Question 3: Because Angelou’s description has a strong narrative component, it isn't surprising that there’s a considerable amount of dialogue in the section… What do these imagined scoldings of Momma reveal about young Angelou? How do they relate to Mrs. Flowers’s subsequent “lessons in life”?
Angelou’s imagined scoldings of her Momma reveals that she is ashamed of her mom's lack of english when speaking to Mrs. Flowers. Angelou in a way looks up to Mrs. Flowers because,”Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather…” (Longman Reader 87). Angelou also mentions how Mrs. Flowers wears gloves and is their sides answer of the “richest white woman in town” (Longman Reader 87). These quotes show that Mrs. Flowers is a high class black woman who made her way up to the whites social rank. Due to Mrs. Flowers being so successful and proper, Angelou feels like …show more content…
Flowers "life lesson" because where Angelou thought that her mom should be as proper as Mrs. Flowers, Mrs. Flowers was trying to teach her that she shouldn't be embarrassed just because her mom doesn't have a very good education. She was helping Angelou to see that although a person isn't very educated doesn't mean they aren't smart and it also doesn't mean that just because a person may have been in school longer doesn't make them better than someone who hasn't been. By making that clear to Angelou, it was in a sense her wake up call that sometimes a person without a high level of education can be smart, they would just be smart in a different category than those who do have a higher level of education. It should also help Angelou to appreciate her mom more because she spent so many years taking care of her and maybe when she was little she didn't have the time to go to school or wasn't allowed to so for her, her education might be better than those she grew up
Angelou’s imagined scoldings of her Momma reveals that she is ashamed of her mom's lack of english when speaking to Mrs. Flowers. Angelou in a way looks up to Mrs. Flowers because,”Mrs. Bertha Flowers was the aristocrat of Black Stamps. She had the grace of control to appear warm in the coldest weather…” (Longman Reader 87). Angelou also mentions how Mrs. Flowers wears gloves and is their sides answer of the “richest white woman in town” (Longman Reader 87). These quotes show that Mrs. Flowers is a high class black woman who made her way up to the whites social rank. Due to Mrs. Flowers being so successful and proper, Angelou feels like …show more content…
Flowers "life lesson" because where Angelou thought that her mom should be as proper as Mrs. Flowers, Mrs. Flowers was trying to teach her that she shouldn't be embarrassed just because her mom doesn't have a very good education. She was helping Angelou to see that although a person isn't very educated doesn't mean they aren't smart and it also doesn't mean that just because a person may have been in school longer doesn't make them better than someone who hasn't been. By making that clear to Angelou, it was in a sense her wake up call that sometimes a person without a high level of education can be smart, they would just be smart in a different category than those who do have a higher level of education. It should also help Angelou to appreciate her mom more because she spent so many years taking care of her and maybe when she was little she didn't have the time to go to school or wasn't allowed to so for her, her education might be better than those she grew up