Mrs. Flowers By Maya Angelou Summary
“Mrs. Flowers”, an excerpt from Maya Angelou's “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”(1969), depicts the profound effect that an adult can have on a child. Fortunately in this situation, the effect is a positive one. Mrs. Flowers was not known to be the warmest of people. As a matter of fact, in Marguerite's eyes, she was almost beyond approach. In Maya Angalou's descriptive writing pattern, you can almost feel, taste and smell the reverence for Mrs. Flowers almost as much as you can feel Mrs. Flowers skin, taste the milk and smell the cookies. You can not read “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” without experiencing Marguerite's excited sensory overload right along with her. Good or bad. Not only is she a pro at descriptive writing, her
ability to paint a picture with words has inspired me long before her popularity grew over the past ten years. I continue to attempt to emulate that same ability in my writing.
Whether or not Marguerite's view of Mrs. Flowers from a child's eye is correct or slightly exaggerated, is irrelevant. The desired affect is the same. Marguerite's childhood logic ensures that whatever Mrs. Flowers has to say, the child will not only hold it near and dear to her heart, but she will follow every word Mrs. Flowers has to say as if it is law. The unexpected attention that is bestowed upon her not only elevates her own self-esteem, it provided her with her own individual identity as is demonstrated in the following excerpt, “I was liked, and what a difference it made. I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson” (Angelou, M., 1969, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings).
ability to paint a picture with words has inspired me long before her popularity grew over the past ten years. I continue to attempt to emulate that same ability in my writing.
Whether or not Marguerite's view of Mrs. Flowers from a child's eye is correct or slightly exaggerated, is irrelevant. The desired affect is the same. Marguerite's childhood logic ensures that whatever Mrs. Flowers has to say, the child will not only hold it near and dear to her heart, but she will follow every word Mrs. Flowers has to say as if it is law. The unexpected attention that is bestowed upon her not only elevates her own self-esteem, it provided her with her own individual identity as is demonstrated in the following excerpt, “I was liked, and what a difference it made. I was respected not as Mrs. Henderson's grandchild or Bailey's sister but for just being Marguerite Johnson” (Angelou, M., 1969, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings).