Alexander Nelson
Professor Edsen
English 1300-04
27 August 2012
Critical Response #1 In my viewing of the reading Graduation and video of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings I witnessed strong and very powerful leadership by both the community and leader. When Mr. Donleavy steps up to the podium he doesn’t get much of a standing ovation as well as the respect I was expecting to see. As he begins to speak only a few of the students make some eye contact while others sit slouched in their seats not making any effort to pay attention as to what Mr. Donleavy is saying on how he will contribute to the school. Even the reverend and the lady sitting next to him were not showing any support as to what Mr. Donleavy had to say. Angelou’s purpose for using Mr. Donleavy in the story “Graduation” was to possibly show the civil rights movement. It was a group of African American children that took a stand and didn’t agree with what was planned for them in the near future. They the students wanted to do something different, and when Marguerite took that stand she didn’t just take a stand the whole room stood behind her. Marguerite took a very bold stand, and said she didn’t want to accept the typical stay at home wife, clean and cook every day, she wanted to go to college and get a quality education. When she took the floor, every single student’s attitude changed quickly. All heads looked up as if they were distracted by something in the room. Smiles began to surface on faces, as