2.2 Maya Angelou: Mom & Me & Mom Flashcards
Genre
humorous and personal recollection of memory
Mode
autobiographical extract
Audience
fans of Angelou, those interesed in African American culture/civil rights
Purpose
to recount life experience with a view to publication, reflective
Context
Maya Angelou: internationally recognised artist, campaigner, spokesperson for civil rights, parents split when young
“Mrs Jefferson was kind and grandmotherly”
post modifying adjectives
- connote age, caring and maternal nature
“By the time I was twenty two”
discourse marker
- contextualises memory
“Disastrous culinary exploits”
Verb
- foreshadows awful cooking
- humorous
- hyperbolic
- juxtaposes her personality and cooking
“A mysterious, red white and brown concoction”
colour imagery
- hyperbolic
- amusing, connotes it’s inedible
“Gothic, heavily carved furniture”
imagery
- grand and luxurious
- extravagant
- impressive
- juxtaposition between poverty and wealth
“Once a month”
adverbial phrase
- distance
- forced regularity
“She understood and encouraged my self reliance”
verb
- mother is supportive of her desire for independence
- link to civil rights movement
“I looked forward eagerly”
adverb
- affection and admiration
- contrasts with formality
“Vivian’s Red Rice Day”
capitalised to indicate importance of memory
“My mother was dressed beautifully”
adjective
- indicates her beauty
- she is well presented and attractive
“A crispy, dry roasted capon”
gustatory and visual imagery
- sensory experience
- shows her love of food
“She fervently blessed the food”
adverb
- religious blessing
- ritual cultural reference
- shows power of the ritual
“Emblazoned on the surface of my tongue forever”
gustatory imagery
- highlights deliciousness of rice
- shows power of the food and the pleasure she gets from it
- humorous hyperbolic metaphor
“Enveloped in the stinging acid aroma of vinegar”
metaphor
- ‘stinging’ painful and uncomfortable
- olfactory imagery
“Baby”
term of endearment
- juxtaposition of ‘baby’ and ‘woman’
- shows her growth
- repetition of nickname emphases affection and endearment
- direct speech emphasises pivotal memory
“Imagine”
repetition of verb foreshadows her legacy
“When I could still taste the red rice”
metaphor
- huge turning point in her life
- gustatory imagery
- her mothers wisdom will inspire her forever
- emotive language, inspiring and empowering dialogue
“Someday”
minor sentence
- thinking about her future
- ambitious
