essay

An important underlying idea in the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou is oppression, it is all around us and we must be part of the solution. This idea is relevant to teenagers today because we need to learn how to solve it.

An important idea in “Still I Rise” is that oppression is all around us and we must be part of the solution. Maya Angelou makes it clear to us the harsh reality of the racism she experiences every day. “you may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness” She directly addresses the text to us showing that we are part of the problem that we must help change, There are many issues that be related back to us but one of the more prominent and most common ones she will be referring to is the back lives matter movement this is a very relevant topic to teenagers today because of the social media impact on the topic and how much more aware our generation is becoming. It is genuinely inspiring to see how much one person has had to overcome in their life.

Still I Rise has many historical references within the poem that all connect back to the same problem which was the racism in America and all around the world  “You may write me down in history” this is one of the many quotes that shows this.“I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” this quote refers to her success in life which is shown throughout the whole poem by her showoff attitude. The slaves dream, she made it further then anyone thought she could, she is the slave.