Maya Soetoro-Ng

date back to 1800 BC, while their civilizations peaked around sixth century AD. The early Maya were agricultural, growing, maize, beans, and squash. At their peak, they excelled in agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, mathematics, and architecture. The Maya focused on improving ways of health or medicine, and also focused on religion and complex rituals. One of the most interesting aspects of the Maya was their sudden disappearance. Unlike most societies, the millions of people living…

As the people migrated to the Americas, it was long till kingdoms began to evolve. Around 600 BCE towns evolved to cities, and chieftains transformed into kings. One of the know culture’s and kingdom that control the Yucatan Peninsula was the Mayas. The Maya were a very religious culture, who in fact lived in the fear of the destructive nature of the gods. One thing that was important part of their religion was the death rituals. The Mayan people developed multiple traditions to commemorate the…

The Popol Vuh is an ancient sacred Mayan book of myths written from the Mayan World. The myths within the Popol Vuh are used as a way to explain the world, by connecting myth to reality. The myths within the Popol Vuh explain how their world was created through a creation story and has basic social lessons through stories of the hero twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Myths are used to teach lessons to people through the interconnection of myth and reality, and the Popol Vuh is no exception. Myths…

Have you ever been bullied or oppressed in any shape, form, or fashion? While the oppressor tried to keep you down, did you keep your head up and smile? That is what Maya Angelou writes about in her poem, “Still I Rise.” A motif that is evident in this poem, and many of her other poems, is identity. Maya Angelou conveys the motif of identity through her use of tone, repetition, and imagery. Tone plays a big role in the development of identity in the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the tone…

Imagine walking back to town after a long vacation, after arriving and looking around one may find that no one is there and the place is completely abandoned. Thats a lot like what happened to the Mayans. The Mayans lived in Mesoamerica from 1800 B.C. to 900 A.D. The Mayan civilization reached its peak of power in the sixth century A.D. and had a peak population of two million. The Mayan are most known for disappearing in 900 A.D., a mystery still unknown. There are many theories around their…

By the early 1990s, Maya Angelou’s inauguration poem, spoken at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1992, reflected upon the identity of “hyphenated Americans.” In her speech, she speaks about the diversity present in America. In fact, the United States is comprised of various ethnicities, all unique in their own way. With various ethnic groups living in the United States, this country truly is a nation of diverse cultures and languages. However, it was not always like this. In her poem, Angelou…

The Chumash people were located on the southern Coast of California. This area is fairly cool most of the year but gets very hot during the summer time (Sutton, 2012, p182). The Chumash were a larger group compared to others in the area with a population estimated at 20,000 people (Sutton, 2012, p181). The imprint of this large population can be seen in the archeological sites of their settlements. It has been observed that the dome-shaped houses were placed close to each other (Gamble, 1995,…

kind, true, merciful, generous or, honest". -Maya Angelou Marguerite Annie Johnson, better known as Maya Angelou, was born on April 4, 1928 in St.Louis, Missouri. Due to their mother's addiction problem, Maya and her brother Bailey, grew up in Arkansas with their grandmother. Eager to adjust, she learned lot about life from her grandmother, family, friends and personal experiences. At a young age, she fell in love with books, literature and poetry. Maya spent most of her life conveying messages…

The poems,”Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and”Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou were poems about slavery. Slavery is a practice of owning a slave. Each poem had its own unique feature. As for both of them, they both had a theme of slavery. Though, both poets had lived 100 years apart, their poems were similar. Their tone were both really sad. Their theme as I had said above, were also similar. The difference they had, were their rhyme scheme. Using the caged bird as a slave and the free bird as a…

common? While the poems “Still I Rise” and “Unwelcome” contain noticeable differences in style and tone, they share similarities in them and sound. In literature, writers tend to use tone to paint a picture of what their writing is about. Throughout Maya Angelou's poem “Still I Rise” she uses a writing style that helps achieve a tone of empowerment. Over the course of Angelou’s life she was belittled and a victim of oppression. As the poem nears the end she states, “Leaving behind nights of…