This week the assignment was to read and annotate My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou). The story is about a young black girl named Margaret growing up in the South and the difference between how they were raised and treated compared to white girls. When Margaret goes to work for a wealthy white woman, she found herself a victim of disrespect by having her name changed for a matter of convenience. This is understandably very upsetting to her and she struggles with how to cope with it. This blog is to answer the following two questions: 1. Did you agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups, and 2. When have you made an important choice to either resist or not resist oppression, challenge the status quo, or refuse to obey an authority figure?
Question 1 I can’t even imagine what it was like for Margaret to grow up under those circumstances and I know that she needed to make a stand, but I do not agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups. I understand that she felt angry at Mrs. Cullinan for bending to what seemed to be peer pressure from the “speckled faced” woman to change her name to Mary, but I believe that Margaret should have tried to find another solution before deliberately hurting someone else. I realize that she was afraid of how her mother would react, but I believe she would probably be more upset by her deliberately breaking the china and losing her job than if she had quit her job to stand up for herself. Margaret should have tried to talk to Mrs. Cullinan and let her know how she felt about having her name changed and what her name meant to her. The fact that Mrs. Cullinan was ignoring her lateness and poor work may have indicated that she felt guilty for what she was doing. If after that Mrs. Cullinan did not relent, then she should have left her job without causing violence and explained to her mother why she had to leave. “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind” (M. K. Ghandi) Question 2 I was 14 years old when my grandmother took me to go see the pastor of our church. “It is high time you got baptized and joined the church” she said. You see all the other children my age had been baptized and had joined our church years ago. I had been dodging it with excuses, fake illnesses, school obligations, just about anything I could think up. I just didn’t know how to tell them that I didn’t believe in God. I was afraid that I would lose all my friends at church and worse I would disappoint my grandmother. My grandmother was the strongest women I knew, and I was terrified to disobey her. But if I went through with the baptism I would feel like I was making a mockery of their beliefs. When I finally went in to see Pastor Brad he sent my grandmother to see the church choir director so that we could talk alone. After a few minutes of conversation about church activities that I had been involved with, he asked me “I feel that you have been avoiding joining the church, do you feel that you are ready, or would you feel like you need more time?”. I started to cry. I told him that I loved the people and participating at church, but I did not believe that there was one supreme being controlling our existence. He assured me that I was welcome there and I could to participate as much as I wanted in the activities. My beliefs or non-beliefs were my own and I should not feel guilty or share them if I did not want to. On the way home in the car my grandmother asked me “What date did you decide on for your Baptism?” I took a deep breath and told her “Pastor Brad and I agreed that now is not the time and that I would know when I was ready.” I will never know if Pastor Brad said anything to my grandmother later, but she never asked about my baptism again. I can not even compare my small religious rebellion to what Margaret struggled with. To be a child and try to stand up for your rights is daunting in this day and was even more so in that time.
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