Maya Angelou's Graduation Speech Critique

Graduation By Maya Angelou Analysis
Maya Angelou was one of the greatest writers of all time. Born in 1914, she wrote both about her
personal life and the struggles of being an African American. Maya lived the struggle and the raw
emotions she fills flow through her writings. Graduation is just one of her writings. In this short
story she tells about the life of a young black girl graduating from 8th grade from the rural
segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas. Stamps had two schools, the white school and the black
school. "Unlike the white high school, Lafayette County Training School distinguished itself by
having neither lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis court, nor climbing ivy. Its two buildings (main
classrooms, the grade school and home economics) were set on a dirt hill...show more content...
It was a big deal to have ready made clothes and new shoes. "My class was wearing butter–yellow
pique dresses, and momma launched out on mine." (Angelou 76) She was quite proud of her
dress and excited for the day. She felt her opportunities were not limited by her years in school.
"Besides, many teachers in Arkansas Negro schools had only that diploma and were licensed to
impart wisdom." (Angelou 76) She and a classmate were the top of her class. The young man
ended up being the valedictorian of the class. "No absences, no tardinesses, and my academic
work was among the best of the year." (Angelou 77) She admired the young man and look forward
to his speech "To Be or Not to Be". It was a tradition to give presents when a child changed grades
and she was enjoying the attention and gifts from family and friends. On graduation day a white
politician came to give the speech. He was in a hurry from the start and gave little to no attention
to the audience. In the speech he talked about how the white school was getting new microscopes
and chemistry equipment. If elected he would see that they received better athletic equipment.
"The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos and Madame Curies and Edisons
and Gauguin's, and our boys (the girls weren't even in on it) would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe
Louises." (Angelou 82) By the end of the speech the young girl along with her whole
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Graduation By Maya Angelou
Brendan Moxley Mrs. Barton AP English Lang & Comp 7 October 2014 Graduation OPR In an
excerpt from her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings called "Graduation," Maya Angelou
narrates the anticipation surrounding graduation in her small town of Stamps, Alabama. Angelou
effectively contrives noteworthy differences between paragraphs 1 through 5 and 6 through 10
through the use of emotional and descriptive diction, powerfully bold comparisons, and a shift in
perspective in order to instill pride and dignity in Angelou and her race despite the era's highlighted
social injustices which she endures. Angelou employs emotional and descriptive diction in order to
create a dignified tone, to illustrate the setting, and to emphasize the prominent...show more content...
Angelou begins the excerpt narrating the "graduation epidemic" surrounding the town in the third
person. Starting with paragraph 6, Angelou shifts to a first–person narrative, which provides an
informative insight into her personal experiences regarding her graduation. This shift in perspective
marks important stylistic differences: initially Angelou focuses on conveying the experiences of the
class as a whole, whereas after paragraph 6 she focuses on her own experiences, through which
several contrasts can be drawn. Rhetorically, these contrasts signify that identical rhetorical strategies
will have completely different connotations. For example, Angelou's classmates whose "future[s]
rode heavily on their shoulders," emulate not Angelou, as "youth and social approval allied
themselves with [her] and [she] trammeled memories of slights and insults." Without the shift in
perspective, no contrasts could be drawn between paragraphs 1 through 5 and 6 through

Analysis Of Graduation By Maya Angelou
The Prevalence of Gender Discrimination Life is not always easy as we think, each and every one
had a bad experience in your life that 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 because they were not values on
their educational intelligence. Also, the white people were in charge of the African...show more
content...
I was raised in India, where parents considered their son to be more superior than their daughter.
Even in my family, sometimes I feel that my parents like my brother more than me. They usually
allow him to hang out with his friends during night but I was restricted to go out with my friends
just because I am a girl. When I got restricted many times for the things that I liked to do, many
times I got offended and felt inferior to my brother just like Angelou felt when she got insulted.
Gender discrimination is not something that we can see in our home but also when we look into
our society, we can see many types of discrimination. It can be in school, workplace, bus or even
in train. The main problem with our society is that people consider women as powerless or
someone to be in home to look after the kids. People think that some works can be done by only
men so they just hire male workers by thinking that female workers can't do heavy works. Also,
there will be unequal wages between male and female workers by just looking into their gender.
Sometimes men get higher wages because the boss think that males are the one who take care of
the family. In some cases, if woman is pregnant, some employers do not even like to interview or
hire them just because they are pregnant. So, in most cases, women have to hide their pregnancy
because of the fire they get fired. These kinds of gender discrimination

Maya Angelou's Graduation
Gender, socio economic status and culture, impact ones educational outcomes in many ways;
women, minority races and people with certain socio economic statuses, do not receive better
opportunities in education. In the story "graduation" by Maya Angelou she describes the hardships
she had being a poor black woman in school. In the New York Times article "1 in 4 Women
experience sex assault on campus" by Richard Perez PeГ±a it discusses the results of surveyed
woman in college campuses across the United States that experienced sexual assault at school. In
the essay "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood" by Richard Rodriguez, he describes the
difficulties of growing up as a bilingual child.
In Maya Angelou's "Graduation", she discusses the discrimination...show more content...
Edward Donleavy. Donleavy spoke to an audience that consisted of graduates and parents, about
the potential that all the graduating class students had. He speaks about the opportunities that the
graduating class has in the future for academics, and also speaks of the opportunity to become
athletes. Angelou states "He went on to praise us. He went on to say how he had bragged that
one of the best basketball players at Fisk sank his first ball right here at Lafayette County Training
School." (par. 39) Donleavy is aware that the only thing the black students can look forward to is to
be a service worker or an athlete. "The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos
and Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren't even in on it)
would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises." (par.40) He is trying to convince the audience to
embrace their fate as "Negros".
Angelou feels dismayed about the situation and says "It was awful to be a Negro and have no
control over my life." (par. 47) In the last few paragraphs of the essay, Angelou describes how
everyone sang the Negro national anthem and how they all came together and she says "We were
on top again. As always, again. We survived." (par. 61) Although Angelou was put down by
Donleavy, in the end Angelou felt that she was a proud member of "the wonderful, beautiful negro
race." (par.

Graduation is often a time of celebration for not only those graduating, but for the family members
and friends of those going through the ceremonial transition. The children in Stamps, Arkansas that
are graduating alongside Marguerite Johnson know that they're celebrating more than just that. Upon
reading the story, Angelou reveals the initial feelings of excitement and hope for everyone's future;
Those feelings quickly overwhelm with disappointment due to human prejudices. In Maya Angelou
's, "Graduation", Marguerite Johnson's ultimate feeling of pride in her academic achievements and
approaching graduating is confronted when the commencement speaker delivers an undermining
speech that addressed his stereotypical views of African–Americans

"Graduation" by Maya Angelou Critique
Danielle Davis
Eileen Thompson
English 121 SL
May 9, 2012
"Graduation" Critique "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 "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 plays,
poems, children's books, and one of her autobiographies, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
(Smelstor and Bruce). "Graduation" starts with Angelou's generalization of a high school senior's
...show more content...
The themes are identity and education. The essay can be found in Angelou's autobiography, "I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." The autobiography describes how living in the south during
the Depression was a time for survival (Ball). The message of "Graduation" is the same; no
matter what obstacles arise she will survive. Angelou deserves an "A" for this essay because she
has strong examples of overcoming obstacles, sophisticated descriptions, and has a clear sense of
purpose with strong development. Angelou's example of overcoming adversity is the strongest at
the end of the essay. "Something unrehearsed, unplanned, was going to happen, and we were
going to be made to look bad" (Angelou 26). As she is sitting there as a young girl at her
graduation, she can feel the unwelcoming presence of the speaker's words and actions. Before the
speaker begins his political rant of what he has brought to the white community, Angelou anticipates
that the graduating class is going to be shamed. Angelou believes the speaker's words, and starts to
doubt her hopes and dreams. "The man's dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too
many settled in my belly" (Angelou 28). As Henry Reed starts to sing the Negro national anthem,
Angelou finally senses that the words do have meaning to her. Nearly every event that Angelou
mentions in her autobiography has one of two different aims. The aim she uses in this essay is how
she faces obstacles, overcomes them, and

What Is The Theme Of Graduation By Maya Angelou
The thoughts and/or opinions of others often have to be overlooked or else they'll ruin every happy
moment that is to come. In Maya Angelou's story, Graduation, she discusses her eighth–grade
graduation. Maya describes how she feels after listening to someone else opinion on her and the
rest of African Americans of her graduating class at that time. This person's opinion had a huge
impact on Maya herself, and the crowd. No one ever wants to feel wretched on the most
memorable day of their life but this is exactly what took place on the day of Maya's graduation. It
was a warm Friday and everyone was thrilled about the graduation,
"The children in Stamps trembled visibly with anticipation. Some adults were excited too, but to be
certain the whole young population had come down with graduation epidemic." Maya was so
excited that Friday morning she stated: "I hoped the memory of that morning would never leave
me." Her parents closed their store the day of the graduation with a...show more content...
The truth is Mr.Donleavy only wants the votes of the people he could care less about the
graduation which can easily identify in the passage."Our speaker tonight, who is also our friend,
came from Texarkana to deliver the commencement address, but due to the irregularity of the
train schedule, he's going to, as they say, "speak and run." Mr.Donleavy was an evil villain in this
story or more like a stormy cloud that rained on everyone's parade. "The man's dead words fell like
bricks around the auditorium and too many settled in my belly." "....... but to my left and right, the
proud graduating class of 1940 had dropped their heads." "Every girl in my row had found
something new to do with her handkerchief." This PROUD graduating class had their happiness
taken from them in an instant not only

Maya Angelou Graduation
In "Graduation" by Maya Angelou, Angelou discusses her feelings at her graduation ceremony.
She speaks on how excited her and her peers we're to be graduating, on to be a little let down. All
though at the end she feels a bit of encouragement from another classmate. She goes on to show
that what some people say can have a positive or negative meaning to it just by that person's tone
of voice. The author faces a conflict at her graduation ceremony. During the ceremony two people
come up to the stage to speak to the graduating class. The first is was the valedictorian of the
graduating class of 1940, Hennery Reed, who gives a very encouraging and well spoken speech.
The second person to speak at the ceremony was a white man, Mr. Edward Donleavy, who's
speech talks down towards the African American students who are graduating. This conflict is
resolved after Henry Reed turns to his graduating class and begins to sing "Lift Ev'ry Voice and
Sing", to which Angelou feels some sort of relief, thanking all the black poets and song writers for
making life more bearable through their songs and tales....show more content...
Who will compute the lonely nights made less lonely by your songs, or by the empty pots made
less tragic by your tales?". This shows that during Angelou's time, without the songs and poems
written by African American poets, there would be nothing for black people to help tell them
that life can always get better. There wouldn't be any way for them to rid their sorrows. Angelou
also says, "My name had lost its ring of familiarity and I had to be nudged to go and receive my
diploma. All my preparations had fled". This shows that Angelou no longer felt as if she
accomplished a goal. After Mr. Edward Donleavy speech, she felt as if blacks could not achieve
much after they get a diploma. The speech of discouragement led her to go onto the stage and
receive her diploma in

Maya Angelou Graduation Day Essay
Society has an overpowering voice that can cause many negative affects on one's mindset. Society
has various expectations, sometimes forcing one to give up on what they strive for because the
expectations seem impossible to achieve. In "Graduation Day," written by Maya Angelou, her
dignity becomes challenged by the discouraging words left by Mr. Donleavy. Throughout graduation,
Angelou's attitude transitions from anger to proud. Although Angelou faces adversity, through the
astonishing experiences of her graduation day, she gains a greater mentality of herself. Rejecting the
stereotype Donleavy gives them, Angelou's uses the adversity to make herself stronger by going
beyond the limitations peers have set.
Because of Angelou's outstanding academic achievement, she is eager to graduate the eighth grade.
Angelou's eight grade Graduation quickly approached, and she was graduating as one of the top in
here class. "No absences, no tardiness, and my academic work was among the best of the year."
(Angelou, pp.180). This quote shows the dedication Angelou put towards her...show more content...
Due to a conflict in schedule, the expected speaker for the ceremony could not make it. Instead they
introduced and unexpected speaker by the name of Mr. Edward Donleavy. Instead of giving a
rewarding, and inspiring speech Donleavy begins to brag on the white school about all the academic
accomplishments they were making, while he informs of the progress they were making instead
with athletics rather than academics. "It was awful to be a Negro and have no control over my
life. It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought
against my color with no chance of defense. We should all be dead." (Angelou, pp. 184). "Hadn't
he got the message? There was no "nobler in the mind" for Negros because the world didn't think
we had minds, and they let us know it." (Angelou, p.

Maya Angelou Graduation Essay
In the accounts of Maya Angelou and Mah'Ria Pruitt–Martin, similarities arise as each girl
encounters a battle to gain her education amidst deterring circumstances. Angelou's educational
battle can be seen in her essay "Graduation," in which she recounts her eighth–grade graduation in
the 1930s and her new found awareness of racial prejudice. The story of Pruitt–Martin, a black girl
who experienced integration in the 2010s, was brought to public attention through the work of a
reporter named Nikole Hannah Jones. Jones' work was broadcasted through a podcast series called
This American Life in which she participated in an interview process. Pruitt–Martin's integration
experience occurred after the Normandy school district, a predominantly black...show more content...
In preparation for the graduation ceremony, Angelou explains that she and her companions had their
"hair brushed back, legs oiled, new dresses and pressed pleats, fresh pocket handkerchiefs and little
handbags, all homesewn" (Angelou 52). The greatest of care was put forth in honor of this day, from
the painstakingly homesewn dresses, furnished with equally intricate accessories, down to ensuring
even the legs of the graduates shined. The community showed their appreciation for determined
individuals such as Angelou through their turnout for her graduation: "I joined my comrades and
didn't even see my family go in to find seats in the crowded auditorium" (Angelou 52). In a
community where little can be spared, devotion of precious resources, such as time, speaks more
than words in attributing importance to education. Similarly, Nikole Jones notices the importance
Pruitt–Martin's community placed on education through the words of Leslie McSpadden, a black
mother grieving for her recently shot son: "You know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in
school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many!" ("The Problem"). Of all
the things a grief stricken mother could be concerned with, the wasted potential of education was
foremost in McSpadden's mind. This reaction was prompted by her son's irregular achievement
compared to other black men like him. As both Angelou and Pruitt–Martin's community faced
challenges in attaining their educations, the importance of knowledge grew with its

The power of language and its ability to deconstruct and reconstruct not only the individual's identity
but also a community's identity is the overall main point in Maya Angelou's "Graduation" piece.
Angelou is able to capture this in her writing through her personal experience, and also
simultaneously by using the example of American society's social infrastructure which can limit
opportunities for people of color, specifically the black community. After Edward Donleavy, a white
politician during the late 30's/ early 40's, had spoken down on the students from Lafayette Country
Training School, down on their black community, a sense of defeat filled the auditorium. Angelou's
simile, "the man's dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too many settled in my
belly." (Language Acts,...show more content...
Her black racial identity was also reduced to nothing. "Hadn't he heard the whitefolks? We couldn't
be..." (Language Acts, pp 11, paragraph 52). Thus the black community of Stamps, Arkansas and the
black communities outside of Stamps, Arkansas, were reduced to nothing. Yet Henry Reed, the
valedictorian of Maya's graduating class of 1940, used the power of language to reconstruct not only
Angelou's identity, but also the black American's identity. He changed his original valedictorian
speech into singing the "Negro National Anthem" (", pp 11, paragraph 56) which brought strength
and acknowledgement toward the black American struggle. "We were on top again. As always,
again. We survived." (", pp 12, paragraph 63) shows Angelou's and the community's resilience, and
how words can not only deconstruct, but also reconstruct the individual, the community, and people's
racial identity. I think the primary audience is anyone who is going through some form of rejection,
some form of their identity deconstructed. The author is successful in this by using pathos, the
audience becomes

Graduation Speech By Maya Angelou
Deshanna Glenn
Professor Juliet Green
Eng. 1310–014
February 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, "Graduation", is about a young
African American girl, who is excited and proud of her academic achievements. She strives to
bring the reader into her world, while looking forward to her grand commencement. There is no
doubt that Maya Angelou is a fantastic writer and by her standards, "Graduation" is an amazing
piece of writing and what Angelou does best is evoke feelings and empathy from her readers. By
relating to them and detailing her emotions for everyone to see, she emphasizes her sense of
being wronged Angelou's graduation was a pivotal moment in her life. She led the readers through
her graduation as if they are sitting alongside her. Angelou's method of telling her story is through
imagery; Angelou describes the graduates, "Like travelers with exotic destinations on their
minds..."(pg10) "everyone said I looked like a sunbeam." (Pg. 13) These give the readers a true
picture of what was going on and imagery vision of how broadly the kids were

The writing, "Graduation", written in 1970 by Maya Angelou starts off with subtle meaning. A
young Angelou, gets herself ready for her eighth grade graduation and this includes the events
leading up to it such as describing important people involved, her dress her mother had sewn for
her and the general context of the excitement floating throughout the air. However towards the end
of this seemingly happy, enticing story, a darkness is revealed in the racial differences of the time.
Being the year 1940 as the setting of this piece America is still highly divided amongst its white
and black communities. Angelou's school is a black school called Lafayette County Training
School, whilst the white school is The Central School. The two are mainly separated by race and
being the time...show more content...
In a basic sense, he says that the white school is making a ton of advancements in its different
departments, and adding a bunch of new gear and such. He goes on to state that black people must
look up to their idols which consist of two professional athletes, Jesse Owens and Joe Louis. The
meaning of this is purely that black people are good for nothing and that if not athletes or doing
some type of hard labor, have no chance of making it in any other industry. Angelou is horrified
by this and has a sudden realization that her people are not worth a damn. All people of the world
in fact, are just worthless, and should all just take a look at themselves and see how disturbing they
are. The argument in this story is displayed in the end when the young valedictorian of Angelou's
class, Henry Reed, changes up his speech and instead sings the "Negro National Anthem", which
unites all the people of the auditorium. Suddenly, Angelou is flooded with again a sense of being, or
a purpose. People of color know that they are worth something, and Angelou wanted this to stand out
as praise of that

Maya Angelou Graduation Analysis
Our Language, Thoughts and Actions Transformed Our speech and communication has an affect
on our actions, and in turn, our actions have an impact on our conversation. In Maya Angelou's
"Graduation", we see this very concept take place in the second half of her story. For most of us,
day after day, we experience situations where our language or actions are affected by the other. In
my life, I have gone through some things that have affected me emotionally. Emotions can be
thoughts and actions. I believe emotions play a role in our actions because these emotions drive
us to act in some way or another. I can relate to Angelou's "Graduation" and more specifically to
how Maya felt and what she thought regarding the language of Mr. Edward Donleavy. Briefly, my
experience involves me and a young man who I fell in love with and how his language affected
me. As I share with you how my story and Maya's story relate, you will see the true effects of
language in people's lives, and even see how it can or has affected your life in some way. You
will see the results of what it can do to you and me. Donleavy, the white man running for election
in Arkansas, gave his speech to the graduating class of Lafayette County Training School in the
Segregated town of Stamps (Angelou 74). His speech to these kids, to Maya, made them feel
worthless and unimportant. Sadly, he made them feel uncomfortable in their seats. As we can see
from Maya's point of view, "The man's dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too
many settled in my belly," (Angelou 83). For example, Donleavy "praised" the students by saying
that he would brag about players of the basketball team. A player named Fisk sank the first ball
right in their school (Angelou 82). His words did not show compassion for them. His words
showed that he did not care and had something better to do. He especially showed this when he
ended his speech and marched out the door with a man that came with him (Angelou 84). His
words trapped Maya in a cage, threw her from side to side, screamed at her. "Then I wished that...
Harriet Tubman had been killed by that blow on her head and Christopher Columbus had drowned in
the Santa Maria," (Angelou 83). Maya sat there among her

maya Angelou Graduation
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 "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
("The manКјs 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.
! AngelouКјs 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 before

Summary Of Graduation By Maya Angelo
"Graduation" By, Maya Angelo, is a wonderful story of an excited young African American young
adult graduating from middle school. The whole town of Stamps, Arkansas was buzzing with
excitement for the classes that were graduating from the grammar school and high school that spring.
People that have already graduated were even excited to help with the preparation for graduation.
Angelo went into detail about how, "teachers were respectful of the now quiet and aging seniors,
and tended to speak to them, if not as equal, as beings only slightly lower than themselves". Pg.10
Angelo. When Angelo woke up the morning of her eighth–grade graduation, she was excited, she
felt like she was the center of the attention, that all eyes were on her, she felt hope, she was jittery.
Angelo felt proud of her accomplishments. All the African American's that could afford to buy new
clothes went out to Sears, Roebuck or Montgomery Ward to by readymade clothes to impresses
the white people since they will be as the graduation as well. Graduation is a very important day
and for Angelo is was especially important because she is graduating at the top of her 1940's
middle school class. She worked hard to graduate at the top of her class, she was going to be one of
the first called in her graduation ceremony. Angelo hoped that the memory of that morning would
never leave her.
On the day of her graduation Angelo jumped out bed with excitement on this day she will become
more mature, she will

Maya Angelou's Essay 'My Own Graduation'
My Own Graduation
According to the National Education Association, 98% of Latinas want to graduate high school,
but only 59% actually do (Flannery). Being of Hispanic ethnicity and growing up in a
predominately white town, I can say that I had the privilege to never feel this stat on my
shoulders. Growing up in today's day and age in a very good town, it is great to say that more
than everyone I have come across in my school district has given me the benefit of the doubt and
has always pushed me to be my very best. However, there are always the people that think that one
is limited to what they can and cannot do, in my case they were wrong, and more often than not it's
the people that are least expected to put people down that do. Maya Angelou...show more content...
During her graduation, two speeches were given, one was from a fellow black student who
directed his speech in the way of pathos in which he tried to evoke emotion and motivate all the
students to be their best despite their backgrounds. The other speaker was a white man, who was
an elected official and went more the way of ethos, using ethical words, which made him lose the
audience. He implied that all the white kids would go on to do great things and all the black kids
would go to be athletes or do some sort of social work. In Maya's essay titled "Graduation,"
Angelou mentions "The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos and Madame
Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren't even in on it) would try to be
Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises" (51). From this quote I can resonate with the fact that people,
including my mother thought that white kids had more of an opportunity to be great as opposed to
minorities, which is why she moved me so I could be a Galileo, or a Madame Curie. Also, that
shows how I might relate to Maya in the fact that even though they are two completely different
times, the reality is that based on race or being colored there is a pre–placed weight on one's shoulder
to break past that. Another quote that resonated with me personally is when Angelou discusses the
speech made by Henry Reed– "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." (Reed qtd.
in Angelou 53). I personally think that this quote compares Maya and I's thinking because she
felt like she had no control over her life and it was determined, and at one point my mother felt
like that was going to be my path, however we both chose to be the "captain of our own soul". I
could of chose to be a stereotype and be like the majority but I decided to take my life into my own
hands

Maya Angelou 8th Grade Graduation
Graduation Maya Angelou uses background information to manipulate the reader's emotions. She
does this first by telling the story in chronological order. Once the order is established, the reader
starts to understand where Angelou is coming from. The other way that she manipulates emotions is
by slowly changing the tone throughout the novel. When these factors are put together, they are
meant to create sympathy from the reader. A sense of sadness that the black community faced
during the 1940's. To illustrate the hardships that black people faced during the early 20th century,
Angelou wanted to speak from experience about her 8th grade graduation. Now to most,
graduations are taken for advantage. They are little more than a blip on a person's radar. But to
Angelou, it was everything. She wrote about it chronologically just to express how important it was.
She does this...show more content...
Angelou states how the whole school came down with a "graduation epidemic". She then goes on
and talks about all the possibilities that await her after this. Other classmates feel the same way
such as Henry Reed. He was first in class and would deliver a speech at graduation. It wasn't until
the graduation ceremony that the entire tone completely turned around. When the two white men
went up on the stage and the one started talking, the entire audience became quiet. The racist
remarks sank like a brick with everyone, especially Angelou. When she heard that she will never
amount to anything, her entire world started to fell apart. The essay started to become joyful. Henry
reed began to sing the Black National Anthem and suddenly she began to feel proud to be black
again. Angelou mentions the tone a lot in the story because she wanted the reader to realize that she
finally understand what it meant to be black. That no matter how many times you are put down, you
will always triumph with a better spirit than

Life Lessons in Maya Angelou's Graduation Essay
Life Lessons in Maya Angelou's Graduation
Throughout life we go through many stepping stones, Maya Angelou's autobiographical essay
"Graduation", was about more than just moving on to another grade. The unexpected events that
occurred during the ceremony enabled her to graduate from the views of a child to the more
experienced and sometimes disenchanting views of an adult. Upon reading the story there is an
initial feeling of excitement and hope which was quickly tarnished with the abrupt awareness of
human prejudices. The author vividly illustrates a rainbow of significant mood changes she
undergoes throughout the story.
From the outset of the story there is an overwhelming sense of hope that has enveloped the entire
community...show more content...
It was such very special time for the community that even the preacher had prepared a special
sermon for this moment. Even the author was looking up to "the arch of heaven so religiously [her]
neck kept a steady ache" (835).
Pride had also entered into her character as she explained her smiling soreness, as she "had taken
to smiling more often and [her] jaws hurt from the unaccustomed activity;" (835). "As a member
of the winning team (the graduating class of 1940)" (835) she was moving headfirst toward the
future. It was obvious that she was delighted that she had accumulated a plethora of achievements
displayed with colored stars on the bulletin board. Even though Henry Reed had been awarded
valedictorian, "instead of being disappointed [she] was pleased that [they] shared top honors"
(836). A sense of approval flowed though her and she was genuinely and deservedly happy; "she was
headed for the freedom of open fields" (835).
The author also reflected upon the tradition of graduation. The giving of gifts for those children
moving from one grade to the next and for those who were at the top of their class this became
even more important. "In the store she was the person of the moment" (835) and customers lavished
her with nickels and sometimes even dimes. She could also feel the love from her family. They
were treating her like royalty.

As I read Maya Angelou's "Graduation" I smiled, and said to myself "It takes a certain few to
overcome such hardships". The Narrative talks about a graduating class in the 1940's where blacks
and whites were separated. Maya Angelou, the main character gives the readers a sharp, clear
perspective of black high school graduates at that time. The Author does an outstanding job at
making the readers feel emotionally connected; by using similes, metaphors, personification. One
would immediately notice while reading the narrative that there are many different stereo types. For
example when Mr. Edward Donleavy gives a speech about the improvement of local schools, he
mentions that there are several great athlete's graduating from Maya's school. Mr.

Maya Angelou's Graduation Speech Critique

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