Whomever said, "Sticks and rocks may break my bones, but words won't injure me, " lied. Words can slice visitors to the core and people respond differently based on their perceptions and encounters. In "What's Your Name Gal?, " Maya Angelou explains to her story to be a southern black gal working for a white girl, Mrs. Cullinan, when racism and segregation still persisted. Being young and dark in the South during the 1930's, Maya, then known as Margaret, equated her name with a sense of self applied and value.
Although Margaret was only a decade old when she visited work in Mrs. Viola Cullinan's kitchen, she had been acutely aware of who she was and had extremely clear views on racism. First, Margaret pitied Mrs. Cullinan because she was overweight, unattractive, sterile and unable to have children. Then on one night while Margaret prepared to provide Mrs. Cullinan and her friends, everything transformed. The sympathy Margaret thought for Mrs. Cullinan considered anger as Mrs. Cullinan proceeded to permit one of her friends to persuade her to condense Margaret's name to Mary. Margaret's name possessed already been evolved from Marguerite to Margaret due to mispronunciation. The changing of your respective name without their contract is an obvious sign of disrespect. In Margaret's circumstance, it happened to be another indicator of blatant racism by Mrs. Cullinan.
While Glory, Mrs. Cullinan's maid and make, possessed accepted being renamed (Glory's given name was Hallelujah) by her employer, Margaret did not agree to the changing of her name whatsoever. Glory areas that she was around the same years as Margaret when Mrs. Cullinan experienced renamed her Glory. The difference between Glory and Margaret was that Glory said to acquire actually liked her "new name" better than the name her mom possessed given her at beginning. Margaret was extremely furious that Mrs. Cullinan, a white girl, had modified her name all with regard to convenience after one of her friends made the recommendation because the name Margaret was too long. Angelou stated that every person she got known had been tortured when these were called out of these name and this " it was a dangerous practice to call a Negro whatever could be loosely construed as insulting. " When Mrs. Cullinan changed Margaret's name to Mary, Margaret considered an insult and a slap in the facial skin. Mrs. Cullinan may as well have called or renamed Margaret Nigger, Jig, Dinge, Blackbird, Crow Boot or Spook because getting in touch with her Mary thought likewise to Margaret.
Since it is 1938 and in the profound south where blacks must still put up with racism and segregation; Margaret, who is black, certainly cannot demand any esteem from her white workplace. So, Margaret comes up with another most sensible thing. Margaret devises an idea to get herself fired by Mrs. Cullinan. Margaret begins to slack on her household tasks by improperly cleansing the dishes and glowing the silverware. Margaret also starts getting into work later and leaving early on. Although, Miss Glory was dismayed with Margaret's work ethic, she did not advise Mrs. Cullinan of that which was happening and Margaret's plan to get fired was backfiring. With the help of her brother Bailey, Margaret makes a decision to strike Mrs. Cullinan where it hurts most, her loved Virginia dishes. Once more, Mrs. Cullinan screams "Mary" and Margaret proceeds to drop some of Mrs. Cullinan's favorite pieces, the casserole and two wine glass mugs. After "Mary" intentionally drops the heirloom china on the floor, Mrs. Cullinan falls to the floor crying while picking up the shards of damaged cup. Mrs. Cullinan drops all pretenses and insults Margaret with racial slurs when she starts getting in touch with her "a clumsy little black nigger". If the friend who suggested that Viola start phoning Margaret, Mary to begin with, asks if Mary had done the dastardly deed of breaking her mother's china, Viola screamed "Her names Margaret, goddamn it, her names Margaret! Sadly, it took the breaking of precious china for Mrs. Cullinan to give Margaret the only thing she ever required in the first place, her name, thus RESPECT.
William Shakespeare once composed " What's in a name? Whatever we call a rose by other name would smell as sugary. " Some may beg to are different. One of the few things an individual can promise as their own, is their name. Changing a person's name without their consent can hurt and almost all of all disrespectful. While one is not fully identified by their titles, it is a distinctive and salient facet of who they are. Although words cannot break bones, they certainly still can be hurtful when used recklessly and without respect.
