This passage was about Maya Angelou’s eighth grade graduation. Out of all the excerpts we have read, I think this one was the most well-written. Angelou uses a lot of figurative language throughout the passage. It is pretty evident to the reader that she is a poet because of the way she writes and describes the setting and the people. Although it was much more well-written than the others, I don’t think it was as interesting to read as some of the other passages. The subject matter itself wasn’t that interesting compared to the other passages. It also required the reader to pay more attention because she went into such intricate details.
Graduation reminded me a lot of Beauty: When the Other Dancer is the Self because they both felt dehumanized by an obstacle (Alice Walker’s injury and Edward Donleavy’s speech), but eventually overcame it and learned to embrace themselves. Both are very successful black women that do not let race, or other people get in the way of their success. Walker and Angelou turned out to both be successful in school and pushed themselves to be in the top of their class.
Although Mr. Donleavy’s condescending speech was directed specifically at the black community, people of every race have felt the way Angelou did at her graduation. Before the passage, Angelou says, “I speak to the Black experience, but I am always talking about the human condition.” This was a very important quote, because it allowed people to easily locate the theme in the rest of the passage. People face bigotry everyday, and it is not always racially inspired. I think it was important that Angelou said this because it allows for all her readers to connect to the text.
Thats interesting that the better written passage was the least interesting to you. Apparently when writing for an audience, sometimes what someone writes about is more important than how they write it. You make a good point that Ill have to consider whenever I do any writing!
ReplyDeleteI like that you point out that it is clear that Angelou is a poet from her writing. There is definitely a lot of very detailed description in the beginning of the story. Why do you think she, as a writer, felt the description was necessary? I also think that the word "dehumanized" is a very good one to capture how she felt after Donleavy's speech. You also mention her resiliance. In this essay, what or who does Angelou give credit to for helping her survive and thrive despite the difficulties she faced?
ReplyDelete