Since the 1940’s, times have really changed but we can still draw many similarities as well as many differences between our experiences today and their experience then. For example, In the excerpt “Graduation”, from Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, similarities and difference can be found between Angelou’s graduation and my high school graduation. Maya Angelou’s and my experience with graduation are similar regarding family involvement and nervousness. However, our experiences were very different in the ways others treated the graduating class and the feelings leading up to graduation and the feelings after graduation. Maya Angelou’s family was very involved in her graduation. Maya’s mom made the dress for Maya’s …show more content…
For the graduation program, all I had to do was say a pray however I was nervous about so much more. What if I tripped while walking up? What if I didn’t look good? What if I couldn’t talk clearly? Those are just a few of the concerns that I had about the program and that had made me nervous about the graduation program. Our experiences with feelings during graduation were similar; We were both nervous to graduate. We both knew that graduation was going to be great and an important stepping stone for us, but the nervousness of the tiny things easily take control. Those little things could include how we’ll look, how we’ll walk, or even how we’ll sit. Many tiny and insignificant factors can easily take over our thinking during this hectic time. Maya Angelou went to a small school. However, in these times, graduating eighth grade was a huge deal. Not many minorities in this time period were able to obtain an education and those were able to obtain an education, didn’t always graduate eighth grade. This meant that graduating eighth grade at this time was a very important achievement and because of this, many people looked up to her and her class. Her and her class were highly respected for their accomplishment as well (Angelou