Author: Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on 1928. She is a poet, , novel writer, an actress and a civilrights defender. She writes, mostly, about the perseverance and the self-acceptance of strong females (like Margaret in this story). She became psychologically “mute� after she had been raped by a white man when she was young. She believes that all people should fight for their rights and never give up!
• Settings This story takes place in Stamps, a small and rural town in the south of Arkansas, in 1930s. • Theme of the story: This story reports the way black people were treated in Arkansas (and Texas) at that time. Giving lively examples of the white people’s prejudices and sense of superiority towards black people as well as segregation attitudes.
Characters: Miss Glory She was Mrs Cullinan’s cook. She was a descendent of slaves. She was generous, helpful, supportive, protective, tolerant and resigned with her situation. Mrs. Viola Cullinan She was married. She wasn’t attractive according to Margaret’s description. She was severe, snobbish, authoritarian, strict, conservative, arrogant and prejudiced against black people. Margaret She was 10 years old. She was a little black girl and was Mrs. Cullinan’s maid. She was courageous and very rebellious . She was very critical of the way Mrs Cullinan treated her and miss Viola.
NARRATOR o The narrator of this story is a participant narrator. She is one of the characters- Margaret. She tells us the story from her point of view; o Margaret is a little black girl who was sent to a white woman’s a house to learn how to be a maid.
TONE OF THE STORY o Realistic: The story is based on true facts of Maya Angelou’s biography. The black dialect gives it a sense of reality. o Humorous: Margaret’s description of Mrs Cullinan; o Critical: The narrator criticises the way Mrs Cullinan treats her black maids. o Ironical: The use of irony is constant throughout the story and the narrator’s interventions
STRUCTURE OF THE STORY
o Use of analepsis: She reminds the conversation that she had had with her brother Bailey about Mr Cullinan daughters from a black woman (Mrs Coleman).
LANGUAGE o Use of black dialect- see margaret’s speech o Use of Irony throughout the whole story o Use of children’s imagery: Alice in the wonderland, and characters from children’s literature (see Margaret’s descrition of Mrs Cullinan : her face looked like the mask of an impish elf”, page 12, lines 24-28)
FIGURES OF SPEECH o Simile: “She is usually quiet as a litlle mouse” (line 86,87); o Hyperbole: “…say that the doctor had taken out all her lady organs.”(line 60); o Adjectivation: “That horrible woman…”(line 93); o Irony: “As ugly as she was, I thought privately, she was lucky to get a husband…”(line 43);