In this blog post, I will reflect on a short story called "My Name is Margaret" by (Maya Angelou). This story is about a young girl named Margaret, who works as a servant to Mrs. Cullinan house, a rich white woman. Everything seems to be going very well until at night when Mrs. Cullinan decides to call her "Mary" instead her real name. Margaret didn't like Mrs. Cullinan's decision and she felt insulted by this action. So she decided to claim her right by breaking something valuable for Mrs. Cullinan.
Did you agree with Margaret's choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups? The question if I agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and two green glass cups I would answer no. I fully agree with Margaret’s nervousness and anger against Mrs. Cullinan, anyone in her place would feel insulted if someone wanted to change the identity without her consent and her approval. This is a violation of human dignity and human rights, so no one has this right, whoever he or she is. Although Mrs. Cullinan is Margaret’s chief, this does not give her the right to break the feelings of the young girl, Margaret is not a toy that she can do whatever she wants. Despite of the economic and cultural level, both are human beings with equal rights, and nobody has the right to harm the feelings of the other. But I disagree with the way Margaret chose to respond to Cullinan’s action. By breaking the casserole dish and two green glass cups that had a spiritual value for Mrs. Cullinan, Margaret sat down on the same level with her, doing a similar action and hurt the feelings of the white woman. If I were Margaret’s place, I definitely left the workplace because I can’t be productive in what I do in an environment where the values are not respected as human beings, regardless of the racial, economic, and cultural difference. But not breaking something valuable to Cullinan, but facing it and telling her that I will leave this job because my personality doesn’t allow me to work with people who do not value others for what they are and what values they carry, but depending on the color and the economic level. 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? During high school, I and my best friend wanted to study at an Italian University (which was recently opened in our country) for nurse, being a future nurse was the greatest wish of my parents. The idea that after graduation we would work and live in the neighboring country encouraged us even more. The high school went through preparations and preoccupations to achieve the highest scores, and the desire to be admitted to the university of dreams. Little by little the school was coming to the end, and we were very close to realizing our dream. In addition to the nursing, we applied into two other universities specifically for psychology (as a new field in our universities) and for journalism, but the nursing was our priority. During the period we were expected the answers from each university, as by irony of chance my cousin was hospitalized to make a surgery, and I should stayed and took care of her. During my stay in the hospital, I was faced with the practical work that a nurse does, so I realized that being a very sensitive person this would hinder me in my job, and I didn’t want this to affect the emotional state of the patient. I do not forget the day the results came and both of us were admitted to the university we had dreamed of, and I remember the face of my friend that was brilliant from joy. She was talking about the plans we had created, for the student life, and for the life we would create in the other country. She looked at me and was surprised by the lack of my enthusiasm, by my obvious passivity which was also understood by my parents. They couldn’t believe that I would study in another field like psychology (which was just opened and for the sake of truth we didn’t have much information about it). Who knows how many times I have gone up till the middle of the street to enroll in psychology and I am back from my dad’s phone calls that has asked me to think it and once before deciding. I had decided that psychology was the best choice for me, and it was the first decision I took without the consent of my parents.
2 Comments
Sharmayne
2/1/2018 12:56:04 pm
your website is amazing I like that you chose something your really passionate about for your theme
Reply
Oljada Zani
2/19/2018 05:53:27 pm
Thank you Sharmayne!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHello my name is Oljada Zani. This is my blog for my English Composition 1 class. Enjoy! Archives
May 2018
Categories
All
|