Mom & Me & Mom Flashcards
What style of writing is this
Autobiography
Who wrote it
Maya Angelou
Who is Maya Angelou
An American memoirist, celebrated poet, and civil rights activist
-she worked with Martin Luther King JR & Malcolm X
Who was Vivian Baxter
Maya Angelou’s mother
What did Vivian Baxter do
“Abandoned” her children when her marriage began to crumble - Angelou was 3 and was forced to live with her grandmother
How does Mom & Me & Mom work
The first part focuses initially on the fraught and separated early years, however it transforms as Vivian helped and supported Maya in her single motherhood - Angelou goes from calling her “lady” to “mom”
What voices are created
-feminist voice
-warm, wry, comical voice
-an honest, reliable, trustworthy voice
What is the Macro Purpose of the text
-to powerfully celebrate the individual aspects of Angelou’s mother
-to portray a pivotal moment in the writers life
What are the Micro- purposes in the text
-celebration of women as moms
-celebration of powerful, intellectual and highly significant denials in US history
-the ways in which mother & daughter relationships change
-to create a powerful and unique sense of place
Who is the audience
- a general adult audience
-more specifically aimed at black female audience
Cultural allusions in the text
-Eleanor Roosevelt
-Dr Mary Mcledo Bethune
Who was Eleanor Roosevelt
- wife of Franklin D Roosevelt
- American cultural icon
- visited soldiers in WW1
- worked in a ‘red cross’ canteen
- joined the ‘women’s train union league’
Who was Dr Mary Mcledo Bethune
- American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian
- civil rights activist
- founded the ‘National council of negro women’
- started a private school for African American students
