Graduation Day - Maya Angelou

Graduation Day by Maya Angelou is an excerpt from her Auto biography. This excerpt narrates her 8^th Grade Graduation Ceremony. As a pattern following 3 main sections, flowing into Graduation from Pre-Graduation and concluding to a very satisfying end.

Considering the time constraint, I am going to link the summary here. Please do refer to the same before moving forward. http://entertainmentguide.local.com/summary-the-graduation-maya-angelou-3385.html

The distinction that is naturally created between the blacks and whites in this excerpt shows us that what has been written in history and the torment the slave south has endured is no joke. As this is just a reflection of the same in a post-traumatic era. Prevalent themes and motifs of lingering hope and racism exist. Racism is a very important theme as it is important to understand the difference in lifestyle and standards followed by the whites compared to the blacks.

Important extracts

1. 1.       Unlike the white high school, Lafayette County Training School distinguished itself by having neither lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis court, nor climbing ivy.
2. 2.       …bats and balls could be borrowed from the P.E. teacher if the borrower was qualified and if the diamond wasn’t occupied.
3. 3.       …our usual assembly pattern: The American National Anthem, the pledge of allegiance, then the song every black person I knew called the Negro National Anthem.
4. 4.       (Enter white people)The shorter one walked to the speaker’s platform, and the tall one moved to the centre seat and sat down. But that was our Principal’s seat and already occupied.
5. 5.       The Central School (naturally, the white school was central) had already been granted improvements that would be in use in the fall. A well-known artist was coming from Little Rock to teach art to them.
6. 6.       The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos, Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren’t even considered) would try to be Jesse Owens and Joe Louises.
7. 7.       Graduation, the hush-hush magic time of frills……had exposed us.
8. 8.       Donleavy was running for election … part of Arkansas
9. 9.       He finished, and since there was no need to give any… at the door
10. 10.   The ugliness they left was palpable… captain of my soul.
11. 11.   I thought about colours I hated : ecru, puce, lavender, beige and black

Line 1 and 2 show how well off the Central School was compared to the grammar school Maya Angelou was studying in. They weren’t even given proper facilities compared to the other school, considering they were in the same County.

Line 4 shows the arrogance of the shorter white person as he approached the seat of the Principal and his nonchalance dictated the importance they gave to the blacks.

Line 5 elucidates the fact that the white people in general are being provided with a lot compared to the blacks.

Line 6 employs racism to the job prospects the blacks have compared to the whites. Where whites excel in the academic areas and blacks in the athletic areas.

Para 7 After working so hard for the entire year and studying so much, it all seems to have gone to waste. Even after graduating as the topper of her class all this seemed very ambiguous as there is nothing for her to achieve as she knows that in the end she would be judged based on her colour and not her work. ‘We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was a farcical and presumptuous.’

Line 9 narrates how Donleavy left without greeting but merely nodding to the people as he left with his unintroduced companion.

Para 10 Here, after the departure of the white gentlemen, recitations were in procession. Elouise, the daughter of the Baptist Minister recited the fabled poem, Invictus by William Ernest Henley. Beautiful poem (http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/invictus/). The last line of the poem ‘I am the master of the fate, I am the captain of my soul’, contrasts the statement made by Angelou in Para 7. Thus, creating a sense of hopelessness that lingers throughout.

Line 11 is the skin colours of the black people. This is important as it shows us the blame she puts on her being black and cursing the very fact that her achievement did not depend on her hard work but her colour.

Towards the last two pages of the short story, as the Negro National Anthem(as mentioned in the text) is being sung, each and every word of the same, which Angelou had never put any effort in listening to before, made it all clear to her now. Liberation, hard work, sacrifices, and acceptance has now captured her senses. Accepting not that she is from the graduating class of 1940 but also that she is a part of the beautiful Negro Race.

The excerpt ends with the acceptance to the community that she embraces and also that she is a part of a family of poets, preachers, musicians and romanticists.