“Graduation”
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is a master story-teller. Once I start reading something of hers, I am pulled into her story. Her inclusion of concrete details, beautiful phrases, and conjuring of vivid images makes me able to imagine everything she says although her stories occur in a world different from mine. Her imagery is original and not cliché. I especially love “Years of withdrawal were brushed aside and left behind, as hanging ropes of parasitical moss,” and “With that his voice nearly faded, thin, away. Like a river diminishing to a stream and then to a trickle.” Her colorful wording made the story unique.
Although written beautifully, I admire Maya Angelou’s ability to create meaning and a message through her stories. Thus her tales are more than fluff. The substance is in her message and intentions for sharing the story. I hope that I will learn to tell stories like she can. I want to share more than my experience; I want to share what those experiences taught me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I too love Maya Angelou. I love to hear her voice reading poetry. I only wish she could have read this essay to me. It was a very interesting story she told. The mixed feelings from her graduation day. It is interesting that she remembers any of it. For me, my graduation was a blur. We marched in lines, sat in chairs on the football field and all I could notice was the beautiful sunset that was right behind a hill near us. I have no memories of the speakers or what our class motto was. I love the she learned and gained something from that experience. The fact that she felt beat down with everyone else around her and then rose up in a song with the people she most identifies with was amazing. Her emotions were clear and powerful in her writing.
This piece presents an interesting dichotomy between Maya and the boy she calls Henry, between the bright hope of the negro population and the mechanical product that is produced to obey. Maya describes hearing the graduation speaker in horror as he places their graduating class in certain restrictions while the white high school has every opportunity in the world. Her heart is pierced with the dignity she was raised with while Henry promptly gives the speech he is exoected to. I think this significant because it shows a narrow view of the choice negros have in front of them. They can either think of the dreams they wish to accomplice and let nothig get in their way, or they can let themselves be repressed by the dominant white culture and stay in the pre-set limits. The courage inside Maya told her to ignore what other were telling her to do and instead concentrate on the things most important to her.
Post a Comment