Film Analysis: Baghdad Express

After Maya started speaking again at the age of 13, thanks to one of her teacher and as well as a family friend, Mrs. Bertha Flowers who helped her cope though that ruff time period, she had a whole new outlook on what she wanted to do with her life . “It was through literature that she found her voice again. And what a voice it was and is.” (Emilie M. Townes). By the age of 14, during World War II, Maya was living with her mother and brother in Oakland California. She attended the California Labor School where she had won a scholarship to study drama and dance at San Francisco’s Labor School. Three weeks after graduating from school at the age of 17, she gave birth to her son who was named Guy Johnson. Shortly afterwards, she dropped out of school and became the first African American female cable car conductor.

She feels that this can help her battle her depression and rid of it. But actually it’s making it worse. Not only is her silentness angering her family, it’s withholding her from breaking through depression. The best way to beat depression is by sharing and talking with someone. Maya’s mom gets to the point that Maya is not needed in St. Louis anymore and ships her and Bailey back with Momma in Stamps. Maya proceeds to only talking with Bailey. Until she was introduced to a lady named Mrs. Bertha Flowers. This lady took Maya in and can be described as Maya’s therapist and teacher. She was the only lady that actually liked and understood Maya. They bonded well together through books and poems. Mrs. Flowers would often give Maya assignments on specific poems and how to recite them. With Maya seeing Mrs. Flowers constantly, she broke out of her depression. Maya states,”I was like, and what a difference it made. I was respected for just being Marguerite Johnson” (Angelou 101). After battling many obstacles in her young life, with time, she manages to overcome them. Maya has developed resilience at such a young which will benefit her later in life.

When Maya has friends over she tries to keep them sheltered from that part of her life, because she doesnt want them to know about the kind of culture she belongs to. When you look out into the world many people relate to Maya, they all want to hide the kind of culture they grew up in and the kind of lifestyle they live in. These people will hide who they are on a day to day basis because of their culture. These people try to avoid the question “whats that” or “why is that hung up and what does it mean” or they just want to avoid being bullied because of

Maya makes her decision to study in the States because she wants to forget about her troubled past. She applies for a university in Virginia and receives the acceptance letter. Her parents agree to let her go, but her other relatives and close friends are not too keen on the idea. Maya is warned that moving to a new country takes a lot of decision making skills. This affects her relationship expectations because she is expected to keep everyone happy, yet wanting to pursue her dreams and future careers and has difficulty doing both.

Casablanca, the crowning achievement of director Michael Curtiz, which was released in 1942, is a film that had to work against the pressing concerns associated with World War II to stay relevant in both cinematic and general audiences. The writing, which was done by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch, had to be inspirational yet uncontroversial. With actors like Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund, Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault, and Paul Henreid as the French revolutionary Victor Laszlo, Casablanca has a respectable cast. The movie initially appears to fit the film noir genre because of its smoky backdrops with muted colors,

Maya really values her freedom, and the one of all Blacks. That is why she fight for their equality. An example of this, is when she left Make because he wanted her to be a traditional" wife. Maya, who already had little money for her and her son, decided to put all her time and effort into the Cabaret of Freedom. What had started as an idea between friends became an important even because of her investment. She quit everything she had been doing to organize, pick the cast and the theater, and she even requested to take care of addressing the envelopes. During that time, she was not working, so her son was the only income source, and her friend lent her money for rent. She said : "This is important. It’s for Martin L. King, for the SCLC, for black

In the text it says, “ Ms. Albert announced to the class that Maya wouldn’t be coming back.” This is to say that Maya got bored of being ignored and bullied and her family moved away. In another part of the book it says, “ Each kindness I had never shown.” This means that Chloe admits that she was being mean to Maya and she admits that Maya is never coming back. To sum up Maya moved away because of bullying.

Maya grew up in harsh circumstances, her young father and mother decided to go separate ways at a very young age, leaving Maya and her brother, Bailey, were forced to live with their grandma on their father’s side. During her youth at age 7, Maya was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. Thus, as vengeance, Maya’s uncles took the boyfriend’s life. Maya was traumatized by the experience and went into an age of silence, she moved back to Arkansas and spent years without talking. At the time of world war 2, she moved to San Francisco

came to Stamps unexpectedly. Having no choice, Maya and Bailey went with Bailey Sr. to go live with the mother, Vivian Baxter whom we know as Mother Dear. While Maya and Bailey were living with their mother and her family in Saint Louis, Missouri, Maya meets her mom’s fiance, Mr. Freeman. Being naive Maya initiated sexual acts with Mr. Freeman, however, Mr. Freeman took it too far when he sexually assaulted Maya. After going to court and hearing that Mr. Freeman died Maya isolated herself and didn't talk because she feared someone else will be put in danger. As Maya and Bailey were sent back to Stamps, Maya begins to admire an older woman, Mrs. Flowers who influences her. Mrs. Flowers tells her that "language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals," (p82). Mrs. Flowers is the one who shows Maya how to truly appreciate books and says, "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning. This is very important to Maya because this is where she gets the inspiration to start using her voice for something good. This influences her throughout her whole life, and this is how we see and know Maya Angelou now. Books have been an important part of Maya's

During a cleanup of Mr. Van Wagenen’s office, a vintage style guide from the fifties is discovered and Maya’s mom pitches the idea for Maya to follow the style guide throughout the course of her eighth grade year. Maya faces figure problems, complexion issues, low popularity, hair troubles, and an abundance of other

In the era, Maya grew up in men are considered accomplish and successful than a woman. Often women are homemakers with children based on the typical stereotype of what a woman supposed to be in society. Maya Therefore, Maya questions her sexuality after reading about lesbians because of her lack of interest in affection from men and appearances that isn’t considers a normal girl behavior. Maya had her first consensual intercourse with a classmate to ensure herself that she is normal, which result in her becoming a mother after she graduated high school. In her path of becoming a mother, she became better woman then the own mother because, unlike her mother, Maya raised her son as a single mother regardless of the outcome of her life. Therefore, Maya is also a great example of how much a woman can do even with a child. She never let the outcome of her life stop her from achieving greatness, showing that women don't have to sacrifice to achieve their goals. Maya learns to survive and thrive in a racist dominated society earning respect and title as an African-American and as a

This quote again shows us that Maya feels like she is trying to be someone she is not, she wishes for a life where she doesn’t have to be someone else just so she can fit in. Maya tries to fix her problems by marrying Evan who has an American background, good looks, and makes up for Maya’s failure in her academic career. After a couple of years of marrying Evan she starts thinking about her decisions that could have changed her future with Evan she says “ life with Evan was too tempting, an easy guarantee that she would not end up like Shyamma.” This just states once again that she did not want to end up like her aunt and just wants to fit in with the people in

She succeeds and becomes the first African American woman to work on San Francisco street cars. Going back to school, she didn’t really feel like she belonged. At one point of her life, Maya feared she was a lesbian and decided to experiment with having boyfriends etc. She encounters two brothers, and decides to be in a relationship with one of them. After realizing that it is not satisfying her, she ends it. Three weeks later, she finds out she’s pregnant. She ends up giving birth to a son, and is so amused by the baby that she is afraid to even touch him. However eventually, her mother makes her sleep on the bed with her son to prove to her that nothing will happen to him, and from then on, she wasn’t afraid anymore. This book was a very detailed view of Maya’s life, especially because it was an autobiography and she was the author. I found out so much that I never knew about her, and I was very interested. She had such a hard life, but still managed to make it a life worth living, and worth

Immediately, Maya was instructed to go inside, and although she felt terribly about the kids, she also felt as though she needed to follow adults’ instructions. The white kids made their way to her grandmother and started to disrespect, mock, and laughing at her. It was then that she became torn between personal feelings and family

There are many interesting events in this story one of them is Maya is given a permission slip and is hesitant to give it to her parents because she thinks they will say no to her. The second main event is Nurzhan gets into a fight and Maya is called to the office at his school so she can contact her parents, as a result Maya had to miss her gymnastics meet. The third main event of the story is when Maya is caught by her father in the arms of an