Still I Rise By Maya Angelou

The poem “Still I Rise” describes the oppression women have faced at the hands of men, and how they have overcome it. Through the use of second person “you,” the author tries to convey her message that men are to blame for much of what women have to endure. Stating that they are nothing but obstacles for women to overcome, and they can be overcome if they endure. And that men always find fault in women and are offended by the most trivial things they do. Angelou also establishes the first person “I,” to demonstrate that she has overcome these obstacles, in hopes of other women to do the same. She claims that despite the “nights of terror and fear” she will rise to the challenge and meet it head on. Essentially, by establishing first person in her poem she tries demonstrate to her audience that if an African American woman, during a
Either choice she made, no matter how difficult, would affect her in her future. Ultimately she chose her father, a man who did not raise her or legitimize her, over her mother, the woman who raised and loved her. This decision had drastic ramifications to her character: her mother commits suicide, her father abandons her, and she is married off to an abusive husband. Brought down to her lowest point, Mariam is forced to endure many distresses throughout her life, which she could have possibly avoided. As young and naive, mariam only saw the good in society and had not come to realize the world's cruelties. However, her past mistakes came to haunt her as she has now came face to face with realty. This affects the meaning of the work as whole as it shows the readers the despair the world has to offer, and how an individual's past directly contributes to whether one will come face to face with such sorrows. Mariam’s previous decisions epitomizes the fact that one's past can have a negative effect on them in the