Mrs Cullinan Maya Angelou Analysis

F5. The narrator, Margaret, became furious with Mrs. Cullinan when Mrs. Cullinan acted upon the advice of her friend, and shortened her name from Margaret to Mary. After speaking about the incident with Bailey, she came up with a plan to enact revenge on Mrs. Cullinan in the form of breaking her most coveted china pieces purposefully.
S1. The story is told from Margaret’s point of view. Margaret is a good choice for the point of view because the actual story is about her name, and her feelings and thoughts surrounding the incidents that happen with her name. It allows you to feel her raw emotions throughout the story. The narration is paced quite quickly, with some lulls in between. It has a nice ebb and flow, but there are instances where weeks go by in a single sentence, such as; “For weeks after, I arrive early, left late and tried to make up for her barrenness.” (Angelou, M. 1969)
There were some humorous parts in Maya Angelou’s essay. Margaret decided to write a ballad about Mrs. Cullinan because she feels sorry for her loneliness. “That evening I decided to write a poem on being white, fat, old and without children. It was going to be a tragic ballad.” (1969 p. 174). Another time was when Margaret was serving Mrs. Cullinan and her friends on the porch, and they were speaking about her as if she wasn’t there. Margaret was thinking to herself; “I smiled at her. Poor thing. No organs and couldn’t event pronounce my name correctly.” (1969 p. 173). During the climax of the essay, it is implied that Margaret is feeling smug with herself, and finding Mrs. Cullinan’s reaction humorously pleasing when she states “I left the front door wide open so all the neighbors could hear.” (1969 p.