What's Your Name Girl Maya Angelou Analysis

Maya Angelou’s “What’s Your Name, Girl?” Deriving from Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” her subsequent short story “What’s Your Name, Girl?” gives the readers an idea of Angelou’s personal experiences as she reflects on them throughout the story. Angelou uses Margaret, the narrator, to focus on the importance of name. Living as an African American during the 1930’s, Angelou associates her name with worth. Angelou elaborates on the superiority whites had over blacks by presenting the power they had in the changing of one’s identity for the convenience of another’s.
As an adolescent, Margaret begins working as the help to Mrs. Cullinan. In the initial days of working for her, Margaret pity’s Mrs. Cullinan and perceives her to …show more content…
She began slacking on her duties by improperly washing dishes and shining silverware. Margaret even go so far as arriving late and leaving early in hopes of getting a rise out of Mrs. Cullinan. Soon her efforts backfire and fall on deaf ears. With the aid of her brother Bailey, Margaret then takes Mrs. Cullinan’s Virginia dishes that she so desperately loved and intentionally brakes them. Mrs. Cullinan then proceeds to confront Margaret, howling racial slurs as she sinks to the ground sobbing at the destruction of her mother’s dishes. As her guest reaches down to comfort her and question who has done this (“Was it Mary?”(5)), Mrs. Cullinan responds, “Her name’s Margaret, godd___ it, her name’s Margaret.” (5), while throwing wedges of a broken plate at …show more content…
Cullinan, leaving the narrator uncomfortable with the change. The alteration of the narrator’s name in a way had strip her of her identity. I can relate to Margaret in the sense of having to use my middle name instead of my first name as a convenience for a teacher. While in class as the teacher checked attendance and approached my name, she always seemed to have a hard time pronouncing my name, even though I would constantly correct her. Instead of calling me by the name I preferred, she thought it would be easier to refer to me by my middle name, which can be considered a common name. Like Margaret, I see my name as a blessing that will always be cherished and should never be changed. It took Margaret breaking Mrs. Cullinan’s fine dishes to receive the dignity and respect she so desired. There are many ways our names serve us. The main point of the story can be defined by recognize the reasoning for the passion the narrator holds towards her name. All names are valued and the disfiguring of one’s name can be perceived in many ways. In the story the changing of Marguerite and Hallelujah showcases a form of power and control. Mrs. Cullinan and her guest hold the upper hand that leads to a sense of devaluation in regards to the narrator’s character. Some would accept one’s identification (Glory) while others reject them (Margaret). The withdrawal of what Margaret feels is her true

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