Short Question and Answers | 2.4 And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou PDF

## Short Question and Answers | 2.4 And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou 1. How does the speaker respond to being written down in history? The speaker rises like dust. 2. What does the speaker compare their walk to, suggesting confidence and abundance? Walking like they've got oil wells pumping in thei...

## Short Question and Answers | 2.4 And Still I Rise - Maya Angelou 1. How does the speaker respond to being written down in history? The speaker rises like dust. 2. What does the speaker compare their walk to, suggesting confidence and abundance? Walking like they've got oil wells pumping in their living room. 3. What elements are mentioned to emphasize the speaker's resilience, similar to moons and suns? Certainty of tides. 4. How does the speaker envision themselves in the face of adversity, contrary to being broken? The speaker rises with soulful cries. 5. What does the speaker claim to have in their own backyard, laughing off haughtiness? Gold mines. 6. How does the speaker assert their ability to rise in the face of verbal attacks and hostility? Like air, they'll rise. 7. What surprising quality does the speaker possess that may upset others? Sassiness. 8. How does the speaker express their sensuality in the poem? Dancing like they've got diamonds at the meeting of their thighs. 9. From what does the speaker rise, symbolizing a departure from a painful past? Huts of history's shame. ## Further Explanation 1. **Who is the narrator/speaker poem?** The narrator or the speaker of the poem is the poet herself, she belongs to the slave community. 2. **Who is the 'you' addressed in the poem?** The 'you' addressed in the poem could be the White people who dominate over the slave. It can refer to anyone who is trying to oppress an individual, a minority community, or a nation. 3. **Whom does the narrator sassiness upset?** The narrator's sassiness or rudeness upset the white people who dominate and exploit the black people. 4. **What do "oil wells in the living room" signify?** The narrator through this line tries to communicate the idea that the slaves remain happy even in adversary circumstances. They have immense energy in them which makes them richer than the richest. 5. **Why do you think that the poet uses plurals in the line 'just like moons and the suns'?** In this particular line moons and sons refer to the passage of time and the changes occurring in the weather. Moons refers to nights and sons refer to days that pass by. 6. **What do "shoulders falling like tear drop" signify?** The white people want to see the narrator's community as an oppressed slave community with dropping shoulders and weakened soul. But the narrator feels that with determination this plight can be easily overcome. 7. **Why does the narrator laugh as if she had gold mines digging in her backyard?** The poet laughs wholeheartedly as if she had gold mines digging in the backyard because the Whites find it difficult to cope with the slaves' laughter. The slaves' laughter unsettles the white masters because it is a representation of their determination and unified energy. 8. **Whom does the narrator's sexiness upset?** The narrator's sexiness upsets the White people who oppress the black community. 9. **What is the metaphor used to convey the narrator's sexiness?** The metaphor used to convey her sexiness is diamonds or the precious treasure that she has between her thighs. This is a representation of her youthfulness. 10. **What does the phrase 'huts of histories shame' represent?** This line is a reference to the narrator's ancestors who have suffered a lot in the past from the Whites. 11. **Who are the narrators ancestors?** The narrators' ancestors are the dead members of the slave communities who had to face a lot of humiliation, sorrows, and pain because of the aggressive rules of the white people.