is really nothing in this world that can stop the sun and moon from rising every day.
The question has been raised as to whether Oedipus was a victim of fate or of his own actions. This essay will show that Oedipus was a victim of fate, but he was no puppet because he freely and actively sought his doom, although he was warned many times of the inevitable repercussions of his actions.
...inia and Agamemnon, respectively. However, in the third play, the role of sleep becomes more ambiguous—it no longer represents a division, instead it is a struggle. Similarly, the third play calls for a new system of justice, one that weighs the right and wrong of each side to come a fair conclusion, as seen in Orestes' trial. Just as the clear separation of right and wrong is emphasized by a clear meaning of sleep in the first two plays, this more ambiguous definition of justice is complemented by a more ambiguous definition of sleep. Thus, while emphasizing the awareness of different characters, the image of sleep throughout the trilogy also serves to distinguish the old system of justice from the new.
Tragedy is like a roll of the dice. Although you may feel like you are in control, there is nothing you can do to control the outcome. Fate cannot be changed, and in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, Oedipus Rex learns this the hard way when he tries his best to avoid and change the tragedy that was prophesied when he was born. Oedipus ends up living a life full of fear of a prophecy he cannot stop, however, he ends the play nobly and tries to fix the wrongs he had done by giving himself punishment by gouging his eyes out and exiling himself from his own kingdom, as well as ensuring that his daughters will not follow the same fate that he did.
"Angelou, Maya (née Marguerite Annie Johnson)." Encyclopedia of African-american Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 12 March 2014.
3.The paper will also talk about their contributions to the growth of the international popularity in the rap industry.
I enjoy Theogony because it tells a story about how earth came to be in its present form.
The personal choice of a righteous life is taught by Job, while a fated beginning and a fated ending, regardless of human choice, is the sad lot of Oedipus. These two men were given separate fates by separate gods and were forced to live with the outcome. From the beginning Job is given the opportunity to survive. Even in the midst of all his pain and suffering there does exist the opportunity for success. Oedipus on the other hand is fated from the beginning, from birth. The gods decide his fate and there is no escape from the gods. Both of these stories focus on the idea of resignation to the will of a god or gods. However, they leave the reader with two different views of the idea of fate and suffering.
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.
Following the adventures of the Golden Fleece during which Medea betrayed her barbarian country of Colchis as well as her family, Medea happily lives in Corinth with Jason until he betrays her to marry Glauce, Princess of Corinth. As Medea grieves over her loss, her nurse fears what Medea may do to herself and her children. A chorus of Corinthian women visits to comfort Medea. King Creon, Glauce's father, visits Medea and sentences her and her sons to exile, fearing what she may do to his daughter; however, Medea convinces him to delay her exile for one day, giving her time to enact her vengeance. Jason also visits Medea and attempts to explain himself. The nurse laments the search for the Golden Fleece since it led Medea to Corinth with Jason. The Golden Fleece symbolizes the harmony of Medea and Jason’s early love and also Medea’s betrayal of her family and homeland for
In a very important scene, Medea hatches her plan to murder the princess, who is Jason’s new bride, as well as Jason himself. She says that first, she will pretend to beg for Jason’s forgiveness, and then she will have him bring the children back to the palace. At the palace, the children will present gifts to the princess from Medea. The gifts of a veil and bridal robe were covered with a poison that is designed to melt the skin from her body, as well as anyone who touched her. When the children give the gifts to the princess, she cannot resist putting them on immediately. After she put them on, the gifts begin to work as Medea had hoped. The skin begins to melt from her body and her hair begins to fall out. She also bursts into flames. Upon seeing this, a servant goes to fetch the king and Jason, and when he saw his daughter, King Creon collapses helplessly on the body, and as a result died from the same poisons. Jason returns to the place where Medea is staying and insists to see his children. But he is too late, as Medea has killed them as well. Her reasoning was that she hates Jason more than she loves her children. The sheer cruelty of this scene illustrates Euripides’ point that a clever woman with enough time to hatch a plan is a very dangerous woman indeed.
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. Lincolnwood, Illinois. NTC Publishing Group: 1999.