She also uses sound devices (repetition) “That's me.” (assonance) “It's in the click of my heels” and (alliteration) “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies”. The poem was written for the African American woman, suggesting that no one would dare bring her down. Stating all women express their beauty in the way they carry themselves. These aspects are what make a woman phenomenal, rather the physical appearance that many base it on.
She donated her correspondence with America’s great black cultural figures to Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. Maya Angelou is the unequivocal example of a graceful woman. Her words throughout the years have uplifted women, spoke of courage for families and moved the nation as a whole. She has published literature for the masses there is something to motivate anybody that is anyone. Angelou created easy outlets for people in struggle.
Benjamin is also an African American born in Birmingham, he is an English writer and dub poet. This poem is written with Maya Angelou herself as the speaker. She is speaking to her audience of oppressors about how she has overcome racism, criticism, sexism, and personal obstacles in her life with pride and grace. This poem is historically rooted with the mentions of slavery, a “past of pain,” and “gifts of ancestors,” however she is speaking in the present having overcome all of the hardships of her past and embarking on the rest of her journey with the knowledge that she is a strong African American woman. Still I Rise is about overcoming oppression with grace and pride having no sympathy for the oppressors and giving validity to the reasons for oppression.
Hurston’s Views on Race Zora Neale Hurston’s essay “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” is about her unique opinion on race. Zora describes to reader what it is like to be a colored girl in that treacherous, but yet rewarding era of the Harlem renaissance. In Hurston’s 1928 essay, “How it feels to Be Colored Me,” Hurston shows her attitude about racism in America through the rhetorical strategies of imagery, theme, and tone. She uses imagery to show the beauty of her opinion. Hurston uses a spectacular form of imagery in “How It Feels to Be Colored Me.” She describes her details with excellent precision.
Through her writing, however, she is able to stand up for herself and give voice to her experiences as a lesbian Chicana and thus to fight the oppression she encounters. There is this poem I liked as well which is, “Trying to be Dyke and Chicana by Natashia Lopez (84).” And what I like about it is how people label everyone, so she literally talks about how to call her “dyk-ana”, “dyk-icana”, “chyk-ana”. She is not ashamed to be a dyke Chicana. And that is how most people should feel, not to be ashamed of anything, you are who you are, that is what makes you so special. And another one that I liked was, “Porque el sentido de la vida es la misma by Lidia Tirado White (23).” She says, “La sexualidad es gran parte de la vida.
The project of finding a voice, with language as an instrument of injury and salvation, of selfhood and empowerment, suggests many of the themes that Hurston uses as a whole. Zora Neale Hurston draws attention towards her novels because she uses black vernacular speech to express the consciousness of a black woman and to let the reader know exactly how statements are said. This use of the vernacular is particularly effective in Their Eyes Were Watching God. Their Eyes Were Watching God exposes the need of Janie Crawford's first two husbands for ownership of space and mobility with the suppression of self-awareness in their wife. Only with her final lover, Tea Cake, who's interest orbit around the Florida swamps, does Janie at last glow.
• Rhetorical questions directed to the reader. This poem has a very certain seriousness to it, but Angelou brings in her pride as an African American woman and injects playful images into the poem when asking questions. The stanzas that have questions show the direct relationship between the speaker and the audience, Angelou allows the reader to put themselves in the heat of the discussion and in the heart of the poem. The tone is one of sureness and triumphant. • Simile ‘I walk like I’ve got oil wells’ powerful, confident image.
It became evident throughout The Book of Negroes, that Aminata enjoys the praise and admiration that she receives, as well as the privileges that came with being literate. “I liked ... recording how people obtained their freedom, how old they were and where they had been born. ... I loved the way people followed the movement of my hand as I wrote down their names and the way they made me read them aloud once I was done” (412). Due to her persistence in wanting to learn she became a well known figure around the world which leads to her come to the attention of an abolitionist who would eventually help disestablish the social norm of 'owning' a slave.
Short Critical Essays Title: Still I Rise The poem “Still I Rise” begins with Maya Angelou enthusiastically/proudly saying in the first stanza “You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I’ll rise.”, meaning that no matter what hurtful words or rumors being spread or spit at her, their negativity will not put her down. Ms. Angelou used the word choice “trod” to express how people were stepping on her, figuratively, to lower her self esteem and boost themselves up. No matter how hard the people around her wanted her to fall, she stayed strong on her own two feet. In the second stanza “Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells pumping in my living room.”The word “beset” set an angry tone to this part of the poem.
The short stories, The Hills by Patricia Grace and The Test by Angelica Gibbs use methods that hint at ideas of racism and sexism to successfully provoke feelings of sympathy and involvement from the reader. Both stories successfully make the main ‘black’ characters seem equal to the other ‘white’ characters, and they have personalities that the reader can relate to. Both stories also use different styles of writing to make the reader feel involved, which affects the heart as well as the head. The Test revolves around the main idea of racism and uses the character Marian to represent the oppressed ‘black’ people in the United States of America. The reader knows that Marian is respectful and kind by how she calls Mrs. Ericson ‘Ma’am’ and the inspector ‘Sir’, so when she is put down because of her skin colour, the reader knows that it is unfair to her.