Leadership In Maya Angelo's Still I Rise

In the United States, there are people from all over the world who come from different backgrounds and have faced horrendous things. Some of these people feel that their race is inferior to others, but deal with it in different ways. Although the tension between whites and minorities was at it’s strongest in the 1950’s, today’s world still deals with racial discrimination. The question “Is one race superior to all others?” Some overcome this by believing one person can change how other races perceive them or by confronting the public and shining light on what’s going on in the world. Throughout this paper I will discuss how every person overcomes the stereotypes they face everyday. I will then analyze how stereotyping and discrimination

Using rhetorical questions with a combination of sarcastic diction and similes, laced with visual imagery, the speaker of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou unapologetically mocks her audience’s desire to see her fail. By asking questions that do not expect or need an answer, such as, “Does my sassiness/sexiness upset you?” and, “Does my haughtiness offend you?” she ridicules her audience with her confidence and by not caring what their response is. Immediately, she then follows her rhetorical questions with phrases such as, “Don’t you take it awful hard,” “Does it come as a surprise” or “Why are you best with gloom,” which patronizes her audience by belittling their desire to see her “broken.” Cunningly, she utilizes her sarcastic nature by coating it with rhetorical questions and poignant visual imagery as a shield so that, “I rise/ Up from a past that’s rooted in pain” (Angelou).

Are you being viewed in a negative way than you are being viewed in person? However, how people addressed you may not be how you really are once people get to know you. In the world you live in now your going to come across different types of people that are going to view you differently. To continue, you can get judged for the most cruel situations that didn’t pertain to you. No matter what you do in life people always find something to be negative about. It's not what they say it how you react to it. Our status during this generation is defined by the way we dress and where we come from.

Maya Angelou's "Getups" focuses on Identity and the need to conform to the social norm. In the beginning I believed the reading was about clothing and the colors she liked to wear. "Getups" was about a single mother who was too poor to afford the newest clothing and accessories but worked with the little money she had. She has a carefree personality which allowed her to wear vibrant and unmatching clothing without caring what others thought. Clothing that a person wears should be comfortable and be a reflection of character. Before age 6, her son never cared what she wore. The people around him shaped his thoughts on what was fashionable and corrupted him. She knew he was doing it to feel excepted so she decided to grant his wishes and only

According to them, I’m not supposed to be smart, a nice person, or responsible. So, everyday I try to do the best I can in school, my job, and even at home. When I have some extra time I try to do more than my teachers ask me to do. And, I don’t do this effort to impress anyone or to show how wrong they are, I’m just trying to let them see that it’s never okay to judge people because of how they look or how you might think they are. I might not be an athlete to actually talk about how to use strategies to play an actual game, or a popular cheerleader to plan a routine and think how to beat the other team, but, we all have our battles and different ways to see and confront them. Winners are not people who never fail, but people who never quit. Life and its prejudices are my game; sometimes I’ll win, and sometimes I’ll lose, but the game goes

Throughout the world there have been many great leaders. Often leaders are made through the oppression they have gone through or for the common goal of his/her beliefs and the common good of the country. Leaders do not necessarily have to be “good”, rather they have to have certain characteristics that set them apart from the rest of the crowd. These certain characteristics may help these leaders gain support for their common belief or common goal. It does not matter if the leader is fighting for or against a belief, if they have a certain way to approach there followers. They can be great leaders.

In Still I Rise we see self-belief and overcoming adversity when Maya Angelou writes this poem because when Maya Angelou was writing this, she was trying to make it sound like she was talking to the white Americans that she had to face when she was growing, and putting her down. This poem could have been written because Maya Angelou wanted to make a poem to taunt to make her sound much more better than the white Americans that were against the black Africans when she was growing up. The adversity that Maya Angelou is facing in Still I Rise, is the people that she is writing to which was the white Americans. They were mostly the only people that were trying to put her down and trying to give her a negative environment to grow up in. The self-belief

In my everyday life I strive to be the best person that I can be, I try to be my own person, and try not to care about what anyone thinks about me. Although this is the motto I try to live by, it is not always the case. I used to do gymnastics, and once all of my friends found out the completely made me feel like I was nothing. They made fun of me day and night. As a result of this, I quit, and yet I thought these guys were my friends. I know for sure that i'm not the only person in the work that this is happened to. Take Bobby for example, he is a water boy for a college football team and as you may already know, being a water boy isn’t the best idea, especially if you are a 31 year old man water-boying for a college football team. Ever

Rising Up in Still I Rise by Maya Angelou ? Still I Rise? by Maya Angelou is directed towards blacks on how to be proud of their ancestry, themselves, and their overall appearance. The poem is a special and motivating poem that African-Americans (and other races for that matter) should read and take to heart. According to African-Americans, Maya Angelou states that no matter what white Americans (slave owners) say or do to African-Americans (slaves) they can still rise up to make a better life for themselves and their race as a whole.

Many people are criticized and broken down, growing up in environments where people say negative things

I had to live seeing those moments in my childhood. When people criticize, it is because either they are unhappy with their lives or they are stressed. Personally, it happens to me sometimes. To help myself, I try to see life in a fun or good perspective. Nowadays, when I do not like something, for example, a class in the school, I tell myself to forget why I do not like the class and think how can it help me now or in my future. When I do it, I enjoy my class and my grades go

In the poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, the poet uses repetition, metaphors and similes to express to her audience about how she has overcome racism in her life through demonstrating a strong, proud and defiant attitude to inspire others.

In this day and age, everyone is expected to act and speak in a certain way which is controlled by society’s will. Individuals may try to hurt you emotionally and/or physically but you shouldn’t let them change who you are. Society may create standards for all people but that doesn’t mean you have to conform to all of these standards. In my experience, some of the best people I know don’t fit in with the rest of society. In the poem, “Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou, readers must come to the conclusion that in most if not all situations, individuals must stay true to themselves and not change themselves, in order to create a sense of self achievement and feel a sense of self-worth.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” written in 1978, acknowledges the racism and segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, although no longer slaves, the African Americans have been given little rights and opportunity in America. Maya Angelou wrote this poem to prove to other American citizens that she is unfazed by their hate, while she strengthens her people’s motive to reach equality. Angelou utilizes metaphor, imagery and repetition to reveal how proud she is of her minority’s strength.

Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” takes place in the mind of Maya Angelou. She is talking about someone who is saying bad things about her. Even though they are saying bad things about her she won’t let it bring her down she will rise. She shows her Confidence by saying that she will rise, another way she is showing her Confidence is by being confident in her heritage, and her Confidence is evident through her displays of literary devices.