A Rose Or Marguerite By Any Other Name :: essays papers

A Rose Or Marguerite By Any Other Name So goes the summons by William Shakespeare, and many people believe this is true. However, to many of African-American descent, both(prenominal) past and present, to be called out of your chassis, is one of the greatest insults imaginable. Mary, a chapter from volume one, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, of Dr. Maya Angelous five-volume autobiography, inside information the horror and rage she felt, and the retribution she administered, at such an act.The year was 1938, and Dr. Angelou, whence going by her birth name, Marguerite Johnson, was 10 years sometime(a) and working as a maid & cooks supporter for a white woman named Mrs. Viola Cullinan, the daughter of wealthy Virginian parents. fit to Miss Glory, the cook whose family had been slaves for the Cullinans, she had married beneath her to a man whose cash didnt mount to much. Marguerite pitied Mrs. Cullinan because she was old, fat, and ugly and couldnt amaze children, though i t was well known that her husband had two beautiful daughters by a colored lady. She well-tried to feel Mrs. Cullinans loneliness and pain, and tried very hard to make up for her barrenness by plan of attack to work early and staying late. One evening Marguerite was asked to serve Mrs. Cullinan and her women friends their drinks on the closed-in porch. When asked her name, Mrs. Cullinan answers for her, Her names Margaret. A close pronunciation, but incorrect, nevertheless. Americans are peculiarly inept, I think, at pronouncing anything that has a foreign flair to it, or a foreign sound to it, and its much easier for people to say Margaret, than Marguerite, or Andrea instead of Andrica. It is well known that the sweetest sound in any manner of speaking is the sound of ones own name, so we dont take it mildly if somebody makes merriment of our names or belittles us because of our name, or mispronounces our name. We proclaim ourselves with a name and were very defensive abo ut them, it is a major part of our identity. Well, that whitethorn be, but the names too long. Id never bother myself. Id call her Mary if I was you, express the speckle-face friend who had asked the question. The very next day, Mrs. Cullinan called Marguerite by the wrong name, and her hauteur and pride, forged amid poverty and racism, became at stake.