Saturday, November 9, 2013

How does Maya Angelou's poem, Still I Rise, illustrate or express some form of double vision or two different ways of viewing the same thing?

The conditions present in "Still I Rise" help to construct
two different visions of reality that coexist in the mind of the speaker, presumably
Angelou.  On one hand, there is intensity of rage against the social condition that
seeks oppress or silence voices.  Angelou points to this repeatedly in the poem, such as
with ideas like a society that wants to see the speaker "broken" or the "huts of
history's shame."  These images help to create a vision of reality whereby there is
definite social oppression.  Yet, it is precisely this condition that gives way to the
vision of defiance and resistance that forms the images of the poem.  Angelou does not
shy away from using sexual and provocative concepts to prove the point that the
alternate reality to one of oppression and silence is dissent and resistance.  It is
here where the second vision of reality is presented and one where Angelou shows that
one neednt capitulate to socially repressive forces.  In the heart and mind of the
individual lies a voice that can be heard and moreover, must be in order to fulfill
one's state of being.

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