The Space Between Stars By Geeta Kothari: An Analysis

For one thing, not only is Maya a girl, but she is an African American as well. This means there is the added factor of racism on top of society’s expectations for her. These two combined lead Maya to have very little self-esteem and confidence in herself. From a young age, she believed she was ugly, comparing herself to her brother Bailey saying, “When I was described by our playmates as being shit color, he was lauded for his velvet black skin” (22). She is constantly teased for her appearance because of her skin color, and believes the horrible things people say about her. Angelou shows us that the pressure from society to be attractive and beautiful suffocates her, and that she is under the belief that she is ugly for the majority of her childhood. This, along with her parents leaving her and her brother when they were only three and four respectively, makes Maya feel unwanted. Incidentally, it does not help when she notices a pattern for the heroes in the books she reads. Maya praises an author named Horatio Alger, claiming he was “the greatest writer in the world. His heroes were always good, always won, and were always boys” (75). Maya notices that heroes were always depicted as boys, and it makes her wish she had been born a boy as well. The lack of representation of female heroes makes her, and possibly many other little girls, feel as if there is no possible way they would achieve

An example of Maya facing racism is during her eighth grade graduation. Maya was so excited to graduate. The school she attended enrolled both whites and blacks. First of all during the assembly the blacks had to recite their own national anthem titled “ The Negro National Anthem”. The principal gave a speech the the students and instead of treating the kids equal, he proudly stated the new achievements the whites were going to have, and

Namely, losing her confidence when her experiment begins to fall apart. It starts to fall apart when her crush doesn’t accept her invitation to her farewell party and then when she finds out everyone’s going to Allison’s birthday party, a girl in her choir, instead. It gets worse when she messes up her solo at the choir concert and everyone makes fun of her. Maya stops talking to others and goes back to her old self. As proof of this, “Why did I believe I was anything but an inside joke?...I’m not special, I’m just a crazy girl in Grandma shoes. I don’t have balls at all...All my confidence and inner strength-how do I find it again?” (227-228).This reflects how Maya feels about herself. Maya brings herself down by letting everyone else get to her. She cancels her party and decides to give up on her experiment because she feels so bad about herself. Maya’s popularity disapears and even her friends have abondened her. Furthermore, Maya realizes that she was closest to popularity when “I was talking to people. It was when I opened up my introverted circle and allowed everyone I met in. It was when I included everyone” (230). As a result of this realization, Maya understands the true meaning of popularity. It was more then looks . It’s more than the right clothes, hair or what you owned, it was who you are and how you treat others. After determining this, Maya decides to invite anyone who doesn’t have a date to prom to go with her. Instead of excluding people like she did for her farewell party, she includes everyone. Maya beomces confident and positive again. By putting the past behind her, Maya can move forward and continue her experiment. In the end, Maya learns that to be confident, she has to let go, find that light inside of her and show it to the

In that case if anyone who is trying to put her down will end up failing. Maya is really proud of her appearance and not afraid to show that. As shown above it is explain that when you are strong and have confidence nothing will stop you from moving forward in life. As you can tell this poem is a very good advice from the author herself she includes how other people get amazed by the confidence she has. After all it is all about the confidence you carry at all times and putting aside all the negative things you carry that hurts

This goes two ways because, at first Maya believed that he was just giving her attention and did not understand the full extent of what was happening. However, through this experience, Maya is forced to mature early. Another experience that affects Maya would be the reading of fairy tales and novels. Through these novels, Maya gets the perception that women cannot be superheroes and cannot do the things that men can.

However, Maya, the viewpoint of the novel, as a woman who hasn't lived this TRUE American life style. Like said, “In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than that they were different. To be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well-dressed. I remember never believing that whites were really real. ” (Angelou, 25) Maya illustrates the quantity of racial discrimination between the white and the blacks. That the segregation was in a sense said “complete” and never had the black seen the whites. Maya is once told in the novel that she was “the Uglies” and had told Bailey that was actually a beautiful blonde hair and she was in a nightmare trapped in this “African American” body. This act by Maya really says her individual characteristics that she is equal upon all American, and is not to be look down upon. In a sense, American isn't supposed to be a point to be judged upon racial features, but an individual who wants to strive and succeed for greater

Race, gender, age, and social class are things sometimes used to define a person. Mrs. Cullinan assumed because Maya was African American she had no say. The blacks have suffered so much harassment from the whites for many years that being “called out of his name” was an offense. It was such an insult to take away Marguerites name just for the convenience of Mrs. Cullinan it was like taking part of her away from her. Maya describes how this impacted her and how she decided to get vengeance. Times have now changed but there are still some people who believe that one gender or one race is superior and better.

Many physical properties of stars can be found by using a little bit of light. One property of a star is luminosity. Luminosity is the quantity of energy created in a star and then released as electromagnetic radiation. The brightness of a star is a blend of luminosity and distance of a star and can also depend on the quantity of energy absorbed in the direction of a star. Another property of a star is distance. Astronomers use parallax to establish the distance to an object. As Earth travels around the Sun, they monitor neighboring stars from various positions. They are then able to measure how much the star seems to move to establish the distance to the star.

the society she lives in is trapping her and trying to keep her from reaching her full potential. Maya feels like the white society is keeping her and her people in bondage, by saying subliminal things and doing certain actions to keep them on a lower level than whites. The speech that the white man spoke did nothing but clarify the societies expectations of people of color. Maya got angry because she wants to break free from those expectations. She wants to be able to have her own aspirations and not let her future be shaped based on the society that she lives in and what they expect from her. According to Elizabeth Fox Genoese’s essay called “Emphasis on Community in Caged Bird” she says that unbreakable barriers closed black communities

In the story, Maya’s parents don’t understand the American culture , so Maya said “I didn’t feel happy that Nurzhan got yelled at; I felt bad for the whole thing.” Maya thanks Nurzhan for trying to get her to go to the dance. Her parents struggle in America because Maya’s mom screams at Maya which she said “Do not tell me nothing when your father saw you!” Maya’s mom was fierce at the moment. Maya’s mom screamed at her for being with American boys.

“I discovered that to achieve perfect personal silence all I had to do was to attach myself leechlike to sound I began to listen to everything” She became a state of introversion towards the people around her. In the article “From Darkness to Dawn” it described a girl’s experience with depression it read, “For her depression she underwent 20 electrocution treatments, took medication, and pursued talk therapy.” Some people handle depression their own way and need different outlets. Maya became her own person and started to make observations about her surroundings and the way of life. She did not go to Bailey a lot like she used to which also caused her to feel lost in her decisions.

Mayans are very dedicated to maintaining their traditions and because of this they were not easily influenced by the ladinos culture. If the Ladinos wanted to embrace the Mayan Culture they would have go through an extensive amount of work. The Mayan as a community have always wanted to preserve their culture and in order for them to maintain their practices they spoke about their history to the younger generation. The Mayans did everything they could to keep the Ladinos culture out of their community. Most of the parents did not send their kids to school because they were afraid that their children would become fascinated and grasp the ladino

Vivian played the part of a friend to her daughter throughout the novel however that helped get Maya out of her little bubble. Maya described her “ mother was the only warm, outgoing personality among her siblings” (Angelou 67). Maya’s opinion about her mother is essentially key for the reason that if she likes the qualities of person they will essentially look up to them and want to grow into their shoes. While keeping that in mind Maya mentions how “Mother had cut my hair in a bob like hers and straightened it” (Angelou 64). Keeping previous idea said in mind a reader can infer that Maya is allowing to be change whether it hair or her hobbies so willingly because she saw how her mother was and she thought that the more she changed to be like her, she would become a person very similar to her mother. By doing this and having the desire to be like Vivian, Maya changed from a person that was so insecure to someone that felt good in their skin because when she looked at herself she saw mother. This later lead to the decision to take theaters classes and

First and most important is Maya's name and how it came to be. Maya got her name from her brother Bailey was supposed to have said, “This is my sister. I have to teach her to walk.”(68) That is where “My” came from and then eventually turning into Maya. Bailey and his sister Maya have had an extremely close relationship they were always on each other sides, always honest with each other, and they shared everything together. There was also a part in the book where

The Mayans try to preserve their traditional culture. Traditional culture is ways of life and customs handed down from ancestors. Mayan homes are one room, and made out of brick or mud called adobe. They are simple, with packed Earth floors and little furniture. The family might have a table and chairs, and hammocks for sleeping. There is a cook fire in the middle of the home, with clay pots around it. The most important thing in the traditional Mayan home is a family altar, for religious worship. One traditional custom of their culture is to ask the Earth for permission to build a home. The Mayans are also adapting to modern life. Adaptation is the change in a way of life so you can suit new conditions. The modern Mayan homes in larger town might have running water and electricity. Some homes might even have televisions or radios, and cooking utensils are becoming more common. Homes also may have blenders, gas stoves, and other appliances.The roles of traditional roles of men and women are very different. The men work in the fields, and they sometimes thy hunt. They plant, weed, and harvest all of the crops. The women work at home. They cook, take care of the children, and weave clothes for the family. They make beans and tortillas, and the some tortillas are made the old way. They pat the corn dough out by hand, and fry it on a griddle. Although, some women make tortillas with a tortilla press made of metal. The roles of men and women are part of their traditional