Mrs. Cullinan On Vengeance

She raises Bailey and Maya as if they are he own kids. Through the novel Maya never had a father figure, but she had Momma. An independent black woman. Momma owned her own store, took care of her crippled son and took care of her two grandchildren. She is a religious and a strong woman. Growing up Maya always questioned why Momma did some of the things the way she did, for instance one time some white children called Momma names and mistreated her, but she did not budge. Maya thought, “Who owned the land they lived on?... If there was any justice in the world, God should strike them dumb at once!” (23), Maya is thinking about retaliation, but does not realize that there can be serious consequences. Kinsolver exemplifies with this quote that society separates black and white and gives power to only the whites. Maya thinks otherwise, in that they should be equal and this is her first step of breaking societal expectations. As Maya matures she learns how to be more womanly and independent from

n American history, racial inequality has been a prevalent issue for many decades. Slavery is America's original sin. In the 1930s, racial inequality and segregation lived and breathed well. At this point in time, segregation in schools and other public places was still present. For preposterous reasons, white and black people had separate water fountains, restaurants, rest rooms, and areas on the bus. During this time full of racism and racial inequality, Maya Angelou was just a little girl growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a town in the South, like many others, had inequalities at the time. In 1938 Maya Angelou was only ten years old. At this age, she worked for a lady named Mrs. Viola Cullinan. Maya Angelou wrote briefly about her time spent working for Mrs. Cullinan in her short story “Mary.” Maya Angelou's’ use of vivid, direct characterization and alternating childish voice to mature adult narrative diction filtered through her authentic first person point of view helps to prominently establish the theme of Angelou’s distaste for racial inequality throughout the short story.

She is ridiculed for not only being if Hispanic descent in this text, but for also being a female in a traditional Hispanic house-hold. An example of this is, "Girl. We can't play with a girl.' Girl is my brother's new favorite insult now instead of 'sissy', 'You girl', they yell at each other, 'You throw like a girl"(Cisneros). This show that, in their traditional Hispanic culture, the men and boys have a higher rank in their family, compared to the girls. This is also an example of, putting her in her place, and not among the

For all of Marguerite’s life she has dealt with the horrible rude effects of racism. Regardless of these bad events she is a very smart and is imaginative. The major things that the young girl Marguerite encountered were white prejudice, black powerlessness, and strong female subjugation. All of these have strong effects on anyone who would have to deal with problems such as these horrible ones listed. She grew up in this era of racism and was affected by it on a regular basis. She would have these extravagant dreams of being Caucasian in skin tone and being a beautiful girl instead of a dark skinned

In the story, the myth of a Latin of woman she stated how growing up as a Puerto Rican girl was very difficult, her life was very different from a regular normal teenager her family had kept her under surveillance. Her family was watch her because she a girl and was expected to continue her family tradition and honor and expected her to act like a “proper senorita”. As a teenage she was force to be an adult. Cofer had to be different she had to be an adult and dress older than most of her other friends. The life she was living was very different than any other girls she had knew, she always labeled and stereotyped. Later, when cofer had grown up she experience a few different situations where she was being stereotype. “The first was when a man was singing an offense Spanish song to her

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

Moreover maya had to overcome the racism in society and self loathing. in that case, “ maya observes pretty white girl with fine clothes and graceful manner and she struggles with inferior.” ( i know why the caged bird sings, sirs.) my hero lived through a time of racial segregation and was made fun of.

During her graduation, two speeches were given, one was from a fellow black student who directed his speech in the way of pathos in which he tried to evoke emotion and motivate all the students to be their best despite their backgrounds. The other speaker was a white man, who was an elected official and went more the way of ethos, using ethical words, which made him lose the audience. He implied that all the white kids would go on to do great things and all the black kids would go to be athletes or do some sort of social work. In Maya’s essay titled “Graduation,” Angelou mentions “The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos and Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren’t even in on it) would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises” (51). From this quote I can resonate with the fact that people, including my mother thought that white kids had more of an opportunity to be great as opposed to minorities, which is why she moved me so I could be a Galileo, or a Madame Curie. Also, that shows how I might relate to Maya in the fact that even though they are two completely different times, the reality is that based on race or being colored there is a pre-placed weight on one’s shoulder to break past that. Another quote that resonated with me personally is when Angelou discusses the speech made by Henry Reed- “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” (Reed qtd. in Angelou 53). I personally think that this quote compares Maya and I’s thinking because she felt like she had no control over her life and it was determined, and at one point my mother felt like that was going to be my path, however we both chose to be the “captain of our own soul”. I could of chose to be a stereotype and be like the majority but I decided to take my life into my own hands

In American history, racial inequality has been a prevalent issue for many decades. By the 1930s racial inequality and segregation was still as strong as ever. There was a racial hierarchy with white people at the top and black people near the bottom. White people would discriminate against black people. The two groups never worked alongside each other or mixed in any fashion. To help understand this time period, segregation was still present until the mid 1950s, when the Supreme Court ruled segregation in schools unconstitutional. During this time full of racism and racial inequality, Maya Angelou was just a little girl growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a town in the South that was most likely overflowing with inequalities at the time. In 1938 Maya Angelou was only ten years old. At this age, she worked for a lady named Mrs. Viola Cullinan. Maya Angelou wrote briefly about her time spent working for Mrs. Cullinan in her short story “Mary.” Maya Angelou's’ use of vivid, direct characterization and alternating childish voice to mature adult narrative diction filtered through her authentic first person point of view helps to prominently establish the theme of Angelou’s distaste for racial inequality throughout the short story.

This quote is important because based on stereotypes developed by other people, black people are violent and rude. Maya would likely have been punished for standing up for her grandmother while the white girls would be sympathized for harassing an elderly woman.

Even with Maya being a young child, she knows that this fight is not only just about boxing but a symbol of finally a fight back against the inferiority that has been placed upon the black American by the white society of America. This fight was the battle and struggle that African-Americans have had to go through for decades. She describes this by stating “yet another Black man hanging on a tree,” showing a unified moment in history that finally allowed Americans to see that blacks “were the strongest people in the world.” (

Throughout many civilizations men have almost always been viewed as the superior gender. Society has often perceived men as stronger, smarter, and better when compared to women. Many women during the 1900’s began to speak out against these predominate views of sexism. They strew away from their subordinate occupations of mother and house keeper, and began to make decisions for themselves. It was a struggle for women to gain the support of society.

Many of the problems Maya encounters in her childhood stem from the prejudices and racism of her white neighbors. Maya's employer, Mrs. Cullinan, when she was ten years old, insisted upon calling her "Mary" or "Margaret". Maya is unable to tolerate this because "whites called black people too many other names", so Maya deliberately tries to get fired. She finally succeeds by breaking Mrs. Cullinan's old-fashioned china. She has to endure the insult of her name being shortened to "Mary" by a racist employer.

The common theme is the racism that Maya and her family experience throughout the book. As the narrative is set in 1969 when racial prejudice against African Americans was still prevalent. Through Maya’s eyes, whiteness is the preferred skin color but she cannot hide the hate and disgust of the white people, who degrade and belittle her. The racism is especially present due to their setting, which is in the south. One might think that moving to San Francisco would end the racial divide, but that is not the case. In the south, they are divided by a very literal border, and although blacks and white work side by side in San Francisco, their prejudice was apparent; “San Franciscans would have sworn on the Golden Gate Bridge that racism was missing from the heart of their air-conditioned city. But they would have been sadly mistaken” (Angelou).

In the time period that this story was written, a person’s background meant something as a name was a sense of wealth and worth. Since Desiree was adopted, her background was unknown and when Armand decided to marry Desiree he didn’t care because he would give her his name as all he cared about was his affection for her. For a little while all was well in the household. Desiree and Armand were happier than ever, and Armand treated his slaves better. This soon took a drastic turn as everyone noticed that their son had begun to show qualities of a Negro. Once these features were noticed, Armand’s attitude towards his wife and his slaves changed for the worst. In Armand’s eyes Desiree was at fault for giving the child those features since her history was unknown. Even after Desiree gives her husband evidence that she may not be a carrier, she and her child are still banished from the home and sent on their way.