Caged Bird Sings: We Are My Mentors

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A mentor is someone that guides another person, gives them advice, or assists them. Personally, I believe mentors do not necessarily have to be perfect. Of course, they need to be helpful in one way or another, positively or negatively. In fact, someone can be really experienced in one thing only and still be considered a mentor. I think of my friends as mentors, because whether I realize it or not, they influence my behavior and thoughts, give me advice, and help me through problems using their experience. Based off of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Mrs. Flowers is her mentor. Mentors do not have to be willing to help, nor do they have to be perfect, but they do need to be respected and have the ability to get people to listen to them. Firstly, …show more content…

Furthermore, this statement shows that she is respected. An example of her actual confidence is shown by Maya when she depicts her as having, “the grace to control to appear warm in the coldest weather, and on the Arkansas summer days it seemed she had a private breeze which swirled around, cooling her.” The word grace shows that she is poised and others perceive her as such. Secondly, Mrs. Flowers had at least one quality that could assist Maya, which was her intelligence. Maya recalls Mrs. Flowers explains, “language is a man’s way of communicating with his fellow man and its language alone separates him from the lower animals.” In this quote, Mrs. Flowers are smart enough to recognize the importance of language. Additionally, Mrs. Flowers wisely expresses, “It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning.” This further proves the claim that Mrs. Flowers was intelligent because it shows that she is not only wise with her quotes, but is taking a logical approach to getting Maya to talk after the trauma she had experienced. Lastly, Maya Angelou is inspired by Mrs. Flowers, and perceives her as this perfect and beautiful

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