Maya Angelou Graduation Day Analysis

Words impact people in numerous ways. Words either cause a positive impact or a negative one. In her heartfelt memoir “Graduation Day,” Maya Angelou expresses the significance of words and the way they affect others. As a young girl graduating at the age of twelve, pride and excitement radiated off her. In her memoir, the words from the guest speaker and the words from her classmate affected her in several ways. Words impact people in diverse ways; they impact their mood, opinions, and feelings. Words hold the power to influence moods, opinions, and feelings. Words impact people’s moods. The way in which one person presents themselves affects the community around them. In Angelou’s memoir, she states that “When the principal came back to the dais, however, his voice had changed. Sounds always affected me profoundly and the principal’s voice was one of my favorites” “It melted and lowed weakly into the audience-with that his voice nearly faded, thin, away” (Angelou, 2015, pg.184-185). The principal influenced Angelou’s mood because the choice of words he spoke. Also, in “Graduation Day,” during Donleavy’s speech Angelou specified, “At the first “Amen” from the audience, I willed the offender to immediate death by choking on the word. But

Words inspire, encourage, and empower, but they also damage, demolish and ruin a person’s dignity. Angelou expresses different feelings in her memoir but this one sticks out “It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges against my color with no chance of defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one top of the other” (Angelou, 2015, pg.186). Angelou felt rage handling with the effects of Mr. Donleavy’s words. Angelou states, “The man’s dead words fell like bricks around the auditorium and too many settled in my belly” (Angelou, 2015, pg.186). Angelou felt valueless humiliation replaced all her pride she possessed