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"I believe the greater the handicap,
the greater the triumph."
John H. Johnson
the greater the triumph."
John H. Johnson
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“My Name Is Margaret"
By Maya Angelou “English Composition 100” By Sabatino Mangini 02/03/2019 Reviewed By Florence Ebun’ Jossy INTRODUCTION “That clumsy nigger. Clumsy little black nigger” was the word Mrs. Cullinan used to describe Margaret when her china plate dropped on the floor of her kitchen by Margaret. The story is center around the ill-treatment melted upon the blacks by the white folks. The deprivation, humiliation and subjection were some of the agonies blacks faced back then just for being blacks. Are blacks still under subjections and humiliation that could be referred to as racial discrimination? I would leave everyone to ponder over this after reading the story. STORY Margaret unlike the regular white girl could not afford to enjoy the basic essence of being a girl, rather she had to work to make some money, and the available job she could get at that period of time was to work as a domestic staff for Mrs. Cullinan, this, Margaret said in her statement “During my tenth year, a white woman’s kitchen became my finishing School” because she really needed the money. Miss Glory, who also is black and a cook volunteered to teach and assist Margaret on how to carry out her duties which she was not used to. It was frustrating for Margaret but she needed the money. I remember when my cousins lost their father in 2005, all four boys had to start looking for something to do to make money after School. Eventually, they all started playing musical instruments in churches, it was not convenient for them but they needed the money. Mrs. Cullinan had her own medical challenges of barrenness which Margaret and others were aware of but that did not stop Mrs. Cullinan from having fun with her friends. I remember where Margaret made a comment of sending her on errands using this statement “If she had had her own children, she wouldn’t have had to ask me to run a thousand errands from her back door to the back door of her friends” She may be doing that so as to avoid depression realizing that all her organs are removed. I for instance is yet to have children and I know how depressed I could be sometimes but I do feel okay having fun with friends. It was not something of pride to work as a domestic staff but could be more depressing, frustrating and humiliating when an employer had to change staff names in order to suite their own purpose. Hallelujah’s name was changed to Miss Glory twenty years back when she was employed as a cook by Mrs. Cullinan while that of Margaret was also changed for the purpose of convenience. This was emphasized in Margaret’s statement “The next day, she called me by the wrong name”………., “want Mary to go down to Mrs. Randall’s and take her some soup. She’s not been feeling well for a few days”. Miss Glory’s face was a wonder to see. You mean Margaret, ma’am. Her name is Margaret”, that was how much the blacks were being ridiculed then. According to Margaret “every person I knew had a hellish horror of being “called out of his name. It was a dangerous practice to call a Negro anything that could be loosely construed as insulting because of the centuries of their having being called niggers, jigs, dinges, blackbirds, crows, boots and spooks.” This words hurt like a sharp knife piercing through one’s throat. I have personally experienced some kind of discrimination in this country but this time, is the African Americans discriminating towards we Africans and I know how it feels. Some of them often use this phrase “You Africans have come to take our jobs, you will be deported” and it sucks because they do not understand that for an African to be working and going to School here in the United States means he or she is legal. My question once again is “Are we living in a society of discrimination”? I live you to answer the question.
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Ebun jossyI am making this blog to do more research on writing Archives
April 2019
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