A Rose Or Marguerite By Any Other Name :: essays papers

A Rose Or Marguerite By Any Other Name So goes the quote by William Shakespeare, and many people believe this is true. However, to many of African-American descent, both past and present, to be â€Å"called out of your name†, is one of the greatest insults imaginable. â€Å"Mary,† a chapter from volume one, â€Å"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,† of Dr. Maya Angelou’s five-volume autobiography, details the horror and rage she felt, and the retribution she administered, at such an act.The year was 1938, and Dr. Angelou, then going by her birth name, Marguerite Johnson, was 10 years old and working as a maid & cook’s helper for a white woman named Mrs. Viola Cullinan, the daughter of wealthy Virginian parents. According to Miss Glory, the cook whose family had been slaves for the Cullinan’s, she had married beneath her to a man whose money â€Å"didn’t ‘mount to much†. Marguerite pitied Mrs. Cullinan because she was old, fat, and ugly and couldn’t ha ve children, though it was well known that her husband had two beautiful daughters by a colored lady. She tried to feel Mrs. Cullinan’s loneliness and pain, and tried very hard to make up for her barrenness by coming to work early and staying late. One evening Marguerite was asked to serve Mrs. Cullinan and her women friends their drinks on the closed-in porch. When asked her name, Mrs. Cullinan answers for her, â€Å"Her name’s Margaret.† A close pronunciation, but incorrect, nevertheless. Americans are particularly inept, I think, at pronouncing anything that has a foreign flair to it, or a foreign sound to it, and it's much easier for people to say â€Å"Margaret†, than â€Å"Marguerite†, or â€Å"Andrea† instead of â€Å"Andrà ©ica.† It is well known that the sweetest sound in any language is the sound of one's own name, so we don't take it mildly if somebody makes fun of our names or belittles us because of our name, or mispronounces our name. We proclaim ourselves with a name and we're very defensive about them, it is a major part of our identity. â€Å"Well, that may be, but the name’s too long. I’d never bother myself. I’d call her Mary if I was you,† said the speckle-face friend who had asked the question. The very next day, Mrs. Cullinan called Marguerite by the wrong name, and her dignity and pride, forged amid poverty and racism, became at stake.