Maya Angelou's New Directions
The story New Directions by Maya Angelou was my choice.The theme of this short story is survival a way to make something out of nothing.The setting and characterization of the story were in 1903 of Arkansas.Her name was Mrs.Annie Johnson, and she was over six feet tall and big boned. The first element of the story is characterization.Annie had two toddler sons with very little money and an unhealthy marriage.To add to the list, she was a black person with limited ability to read and add numbers.Mrs.Johnson's quote was"I looked up the road I was going and back the way I come, and since I wasn't satisfied I decided to step off the road and cut a new path."The theme of paragraph one is she was starting a new journey. The last element is the climax.Annie went to the back of the cotton gin and started cooking meat pies in a stall.The workers came out for dinner time and smelled the meat pies in the air.Most had their meals prepared but chose to buy a meat pie instead for a nickel.She wrapped the meat pies in newspapers to soak up the grease.Her quote was"mixed groceries enough to scare hungry away from a starving man."