Maya Angelou
Black writers play a major role in our literature today. Maya Angelou's work began a new era for blacks everywhere. She wrote an autobiography called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This book was written in the time period during the depression, just before the war. She has also written poems, plays, musicals, and other novels. Through I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, one can see her troubles and success growing up in a time period when racism and hate were at a peak. In this novel, Angelou uses a black southern dialect in her diction. From this one can draw conclusions about her life. The black southern accent she uses, demonstrates what kind of person she is, and how she grew up. Her education also is reflected in her diction, as in how she uses the words she uses. The dialect she uses comes in when she is talking about how the people around her speak. She uses this effectively to make the reader understand what kind of life situation she is in. An example of her dialect in this sense would be: "Stamps, Arkansas, was Chitlin' Switch, Georgia; Hang 'Em High, Alabama; Don't Let the Sun Set on You Here, Nigger, Mississippi" (Angelou 49) Her diction shows good planning and a thought out choice of words. This book make
Using examples is another one of Angelou's strong points. In this novel she uses examples to explain her purpose clearly. As in any story giving good examples is extremely important to create feeling. Readers want to be able to relate, and the use of examples helps. Angelou shows the reader, what life really was like. She describes things like the presents she got during Christmas, to how her mom looked, even though she never saw her. If she is able to demonstrate a feeling in peoples mind, then she is achieving exactly what she needs, to make the reader envision everything clearly. Some of the examples also give the reader an understanding of what the depression felt like for that of Overall this book comes together successfully because of how well it was written. Throughout the story the diction consists of an uneducated black dialect. This dialect makes the purpose and emphasis clear to the reader. She has the book organized chronologically, to make it as a story. Everything fits together and one sees what not only her life was like, but all the people around her. Her racial and sexual differences fit together in a way that leaves the reader with a sense of complete understanding. Any reader who reads this book will be in complete satisfaction with how real she portrays everything, and how she makes one seem part of the story. describes what it was like to make the sacrifices that she di
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Approximate Word count = 957
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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