In “Still I rise”, Maya Angelou uses similes to convey that a durable spirit is naturally occurring in everybody. Angelou writes how she walks “like [she’s] got oil wells pumping in [her] own living room” and oil is naturally occurring, but extremely valuable like how a strong spirit is. Secondly, she writes that she laughs “like [she’s] got gold mines diggin’ in [her] own backyard” because gold fetches a high price and can be naturally found on earth, just how the spirit already subsists in people. Lastly, Angelou writes that she dances “like [she’s] got diamonds at the meeting of [her] thighs” which are super expensive and are naturally occurring, like how reliable spirit already exists within a person. All of these extremely valuable goods
