"Graduation" by Maya Angelou

     One of Maya Angelou's works that we read in class was "Graduation", an essay about her graduation ceremony and her experience of graduating. The three aspects of the SOAPST I will be discussing are the speaker, subject, and the tone. While Maya Angelou was an African American herself and did not have as many privileges, she still attempted to accomplish much more than imagined. Since she is a playwright, producer, dancer, actor, poet, and much more, she is reliable to us. We can use Holden Caulfield, from Catcher in the Rye, as an example as to why Angelou is more reliable, because Holden had a mental disorder. Therefore, we cannot trust everything he talked about, since we know how much he would exaggerate.

    The subject of the essay was her graduation experience. Since it was an accomplishment of hers, she was glad to see the day where she would graduate. With all the excitement, she was anxious to graduate and be free from the school which was torturous to her. Through the story, we see how not only her excitement but her classmates' excitements die down, because of the truth of their reality told to them from the white man. Even if they were disappointed and brought down, she still managed to be hopeful. What was meant for a happy day almost became a disappointment.

    The tone of the story includes her being predictable, excited, confused, angry, and inspired. On the day of her graduation, in the morning, she is predictable because she already has expectations of what the day will bring and how it will end. She is excited, because it is her day today since she is graduating; it is also one of her achievements for which she is proud of. Her excitement goes to confusion and anger, because of the white man's speech. He tells them how the white schools are better and how much more possibilities they have, unlike the black students. While this is enough to disappoint both the students and parents, Maya Angelou still manages to have hope. We are also shown how proud she is of her race. She is inspired to keep trying and is hopeful she will get somewhere someday.