What's Your Name, Girl By Maya Angelou

Contempt & Pity “What’s Your Name, Girl”, is a short story written by Maya Angelou. The story tells the experience of an African American woman who works in a white woman’s house. The character has a hard time being respected and breaks through some obstacles to make everyone realize she is as human as they are. In this essay, the overall tones are contempt and pity. Contempt is feeling beneath consideration or worthless. This is the tone because Marguerite feels disrespected throughout this story. For example, Marguerite felt scorned by the simple fact that she is African American. While Margaret served the ladies, one of them asked her what her name was; Mrs.Cullinan answered for her and the lady asked if Marguerite was dumb. The fact that …show more content…
For instance, Miss Glory feels bad for Marguerite. Glory witnessed the wrong names Mrs. Cullinan called Marguerite and told her not to worry about it. Glory stated that her name was originally Hallelujah, but Mrs. Cullinan changed it to Glory. She said she likes it better, as though it isn’t a big deal to her. Additionally, Marguerite heavily pities Mrs. Cullinan. She thinks Mrs. Cullinan is an ugly, fat, old lady. Glory told Marguerite that Mrs. Cullinan is not able to have kids and Marguerite commented, “It was hard to imagine bones at all under all those layers of fat.” (59) Also, in the passage, Marguerite kept referring to Mrs. Cullinan as “poor” because she saw how empty her life is. Marguerite said she is writing a poem about Mrs. Cullinan and said, “I would have to watch her carefully to capture the essence of loneliness and pain.” (60) As a result, pity applies to this essay as a tone word. Therefore, the overall tones of this essay are contempt and pity. Marguerite isn’t being treated equally as the others. Although, she feels contempt, she feels for Mrs. Cullinan and understands why Mrs. Cullinan lashed out on