This poem was about Maya growing up as a young black girl and the hardships that she went through. She describes her life throughout the time being of her in church and being humiliated by those around her. The primary characters in this poem include herself as Marguerite, momma, Uncle Willie, Bailey, Mother dear and more. The type of figurative language that the author uses is more so of a flashback  and a lot of dialogue such as, “What you looking” as Maya uses it to describe the Minister’s wife being rude to Marguerite in the poem. The author specifically gives her point of view so the reader is reading it as if they are the ones being picked on like Marguerite in the story.

The theme of this poem is kind of hard to make out, but I’d definitely say it’s about Maya overcoming the difficulties of being a young black girl growing up but not letting it define who she is today as a person. The author did well on using dialogue towards Marguerite and to make the reader feel what she felt at the time. I would say that the author didn’t do well on jumping from one thing to another because it kind of jumps from dialogue to random thoughts in her head which could throw the reader off. I would rate this short story a 9/10 because it is very interesting to see someone else’s point of view as a young black woman myself and what she went through because everyone has different experiences.