maya Angelou Graduation - 1259 Words

09/19/2014 Maya Angelou - 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†¦show more content†¦This may evoke pity from the reader, or simply add intrigue from how she connects it with school. ! Inequality between African Americans and whites was emphasized strongly by Angelou. When Angelou is walking up the hill to her school, she describes the gloomy atmosphere surrounding it—foreshadowing what is to come. When inside the auditorium she also notes that something feels off. Once the two white men walk on stage, the entire atmosphere returns to this gloomy awareness. The use of â€Å"Amen† throughout the speech is a sad reminder of their inequality: it was an automatic response as well as showing how they were lesser than him since no one contended anything he said. Angelou describes the feeling she got when listening to his speech (â€Å"The manÊ ¼s dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too many settled in my belly.†) (29). The fact that everyone just accepted that he was devaluing their achievements and their possibilities made her resign to it as well. While reading this section it makes the reader sympathize with her and brings them closer together. ! AngelouÊ ¼s entire story was about sharing her experience with the outside world and open them up to the fact that African Americans are not below us and are not lesser. It makes people realize that what they work so hard to achieve—what anyone works so hard to achieve—can be spit on once and affect their goals and aspirations to no end. It makes people think twice beforeShow MoreRelatedMaya Angelou s Graduation Day862 Words   |  4 Pagesdiscouraging comments about themselves, their confidence lowers, however, when a person hears uplifting and encouraging compliments, their confidence rises. These ideas appear multiple times throughout Maya Angelou’s, â€Å"Graduation Day†. The story refers to a young girl graduating the eighth grade. Maya Angelou encountered many people who challenged her personal growth because of the words spoken to her. Although common belief states words have no power, words have the power to influence an audience. WordsRead MoreMaya Angelou s Graduation Day1038 Words   |  5 Pagesthe words that lends significance to the inspirational speeches and songs held so dearly in the hearts of many. Due to their significant daily presence, words hold an immense power. In Maya Angelou’s â€Å"Graduation Day,† she carefully describes the intense negative power one man’s words have on an entire community. Angelou also illustrates a very emotional positive power that a boy’s words have in lifting the congregation’s spirits up. Words are depicted as powerful because when used in certain way, theyRead MoreGraduation Speech By Maya Angelou1566 Words   |  7 PagesFebruary 18, 2016 Graduation Graduation is a ceremony that almost every single person is familiar with, thus building the connection of the reader. Graduation is an important transition in one’s life. It represents an accomplishment and signifies moving on to something better, more important and the pathway to use one’s knowledge to achieve one’s life goals. It calls for a celebration along with a grand commencement among family, friends, and peers. Maya Angelou’s, â€Å"Graduation†, is about a youngRead MoreGraduation by Maya Angelou Critique1386 Words   |  6 Pages121 SL May 9, 2012 â€Å"Graduation† Critique â€Å"Graduation† was written by Maya Angelou in 1969. Angelou was born in Missouri, but after her parents divorced, she was sent to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. While in Arkansas, Angelou attended the Lafayette County Training School. The school is the setting for her essay â€Å"Graduation.† Angelou graduated from eighth grade at Lafayette with top honors and went on to graduate from high school. After high school, Angelou wrote over thirty playsRead MoreAnalysis Of Graduation By Maya Angelou960 Words   |  4 PagesEssay on â€Å"Graduation† by Maya Angelou Racial segregation was very dominant in the United States in the mid nineteen hundreds. This is the time that Maya Angelou was graduating from the eighth grade in Stamps Arkansas. The theme of racial segregation is well shown by the how different the schools of the African-Americans was compared to that of whites in the essay â€Å"Graduation† by Maya Angelou. In the essay the Angelou points out that Lafayette County Training School didn’t have a lawn, hedges, tennisRead MoreAnalysis Of Graduation By Maya Angelou766 Words   |  4 Pagesthat teaches you a lesson for us in order to win the journey of our life. In the essay, Graduation, Maya Angelou states about the unfair treatment of whites against the African Americans during the graduation. There are situations in life where we feel discriminated but no matter what we have to gain the strength to prosper. In this article, Angelou talks about her eight-grade graduation experience. Angelou mainly focused about the unfair treatment of African Americans during that time becauseRead MoreAnalysis Of Graduation Day By Maya Angelou728 Words   |  3 PagesAre encouraging words the uniting force when fighting injustice? In â€Å"Graduation Day,† Maya Angelou addresses how encouraging words affected the injustice she faced as a child. Angelou informs her audience about the influence encouraging words had on her and the people in her community. These uplifting words united her community in a time of overwhelming bias. Encouraging words unite oppressed people to fight injustice. Spiritual words unite communities to fight injustice and practice in good worksRead MoreThe Rhetorical Analysis Of Mary Crow Dog And Graduation By Maya Angelou1640 Words   |  7 Pageswriting to be effective or not. Mary Crow Dog and Maya Angelou are both effective rhetors because their rhetorical situations work together to make their essays compelling. â€Å"Civilize Them with a Stick† by Mary Crow Dog and â€Å"Graduation† by Maya Angelou each introduce effective rhetorical situations as they establish their individual identity through their educational experiences. â€Å"Civilize Them with a Stick† by Mary Crow Dog and â€Å"Graduation† by Maya Angelou are each experts of autobiographies writtenRead MoreThe Comparison Of Hunger Of Memory By Richard Rodriguez And Graduation By Maya Angelou926 Words   |  4 PagesThe comparison of Hunger of Memory by Richard Rodriguez and Graduation by Maya Angelou are the two characters that went through a similar education while growing up from elementary to high school. Rodriguez and his family moved in a neighborhood where they were only near the Caucasians. All of their neighbors were Caucasian including, Rodriguez and his siblings went to a Catholic School. While he was learning in school Rodriguez loved to read and wanted to become a writer when he grew up. After graduatingRead MoreUxt Task 1945 Words   |  4 Pagesreading, â€Å"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. â€Å"Cause I walk like I got oil wells pumping in my living room†(Angelou, 1978), and, â€Å"Laugh like I’ve got gold mines diggin’ in my own back yard† (Angelou, 1978), tells me that the author