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Similes In Still I Rise

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Similes In Still I Rise
In “Still I Rise,” Maya Angelou uses similes to delineate how no matter what oppression she faces regarding her ethnicity or gender, she will rise. Maya Angelou was born in 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother and father divorced when she was very young, which forced her and her brother to go live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. She saw firsthand racial discrimination being in Arkansas. At the age of 7, while visiting her mother, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. Seeking revenge, her uncle murdered the boyfriend. Due to this traumatizing incident, she became mute for years, not speaking a single word. In the 1950s, her performing career flourished as she played in many touring productions, and many off Broadway shows.
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