Poetry From Other Cultures Essay

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Poetry From Other Cultures Coursework Essay

In this essay, I will compare how the theme of oppression is addressed in the two poems that we have studied, “the poem of João”, written by Noemia De Sousa, and “Still I Rise”, written by Maya Angelou. The word oppression means to treat something or someone, harshly or badly, the most common form of oppression is racism. Oppression affects people in the poem because it can cause people to let go of everything that they know of, like their culture, and become someone else. This all happens because of one person who doesn’t like it, so they change the lives of thousands of people. In “the poem of João”, the Portuguese are the oppressors because they make all of the Mozambican people change their entire way of life. The people can over come the oppressors though by not listening to the oppressors and to stand against them. Oppression still exists today in places like Zimbabwe, where they have a fixed government, where if you don’t vote for a certain person, then you will get killed. There are many different types of oppression and they include racism and hatred.

        The oppression which is in both of the poems is very similar. In  “the poem of João”, the oppressors are the Portuguese. They are the oppressors because they just went to Mozambique, then took away their way of life and made them live as if they were actually Portuguese people. Noemia De Sousa’s personal experience of oppression when she was growing up was racism and hatred that was aimed at all black people from the Portuguese. In the poem “Still I Rise”, the main oppressors are racist people in America, and the Slave Trade across the world and its legacy. A quote that refers to hundreds of years of slavery is “Out of the huts of histories shame, I rise” this could mean that even though the black people have been treated badly, they will still rise up against the oppressors. Another quote that relates to the slave trade is, “Up from a past that’s rooted in pain, I rise”, this could mean that even though their past has been really bad, they will still rise up against it and will eventually forget their past. The oppressors didn’t respect the black people in general and they didn’t believe that the black people shouldn’t have any rights at all, so they treated them like rubbish. Maya Angelou’s personal experience of oppression when she was a little girl growing up was racial discrimination and the fact that she was raped when she was a little girl.

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        In “the poem of João”, written by Noemia De Sousa, João was very close to the people that he knew. João’s main qualities were that he was happy and caring. We know this because it says, “He always enjoyed work and always worked hard, we know this because it says, “He smiled that same old smile of the shop girls”. He made money from working hard at his job. João also loved his life and he travelled around a lot, because he was a free spirit. We know this because it says, “João longed to live and longed to ...

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