The Duboisan Concept Of Double Deciousness In Graduation By Maya Angelou

802 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Cultural influences on self identity

In Maya Angelou's, Graduation, the protagonist Marguerite gains awareness of herself and others through the Duboisan concept of double consciousness. She realizes that she must reconcile her own perception of herself with the unflattering perception society will also possess of her. Marguerite is having a double consciousness doing the whole ceremony. According to W.E. Du Bois double consciousness ¨is the sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity¨ . As the speaker speaks she realize that America is not going to see her as she sees herself. She realize that the color of her skin will stop her for doing a lot of things, also that …show more content…

As she listens to the speaker she started to think about the opinions of others regarding her. She thought to herself, ´´It was awful to be a Negro and have no control over my life¨. It was in that moment she realized that others do not see her as she sees herself. To them she's just a another black person in the world, but she does not see herself as that. The emotions that she's is feeling at this moment is unrealistic. She feel as if the people of her skin color is at the bottom,and doing that time she was right. Doing that time blacks could not do anything, they was treated poorly and still today they aren't receiving the rights they should be getting. She feels as if there's no point in getting this diploma, but then another speaker gets up. When the speaker gets up the first thing she notices is that he is black, and she ends it with this quote, "We have come over a way that with tears has been wanted, we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered¨. Suddenly, she started to feel that blacks are back on top. She expresses that sentiment when she states, "we were on top again, as always again. we survived." She thinks that no matter what blacks always overcome any obstacle that comes in their way. This is a sharp contrast from what she was thinking earlier. At first she was thinking it wasn't beneficial to be black because of the racism she would have to face the rest of her life. Then its a sudden change when she hears the black speaker and she feel like blacks will always

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

    775 Words  | 2 Pages

    She alludes to the idea that as people we must look deeper into our lives and see were we may have been given unearned privilege whether is be from race, gender, or sexuality.

    Read More

  • Waking Up And Taking Charge Summary

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    She then immediately follows up with a way to fix it and demand respect. Shes trying to connect with the audience and shows that she has been in the same place, that she can relate. You can see that she has done her research, she uses plenty of statistics to give you a visual of what she is talking about as well as quoting people from organizations and giving them the appropriate credit. She mentions in 2005 at yale, her alma mater, 15 students sat in the admissions office until they were removed by police. These individuals were demanding changes to the financial aid policy. What those student did actually changed the policy and made it easier for families to afford college without heavy loans. This showed others that activists can make a difference, something she presses on in this

    Read More

  • Analysis of Anne Moody's Coming of Age in Mississippi

    1206 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Frederick Douglass, The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was a remarkable articulation of the Black people voice living in the United States of America at that point of time because Black people were going through too much humiliation on physical and moral levels (Andrews, 1991, p.46). In order to get to the gist of the speech and reveal the emotional resonance it creates, a historical background timeline needs to be sketched. The period of the 1850s in the USA was especially tough for slaves due to several significant events that happened within this period of time. First of all, there was the Nashville Convention held on June 3, 1850, the goal of which was to protect the rights of slaveholders and extend the dividing line northwards. September 18 of the same year brought the Fugitive Slave Act, according to which the slave who managed to escape from his owner to the free state was to be caught and later returned back with all the consequences to follow.... ...

    Read More

  • Anna Julia Cooper

    2460 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Only the BLACK WOMAN can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed

    Read More

  • Summary Of The Champion Of The World By Maya Angelo

    789 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her race wants him to win and overcome the pain and sufferance they had till then. The description of the men staying away from the walls, and the women clenching onto their babies, showed fear. No one could breathe, or blink as it was the moment of suspense which could go in either way was a turning point where black people felt it was all over.

    Read More

  • Annotated Bibliography Of Maya Angelou

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    "Angelou, Maya (née Marguerite Annie Johnson)." Encyclopedia of African-american Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 12 March 2014.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How It Feels To Be Colored Me By Neale Hurston

    1781 Words  | 4 Pages

    Despite the current scrutiny that her race faces she asserts to the reader that her race and color define her as a person and does not determine her identity. Despite the mindset that most of her peers keep about the inequality of race, she maintains an open mind and declares to the reader that she finds everyone equal. Thus proving herself as a person ahead of her own time.

    Read More

  • Maya Angelou Ethos

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to

    Read More

  • Maya Angelou’s The Graduation

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout life graduation, or the advancement to the next distinct level of growth, is sometimes acknowledged with the pomp and circumstance of the grand commencement ceremony, but many times the graduation is as whisper soft and natural as taking a breath. In the moving autobiographical essay, "The Graduation," Maya Angelou effectively applies three rhetorical strategies - an expressive voice, illustrative comparison and contrast, and flowing sentences bursting with vivid simile and delightful imagery - to examine the personal growth of humans caught in the adversity of racial discrimination.

    Read More

  • Angela Davis Speech Analysis

    1250 Words  | 3 Pages

    Angela Davis, a renowned political and civil rights activist, was invited in 2012 to Pitzer College to give the commencement speech to the graduating class. Her speech touched on important points in her life as well as many of the values she fought for and believe in. I have never heard her speak before watching this commencement address, and my initial thoughts when hearing her speech was that she was old. Her speech was slow and at first a little boring. However, as her commencement continued onward, she started to get more into rhythm and while she stayed relatively slow, the power behind her words as she spoke made me want to listen more to what she had to say. Angela Davis has had an interesting history as an activist and educator, and

    Read More

  • Life Lessons in Maya Angelou's Graduation

    1703 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the essay the author lost her innocence but graduated to a deeper appreciation and clarity of who she is and who she could become. In her school with no visible fences keeping the children within the schoolyard, there were the invisible fences of racism that tried to limit them from reaching their full potential. The author concludes, "I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death" (841).

    Read More

  • The Struggles in Maya Angelou's Life

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    The early 1930’s a time where segregation was still an issue in the United States it was especially hard for a young African American girl who is trying to grow and become an independent woman. At this time, many young girls like Maya Angelou grew up wishing they were a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes. That was just the start of Angelou's problems though. In the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou goes into great depth about her tragic childhood, from moving around to different houses, and running away and having a child at the age of 16. This shows how Maya overcame many struggles as a young girl.

    Read More

  • Autobiography Of An Ex Colored Man Analysis

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    These repeated words show the reader that the narrator identifying himself as a “colored” man is sincerely shameful and desires to abandon his colored race. In addition, the word choice of debating, shame, forsake, and inferiority in the context conveys a feeling of negative categorization to the reader while the narrator is talking about the African American race. This projects the narrator’s idea, which is carried throughout the novel, that being a “colored” man in society is looked down upon and shameful. In the beginning of the novel when the narrator is conversing with his mother for his true identity, there is a sense of shame as the narrator says, “ She must have felt that I was examining her, for she hid her face in my hair…” (8). Also when the narrators mother talks about his white father, a positive sense of categorization is delivered as the mother says, “ No, I am not white you- your father is one of the greatest men in the country- the best blood of the south is in you” (8). These two quotes early in the novel connect to the narrator’s general idea that being an African American in society is categorized as shameful and negative while being white is classified as the “best” and “great.” This idea is relevant to the social issue of racial

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Black Lives Matter

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the same chapter, it mentioned the poet Audre Lorde recognized the historical process and its importance. She wrote “those of us who have been forged in crucibles of difference- those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are Black, who are older,” know that survival means “learning how to take our differences and make them strengths.” The fight for justice has been ongoing for people who are different than the typical white person. People of color, especially black people who are being discriminated must learn to survive with their own strength. Alicia Garcia mentioned that it is time black people should embrace their blackness, embracing their culture, using their own difference and making it their strength to combat any

    Read More

More about The Duboisan Concept Of Double Deciousness In Graduation By Maya Angelou

Open Document