Preview

Popular Maya Van Wagenen Summary

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
448 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Popular Maya Van Wagenen Summary
Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek by Maya Van Wagenen is a great novel with a thrilling plot, many unique characters, and quite a few realistic conflicts. Popular is a memoir and biography where Maya Van Wagenen tells her story of being a teenager and her experience of experimenting on how to be popular. Although there are many novels discussing Popularity, Popular by Maya Van Wagenen is different from all the rest. Popular is different from all of the other "popularity" books because in the end of the story there is a good ending with some good messages. Many of the popularity books end with the girl getting the guy, however this is not what happens in Popular by Maya Van Wagenen. Maya discovers that being herself and being caring and more open to people is the most important value of being popular. Popular is a very interesting novel that is informational and sends a wonderful message to young readers. Popular discusses many of the main issues teenagers face in society today. For example, while Maya is trying to be popular she faces many "road blocks" such as acne, and being a little bit overweight. One of the best things about Popular is the realistic plot and conflicts that I as a reader and other readers can relate too. The central idea discussed in Popular is what the true definition of being "popular" is and how to …show more content…
It’s not clothes, hair, or even possessions. When we let go of these labels, we see how flimsy and relative they actually are. Real popularity is kindness and acceptance. It is about who you are, and how you treat others." This passage is incredibly significant because it is the point of the story where Maya realizes the true meaning of popularity. This passage is worth remembering because it is one hundred percent true and even though some people don't realize it, it is ultimately the best definition of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Maya Jasanoff review

    • 631 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Jasanoff, Maya. “The Other Side of Revolution: Loyalists in the British Empire.” The William and Mary Quarterly 65 (2008): 205-232.…

    • 631 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou books and poems relate to real world situations. In her poem phenomenal women it talks about how you should not live in a stereotypical way of life and have confidence in yourself. You should celebrate how remarkable you are and it makes you a champion. Being a woman makes you supreme, because women are a mystery and hard to figure out. She expresses you don’t need to be loud to get attention just being yourself shows who you are. Maya Angelo works states you should embrace your purpose, practice a self-confidence ritual, and enjoy spending time alone, refuse to buy into the media’s image of a perfect woman, refuse to take anything too personally, ask empowering questions, and ask what they can do to improve the world. Her story…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While an appeal to popularity is never a strong argument in philosophy, C.S. Lewis in The Problem of Pain makes an interesting observation that is worth noting:…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Popularity being harmful seems like an oxymoron. Popularity is something so many people strive to have- to be respected, accepted, admired, even envied. But when that need to ‘fit in’ turns sour, most people never see it coming. The book Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson, shows the detrimental side of popularity not often considered by kids, and rarely mentioned in books. Speak is about a girl named Melinda and her first year in high school, where, after being raped by a popular kid, experiences bullying, exclusion, depression, and a myriad of different issues, in addition to not speaking. So Melinda withdraws into herself, indirectly because of popularity. Popularity in Melinda’s high school plays both a complicated and consequential…

    • 1216 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya the main protagonist lacks both the sense of honor and certainty, a result of her low self-esteem. Her low self-esteem is shown when she expresses her desire “to be…

    • 1033 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    1865 To 1900 Analysis

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages

    As the majority of people gained access to the same type of ideas and activities, a popular culture began to take hold surrounding those ideas and activities. Popular culture was especially prominent in cities due to the large, urban populations, which allowed a larger group of people to have easier access to such culture as opposed to rural…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marguerite Johnson, also known as Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis Missouri. At a time when being black in America was not such a good thing. Her parents named her Marguerite Johnson, but she got the name “Maya” from her older brother Bailey Johnson, it was just a nickname from him. She adopted the “ Angelou ” from her former husband. Maya has lived more than abnormal life. Angelou has explored the arts of dance, singing, theater, and movie and television acting. But most importantly, Maya Angelou is a well-known author and poet who writes about her experiences growing up and finding out how to love herself for who she was. Angelou lived a difficult life but her experiences are the reasons why she is such a great writer,…

    • 881 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Meanest Influence

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sexism is prevalent throughout Maya’s life. She explains how others view her gender when she says, “The judge had really made a gaff calling a Negro woman Mrs.” (48). The judge says this during a trial when the defendant says that he hid in Mrs. Henderson’s store. Therefore, when he asked for Mrs. Henderson and saw it was a black woman he was embarrassed. Not only was he embarrassed that he showed any form of respect to a black person, but he was even more embarrassed about showing respect to a black woman. Most of the world already regards women as lesser human beings, but black woman are the lowest of them all. She explains this fact when she says, “The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power. The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence” (272). This statement explains the way the world looks at her. She has to deal with being a Negro and racism, but she also has to deal with sexism. Despite all of these roadblocks, black women survive and might even become successful. Then she must continue to deal with the prejudice surrounding…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Editors of World Literature Today. “When I die I’ll live again”: A Tribute to Maya Angelou (1928-2014).” 28 May 2014. World Literature Today. Web. 22 Feb. 2017. .…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The first event that has a significant effect on Maya is the discovery that she was willfully given up by her parents. This discovery leads Maya to feel betrayed, and alienated from the rest of her family. This new knowledge leads her to see that not only was she given up by choice, but also the self-doubt that causes her to ask herself what she did wrong to deserve it. “The gifts opened doors to questions that neither of us wanted to ask. Why did they send us away? and What did we do so wrong? So wrong?” (Angelou 53). This introduction of self-doubt and feelings of alienation are what set up the opportunity for future tragedies and painful events in Maya’s life.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    When I see the word “popular”, I like to think of something that is not only well-known by the public but also well-received by the majority. Popularity is achieved and maintained by staying up to date with the current trends. Hamilton would be a classic example of a popular theatrical production, because it follows a musical trend that put hip-hop and rap at its focal point and incorporates diversity, something highly valued by the majority in today's society.…

    • 419 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some contemporary critics, however, propose that popular culture cannot defined as something commercial or even “popular”, and claim that in its subjective nature, it has evolved…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” – Dr. Maya Angelou. This inspiring poet, novelist, historian, educator, actress, filmmaker, producer, memoirist, dramatist, and civil rights activist has had a superior impact on today’s American society. (A&M TV) Maya Angelou is an African American woman who went from poverty to international success. Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in Saint Louis, Arkansas to Vivian and Bailey Johnson. Her parents divorced when she was three years of age. Her and her brother, Bailey Jr., were sent to live with their grandmother in a small town called Stamps, Arkansas. Like many of the African American children that grew up in Maya’s time, she faced racial discrimination. She was always positive about it, because of the tradition old-fashion African American household she was raised in. She gives her grandmother and extended family in Stamps credit for all of the lessons and values she was taught that helped her significantly later in her adult life and while pursuing her career. Bailey and Maya were extremely close. He suffered from a bad stutter, so he could never correctly pronounce her name. He decided to call her “My” for my sister. After watching a video on the Mayan Indians, he then began to call her Maya. The name stuck. When Maya was seven years old, her and Bailey were sent to visit their mother in Chicago. Her mother’s boyfriend sexually molested her. She was too ashamed and embarrassed to inform any adults on what had happened to her, so she confided in her brother. (America Academy of Achievement) Maya’s uncle found out about what his sister’s boyfriend had done to his niece and killed her attacker. She felt that her words had killed the man, so she fell into a long phase of silence that lasted for five years. She often expressed her feelings through poetry,…

    • 706 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    about which store they buy their clothes from? We see these people being adored by the…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Purple Hibiscus

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Pop Culture has always had a huge effect of teenagers, some teenagers more than others. Although some teenagers are late bloomers, usually by some point all teenagers join the bandwagon. However, there are always outliers such as Amaka and Kambili in Purple Hibiscus by Chiminanda Ngozi Adichie. Amaka has grown up knowing pop culture, whereas Kambili has never known what pop culture even is. As her cousin Amaka pulls her into the mainstream, Kambili learns that sometimes being like other people is sometimes a good thing. Kambili grows throughout Purple Hibiscus through the introduction to pop culture.…

    • 1113 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays