Adversity is a negative part of life which, unfortunately, affect virtually everyone. Adversity is not solely the hardships which cause physical stress; it also includes things that are a taxation on the mind or the heart. The Roman poet Horace holds the belief that the presence of adversity leads to the development of talents which would otherwise have remained undiscovered. While this may be true in some form for the books read over the summer, these are the exception to the rule. When most people are placed into the situations that the individuals of each novel were, they do not succeed in overcome the hardships that they are faced with. The reason why these people have books written about them is because they were different. Though
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She was forced to grow up in Jim Crow era America, drifting between her mother and grandmother due to the instability of her mother’s household. Due to the period she lived though, she had to endure the sexism and the racism that plagued America and was especially prevalent the southern States. Even though she had such a troubled upbringing, she overcame these adversities and went on to break boundaries. She succeeded at the age of 14 by becoming the first female African-American streetcar in San Francisco, and this would only be the first of many successes that would occur throughout her life. By doing this, she overcame the two biggest obstacles in her life with a single success. Her story is not the one shared by the majority in her situation though. While her adversity did lead her to be able to succeed, most African-American women who grew up at the same time, facing the same adversity, did not find this success. African-American women in the South would not see themselves represented in Congress until the late 1970s, when Barbara Johnson of Texas was elected to a newly created district. Most of these women would find themselves discriminated against in the workplace where they would make less money than both their male and their white counterparts. Even though they would have grown up in and faced the same conditions as Angelou, the presence of adversity did not benefit them as it did
She was forced to grow up in Jim Crow era America, drifting between her mother and grandmother due to the instability of her mother’s household. Due to the period she lived though, she had to endure the sexism and the racism that plagued America and was especially prevalent the southern States. Even though she had such a troubled upbringing, she overcame these adversities and went on to break boundaries. She succeeded at the age of 14 by becoming the first female African-American streetcar in San Francisco, and this would only be the first of many successes that would occur throughout her life. By doing this, she overcame the two biggest obstacles in her life with a single success. Her story is not the one shared by the majority in her situation though. While her adversity did lead her to be able to succeed, most African-American women who grew up at the same time, facing the same adversity, did not find this success. African-American women in the South would not see themselves represented in Congress until the late 1970s, when Barbara Johnson of Texas was elected to a newly created district. Most of these women would find themselves discriminated against in the workplace where they would make less money than both their male and their white counterparts. Even though they would have grown up in and faced the same conditions as Angelou, the presence of adversity did not benefit them as it did