Describe an important idea in the text. Explain whether or not you think this idea is relevant to teenagers today.
In the poem “Still, I Rise”, Maya Angelou shows the defeat and Survival she has been through as an African American woman in America. Maya Angelou is a person of bravery and survival and Her poem is telling people that no matter who you are you have the power to stand against people who have put you down in the past. The important ideas in the text are rising above others, using historical references and links to the current world that teenagers live in.
In the poem, Maya Angelou speaks about rising above others and standing for what you believe no matter who you are or what you have gone through. Maya Angelou’s poem is showing that no matter what you go through there is a light at the end of the tunnel and all you have to do is hope. She shows us that no matter your race, beliefs, sexuality you can have that happy ending that she eventually had. In the first stanza, Maya Angelou says “you may write me down in history with your bitter twisted lies, but still like dust I rise” she is stating that people may put you down and people may try and define who you are from what they have heard but Maya Angelou is teaching people that they have a voice no matter who they are. She is giving hope and confidence to many young people who feel that they have to be who the world wants them to be. Maya Angelou is connecting her personal experiences when she was young to teenagers in 2020 without trying. Society in 2020 has made people think that if you’re even slightly different from people’s expectations you shouldn’t be accepted. If your African American, gay, or transgender it still doesn’t matter you are a human being just like the people who are putting these biased expectations into our society. Many teenagers don’t know who they are yet and have not gained the confidence to be who they are, but Maya Angelou is telling us to rise against the hate and lies.
In the poem, Maya Angelou uses historical references to give her words evidence and show the meaning behind what she has written. Maya Angelou speaks about her experiences and past in a way that it’s not obvious but it’s there for us to figure out. In the poem, Maya Angelou says “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, I rise.” She is speaking about her abusive past and how she has left it behind to become the person she is today. Maya Angelou never let her past define her. She didn’t want people seeing her as the young black girl who got abused. She wanted to be seen as someone people could look up to, she wanted people to read her poems and be inspired.“Out of the huts of history’s shame, I rise” In this poem, Maya Angelou isn’t only speaking about her past but she is speaking about all African Americans and the racial discrimination they have gone through. When she says “out of the huts of history’s shame” she is showing the African American slaves coming out of their huts of isolation and abuse and standing for who they are. She doesn’t want her people to be ashamed of their colour that’s why near the end of the poem she says
“ Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?”
She is telling the people who think being African-American automatically makes you below others that she has the power now, she found the light at the end of the tunnel. She is blessing her people with her confidence and bravery so that they can one day dance like they have diamonds all over their bodies, so they can have their freedom finally.
In the text, Maya Angelou links her poem to teenagers in 2020 by talking about difficult times she has gone through and linking them to what others have experienced. Maya Angelou didn’t have the perfect childhood she was born in St Louis Missouri and her parents divorced when she was only three. When she was eight her mother’s boyfriend sexually abused her. Maya Angelou was afraid of her own tongue after she came clean about what he had done, she became mute for the next five years. Her childhood never determined her as a person but instead, it inspired her to be the woman she became. The world is very different from what it was fifty years ago but now children are brought up in a society that tells them they have to be perfect. We as teenagers in 2020 are exposed to violence and chaos. Maya Angelou speaks about being put down by others and how she overcomes it. In the quote “You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise”. Maya Angelou is telling us that people may put you down and they may want to defeat you but she is showing us that you aren’t just a piece of dust that can be swept up you are a human being and you have the power to stand for who you are.
In conclusion, Maya Angelou uses certain ideas like rising above others, historical references, and links to the current world that teenagers live in to show how her personal experiences as a young African American woman living in the U.S connects to teenagers in 2020. She speaks about the harsh reality that she went through and shows us as teenagers that we may have gone through similar things but we can get through it just like she did. She gives us the confidence to rise above racial discrimination, bullying, or abuse, things that many people go through on a daily bases. Maya Angelou shows us that we don’t have to go through that, we have a voice as loud as the people who lead our countries and we have the power to use it the same as they do.
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