Angelou

Angelou

Maya Angelou was a very successful American poet born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928; around the time of the African American struggle for identity amidst a society dominated by whites. Later on in life, Angelou became a famous civil rights leader, providing the world of literature with firsthand experiences of a childhood lived in a poorer, but tight-knit community in the Deep South. In “Graduation”, Angelou depicts a personal anecdote to criticize the lowly lifestyles African Americans were expected to live out from an early age. From the persona of the excited and naïve young girl she once was, Angelou incorporates rhetorical devices such as tone, syntax, and organization to create a distinct contrast between the lifestyles of whites and blacks in the early 1900’s.
Angelou incorporates subtle persuasive hints within her rhetorical devices to establish ethos in her personal anecdote about her eighth grade promotion. Within the text, Angelou possesses a variety of tones that illustrate the naivety of her character. In the very beginning paragraphs of the piece, Angelou includes a third-person narration to establish the “trembling anticipation” the school was burning with the last weeks before graduation. This part of the text includes regular syntax, which reflects a very observant and relaxed atmosphere. The rocky area was “relieved by a few shady tall persimmon trees”, and “the girls often held hands” as they walked. Once Angelou began narrating from her own perspective, she adopted a tone fiery with optimism and childish excitement. Angelou explained how her “dress fitted perfectly” and “little children dashed by out of the dark like fireflies”. But by the second half of the text, an easily identifiable volta occurs, shifting Angelou’s tone from one of optimism to an intonation of pessimism and bitterness. Angelou focused on how the “proud graduating class of 1940 had dropped their heads” and “the accomplishment was...