The Graduation Maya Angelou Analysis
Jesse Evans
LS-ENG 0810
17 October 2013
Summary Response
Summary Response of Maya Angelou’s “The Graduation”
In the essay “The Graduation” (McGraw-Hill 2003), Maya Angelou tells the story of life in 1940s Stamps, Arkansas. She explains how it feels to be discriminated and thought of as less than equal. Angelou shows that with a strong will to overcome, it is more than possible to set aside disgusting racism and impersonal discrimination. Angelou delivers a very detailed, inspirational, and informative story of self-acceptance.
Summary
“The Graduation” is an inspirational tale of Maya Angelou’s eighth grade graduation. She uses very powerful descriptive words to explain her surroundings, for example,
Unlike the white high school, …show more content…
She goes on to think that no matter what she does, her race will always be seen as less than equal. After a few minutes of her juggling some less than uplifting thoughts through her head, she hears Henry Reed begin to give his valedictorian speech. The speech was more than words, and it inspired Angelou. She began to see a different side of Henry Reed; he spoke powerfully as if Mr. Donleavy had never been there.
Response Paragraph two
Angelou’s detailed explanation of her graduation reminds me of my own graduation. The more I read, the more I found similarities. My graduation was very meaningful to me, and like Angelou I was anticipating the day that I was able to walk across the stage and receive my diploma I had spent twelve years working very hard to obtain. The day of my graduation I was pleased to see so many of my classmates that I had grown up with right there beside me. I had never seen so many smiling faces before. Angelou describes a particular part of her experience that I relate to most,
I gave myself up to the gentle warmth and thanked God that no matter what evil I had done in my life He had allowed me to live to see this day. Somewhere in my fatalism I had expected to die, accidentally, and never have the chance to walk up the stairs in the auditorium and gracefully receive my hard-earned diploma. Out of God’s merciful bosom I had won reprieve. (Angelou
LS-ENG 0810
17 October 2013
Summary Response
Summary Response of Maya Angelou’s “The Graduation”
In the essay “The Graduation” (McGraw-Hill 2003), Maya Angelou tells the story of life in 1940s Stamps, Arkansas. She explains how it feels to be discriminated and thought of as less than equal. Angelou shows that with a strong will to overcome, it is more than possible to set aside disgusting racism and impersonal discrimination. Angelou delivers a very detailed, inspirational, and informative story of self-acceptance.
Summary
“The Graduation” is an inspirational tale of Maya Angelou’s eighth grade graduation. She uses very powerful descriptive words to explain her surroundings, for example,
Unlike the white high school, …show more content…
She goes on to think that no matter what she does, her race will always be seen as less than equal. After a few minutes of her juggling some less than uplifting thoughts through her head, she hears Henry Reed begin to give his valedictorian speech. The speech was more than words, and it inspired Angelou. She began to see a different side of Henry Reed; he spoke powerfully as if Mr. Donleavy had never been there.
Response Paragraph two
Angelou’s detailed explanation of her graduation reminds me of my own graduation. The more I read, the more I found similarities. My graduation was very meaningful to me, and like Angelou I was anticipating the day that I was able to walk across the stage and receive my diploma I had spent twelve years working very hard to obtain. The day of my graduation I was pleased to see so many of my classmates that I had grown up with right there beside me. I had never seen so many smiling faces before. Angelou describes a particular part of her experience that I relate to most,
I gave myself up to the gentle warmth and thanked God that no matter what evil I had done in my life He had allowed me to live to see this day. Somewhere in my fatalism I had expected to die, accidentally, and never have the chance to walk up the stairs in the auditorium and gracefully receive my hard-earned diploma. Out of God’s merciful bosom I had won reprieve. (Angelou