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Hadassah McGill Ms. Camargo English 2100-003 12 Feb. 2013 Ive Got Diamonds America has not always been The Land of the Free! At least not everyone had the privilege in sharing that sense of pride and freedom that America portrayed. There was a time not very long ago where specific races of people were demeaned and treated harshly or less than equal. For example Jews and African-Americans and even women were mistreated in the past. In some areas around the world, this type of harsh treatment is still taking place. Most cultures have been treated so terribly that the thought of how their race was treated still lives on past the history books. In fact, a new history is being made. The kind of history where an AfricanAmerican woman, above all things unheard of, exercises her voice and makes readers have no choice but to listen. The great Maya Angelou, in her work entitled Still I Rise, sheds light on her ancestors backgrounds and provides, in her own way, a criticism of the established order through use of rhetorical questioning, simile and metaphor, and allusions to the past and present situations she now faces. At a time when the African-American society was put down, abused, ignored, and mistreated, Maya Angelou finds her own way out by sharing the African-American womans plight and her rise to greatness. She escapes the feelings of oppression from her people being [written] down in history [and] trod in the very dirt and she shares her feelings of stagnant growth even after all the many years of leaving behind nights of terror and fear in her poem Still I Rise. The tone in this piece exudes strength and confidence no matter what struggles one is

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faced with. Maya Angelou presents the reader with an inside perspective of how her life as an African-American woman (no less) was transformed during and after the times of slavery. The speaker poses a variety of open ended questions that she seemingly already knows the answers to. The overwhelming sense of dignity the speaker possesses is confident, assuring, and uplifting to any male or female figure and race. With this confidence comes a sense of pride in her culture, her people, and herself. She begins to exude this confidence with the myriad of rhetorical questions in the poem. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Does my haughtiness offend you? Dont you take it awful hard cause I laugh like Ive got gold mines diggin in my own back yard Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise that I dance like Ive got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs? All of these rhetorical questions bring about a sense of pride that had long before been defeated in the African-American race. With these questions, Angelou is showing that, in all the struggles of her people, you just cannot keep a good thing down. You can get upset and offended, but she demonstrates that she possesses a quality or characteristic that she, not only as an AfricanAmerican but also as a woman, was for the longest time forbidden to show. The speaker seems strong: stronger than her society wants her to feel since people are used to seeing her shoulders falling down like teardrop [and] weakened by [her] soulful cries. She seems confident: more confident than her society expects for her to feel. She has been broken down, weakened, and hurt many times before, but no longer was this going to be the image portrayed. She seems driven to put her ancestors gifts and talents on display, since for so many years they were stifled and hidden. The African-American plight or the struggle of the black race was captured by people not wanting to see them fight or talk back or speak up for

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themselves. Superior races hated to see blacks happy and successful so the confidence possessed by the speaker was not taken lightly. The speaker asks, does my haughtiness offend you? This was probably because she was more intelligent than one would care to appreciate. The speaker then goes on to ask does my sexiness upset you? as if she is sure that no one is expecting her to consider herself as beautiful or sexy because it is clear she doesnt look like everyone else and also because her race was trodden in the very dirt. But still, like dust, Ill rise and from the ashes that formed from the broken and bruised backs of African-Americans, the black culture was able to rise to greatness. Her ancestors brought her dignity, gave her reason to fight for something (dreams, hopes, and more) and with these things [she] rise[s]. Angelou uses all these metaphors and similes to express how she has rise[n] from a dark, desolate, and barren place; where her people, her race, were treated with such hatefulness. Yet still, out of the huts of historys shame I rise. The speaker says she is a black ocean, leaping and wide. This not only is representative of the color of her skin, but also it is also compared to the cast and endless possibilities her life holds and the tide and currents represent how her struggles are widespread with every trial she faces, but she takes it and bear[s] the tide and still [she] rise[s]. The use of similes in the poem represent the view of African-Americans that was long suppressed and even the rights and riches that were stolen from them. The poem alludes to a place and time in our history when African-Americans were thought to be an inferior race, and were treated as such. Historically, Blacks were beaten and bruised, raped and murdered, sold as slaves and as property, and treated unequally and unfairly all because white or Caucasian-Americans thought of themselves as a privileged race.

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Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin in my own backyard. 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, Ill rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of historys shame I rise Up from a past thats rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

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Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

Hadassah I think youre on to the literary devices in this poem and what the theme/central tension is, and your passion for the poem comes through in your writing. I know you might see a zillion comments here, but dont let it get you down. Youve actually done a good job getting started with this. Im being a bit hard on you only to help you develop your paper to be a stricter New Critical explication, and to help you organize into a more concise explanation of the literary devices at work. I know youre struggling with how to bring in the important historical factors while still sticking to a New Critical analysis, so if you want to make an appointment with me and get together and talk through it, we can, just let me know.

Comment 2: (regarding intro--continued from above) You can show these things (cultural and historical factors) through discussing the allusions, but you cant use them as your general introduction. But if you come in through the side door as I suggest in the next comment, you can bring this in; you just have to use Angelous allusions as the side door. In addition, New Criticism doesnt allow for the critic to consider the life or intentions of the author (see the PPT on New Criticism and the intentional fallacy). So you can talk about a speaker or narrator, but you cant discuss the authors life or intentions. I know this leaves out a lot of what you love about the poem but for a proper New Critical explication, you have to work around that. In addition, think about this: part of what makes this poem so wonderful is that its for anyone whos been oppressed for a long time, through generations. It works for populations other than African Americansin fact, really, someone whos been abused for much of their life could relate to this poem, whether they are black or white or purple or female or male or whatever, right? So try to take what you know about Ms. Maya and HER struggles out of it, and think about the larger theme that is relevant across cultures and times. Maybe something like Through the use of rhetorical questions and figurative language, Still I Rise explores the tensions between past oppression and present liberation for those who have been oppressed. OR explores the notion that even when one has been oppressed for many years, liberation is possible. OR illustrates that, although a person or a group of people who have been oppressed may face the expectation that they will remain as such, freedom and happiness are possible.