Preview

Figurative Language In America By Maya Angelou

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
138 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Figurative Language In America By Maya Angelou
In the poem, “America” by Maya Angelou, she suggests that America is unethical. Through the use of figurative language Maya Angelou paints a picture of unjust actions by America. In the poem, Angelou mentions the “hungry” which refers to the people of America, and “her” refers to America itself. For instance, Angelou says “Her crops of abundance/The fruit and the grain/Have not fed the hungry/Nor eased the great pain.” (3,4) This shows that even though America has many resources specifically goods, there are still many people that are dying of hunger and have great agony as a result. To conclude, it is clear and perceptible that Maya Angelou knows much of America's’ truths and she wants us to know that even after all the plenty of nourishment

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Maya Angelou is saying traveling is neccasary to understand ones culture. Many people dont really see how much alike we are, instead we choose to see the differences. Maya Angelou thinks that traveling the world will allow you to hear different languages, and understand different cultures. Doing this, she believes, will allow you to understand how closely related we are, and hopefully create a bond of…

    • 67 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou books and poems relate to real world situations. In her poem phenomenal women it talks about how you should not live in a stereotypical way of life and have confidence in yourself. You should celebrate how remarkable you are and it makes you a champion. Being a woman makes you supreme, because women are a mystery and hard to figure out. She expresses you don’t need to be loud to get attention just being yourself shows who you are. Maya Angelo works states you should embrace your purpose, practice a self-confidence ritual, and enjoy spending time alone, refuse to buy into the media’s image of a perfect woman, refuse to take anything too personally, ask empowering questions, and ask what they can do to improve the world. Her story…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever visited a different country and felt like a complete alien? Well, how would you feel if you were to move there, forever? The novel, Home of the Brave, by Katherine Applegate is the story of how a young refugee from war-torn Sudan learns to adjust to a new life in America with the help of friends and family. Katherine Applegate’s use of figurative language, first person point of view, and free verse poetry is the most effective way to reveal the story of a refugee adapting to life in America.…

    • 737 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the better part of the story Maya Angelou’s tone is full of contempt and anger for her employer. This however, is not the only tone that keen readers can identify in Angelou’s story. At some point in her narration, the author shows pity and mildness. She has a human heart and where necessary she shows pity on her employer.…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He uses a serious and stern tone to show how serious the matter of overseas poverty is and how easy it would be to solve this problem. His tone is offensive at times, directly accusing the reader of the death of children outside of our borders, in places such as Brazil. (Singer) Singer shifts the target of the essay to not just the individual reader, but to the American people as a whole. He accuses the American people, who most citizens feel are relatively generous and willing to help people in need, of extreme selfishness, which helps discredit his argument.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Everyone’s lives are shaped by their childhood lessons and experiences. Most people are directly influenced by their parents and other important adult figures in their lives. Children are prone to have certain characteristics and beliefs because of what is told to them or a specific event which they encounter. In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou’s life evolves and is enriched because of the people who take care of her. She receives advice from many human beings, and must choose what guidance to follow. Maya is influenced the most by Momma, Daddy Clidell, and Mrs. Flowers. To begin, Momma, as her name indicates, is like a mother figure. Even though she was Maya’s grandmother, she takes on full responsibilities as if Maya were her own child. Since Maya is abandoned by her parents, Momma takes her in and teaches her many important life lessons. She always makes sure Maya puts God first and has respect for all religion. “I would have wriggled just a bit, but each time I looked over at Momma, she seemed to threaten, ‘Move and I’ll tear you up,’ so, obedient to the unvoiced command, I sat still.” (Angelou, 31) Momma always makes sure to bring her grandchildren to church and makes sure they behaved properly. Ever since Maya was a small child, it was forced upon her that church and God were number one priorities. In the future, Maya recalls all the punishments she had for her “blasphemous” actions so she remembers to keep the Lord close to her heart. Religion intertwines with another aspect of Momma’s influence on Maya. She makes sure her grandchildren are clean of body as well as clean of soul. “‘Thou shall not be dirty’ and ‘Thou shall not be impudent’ were the two commandments of Grandmother Henderson upon which hung our total salvation.” (Angelou, 21) Momma is very religious, and always brings God into her arguments whenever possible. She states that it was a sin to…

    • 1760 Words
    • 50 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Still I Rise

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Maya Angelou’s style is very intriguing and captivating due to her usage of tone. Maya Angelou was an American Civil Rights Activist, born in St Louis, Missouri, who lived through the Jim Crow Era - which, as mentioned before, was a critical period in terms of the rise of racial segregation in the United States. Unlike the majority of her kind, Angelou was extremely privileged - becoming a successful actress, author and poet. Although she is privileged and considerably well-off in her own personal endeavors, she is fully aware of the atrocity and inhumanity with which her fellow folk are being treated with on a daily basis. In the poem, she decants and expresses her frustration, but she does so with great subtlety and restraint. Although she uses a confrontational tone (by using the pronoun ‘you’) towards white people (which is the intended audience of the poem), she does not personally attack them in any way. She simply poses rhetorical questions which make the audience re-evaluate their way of thinking and cause them to truly see that their beliefs are founded upon hatred and false accusations. Aside from using a confrontational tone, Angelou also makes use of a perseverant tone which, through close analysis, entails a valuable message for people from all walks of life and, more importantly, the black folk who suffer from racial discrimination. “...I rise..”…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Angelou contrast “the beauty of freedom and the tragedy of [imprisonment]” (Thursby 184). The poem affirms the “faith and prayer for continued hope” that people used to endure their burdens. The free bird hears the grief of the caged bird, however it is either “helpless or indifferent to its plight” (Thursby 184). Even though, the caged bird will never know freedom, “its spirit remain[s] unbroken” (Thursby 184). Similarly, Franklin’s speech was notable because he emphasizes challenges of freedom, human rights, and the “plight of democracy” to promote the public to supporting his war policy (“The Four Freedoms”). He “defined the nation’s identity” as he insisted that the United States is responsible of defending individual freedoms across its borders (“The Four Freedoms”). He implement hope, after warning the nation of oppression, as he emphasize that as a unity the country can overcome any fear to spread peace, faith, and individual rights. Therefore, the common themes that unites the poem and the speech is freedom, oppression and distress, isolationism, and fear in general. The caged bird is isolated and oppressed, as it sings as a sign of hope in gaining its freedom, and the American nation is isolated, as it gains encouragement and hope that as a unity it shall overcome all threats and secure their freedom and national…

    • 374 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Analysis

    • 2435 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Growing one’s body into what one considers an adult is amongst the simplest things a human can do -- however maturing mentally and emotionally into an individualistic being would arguably be one of the most difficult. Even more difficult would be trying to become an individual while in a constant state of oppression. Through her numerous essays, poems and novels, Maya Angelou does an exceptional job of recounting the hardships of adolescence, and lets her audiences and readers find out, first hand, the way she suffered growing up . In her works, Angelou uses her experiences with her family, the places she’s been, and the changing ideas of her own self to explore her mind as a growing child. Even with everything in her life fighting against…

    • 2435 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Embodiment of

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.”(www.brainyquote.com) Throughout many centuries in American history, at some point or another there has been a great struggle for African- American people. A struggle filled with many disappointments embodied by raw emotion that has built strength and courage in a people where hope seemed unreachable. Some argue the strength and courage attributed to the work and tireless efforts came from many within the race and those who saw a greater vision for them. One noted and extraordinary person responsible for this is Dr. Maya Angelou. This expository essay will focus on Maya Angelou and the Embodiment of Courage, which has a powerful place in the vision of change and progress sought by a nation of people, will illustrate to illustrate how she embodies the concept of courage though her early life experiences, poetry, and speeches. In selecting this topic, I wanted to capture the essence of the Embodiment of Courage behind Dr. Angelou’s speeches. Her speeches make use of words, which appeal to my raw human emotions, while illustrating the progress oppressed people in America have made. The importance of this topic to the audience is due to people having come to fear what they do not understand and she is effective at providing an alternative perspective than those of ignorance and hate.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Specifically it will discuss the themes of racism and segregation, and how these strong themes are woven throughout this moving autobiography. Maya Angelou recounts the story of her early life, including the racism and segregation she experiences throughout her formative years. With wit, sincerity, and remarkable talent, Angelou portrays racism as a product of ignorance and prejudice. However, she finds the strength to rise above this crippling condition.…

    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As we read along we take into recognition that Maya Angelou and her community stand by a former champion in a boxing match that’ll determine whether he remains champion or not. As the story advances further into her grandmother’s and uncle’s store the tone shifts from hopeful to vanquished, to triumphant. For example,“It was another lynching, yet another black man hanging on a tree,” depicts the unwilling suffrage African-Americans dealt with. Even though African Americans had every…

    • 483 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou

    • 763 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou could have been writing her poem, "These Yet to be United States," with many different motives or messages. This work leaves the reader open to many different interpretations and viewpoints. The many underlying tones and possible themes that are implied by certain descriptions get the reader looking deeper into the true meaning of the poem. The main focus, however, is on the United States as a whole, the dominance of the government, and the effect on the children being born into this lifestyle. She also supports and develops her ideas with many different literary techniques.…

    • 763 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Angelou, Maya. “Champion of the World.” The Bedford Reader. Ed. X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kenndy, and Jane E. Aaron. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford, 2009. 93- 96. Print.…

    • 1543 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eric Hoofer once said “Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy - the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.” Many times in life we end disappointed to the point we see no hope in tomorrow and often view ourselves as failures. Disappointments are tools that God made for us to lead us to our path and make us who we are today. “Graduation” by “ Maya Angelou” teaches us a story of life and how it can be disappointing at times, Angelou uses a diploma as a sign of victory and success but her feeling does not last that long. Maya used in her article many writing strategies to make it clear and effective to her readers, such as Pathos and details which made her article strong.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays