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Analysis Of Human Family By Maya Angelou

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Human Family by Maya Angelou

Juxtaposition: When two topics that are brought up together, contrast to bring out the differences in them
Example: “I note the obvious differences in the human family… But we are more alike than we are unalike” Human Family, Maya Angelou, 1-2 and 35-36.

Function: The speaker points out all the ways that, as humans, we are different. The way we act, the way we look, the ways we are amused, etc. They talk of how they once traveled the world and saw all the differences in everyone, yet in those differences, found out we are more alike than set apart. As they note that there are differences in the beginning of the poem, there is contrast in the idea that we are all more alike than unalike. We think that the speaker is simply going to tell us how we are all the same, but they begins by pointing out that we aren’t. That causes the reader to think deeper into the meaning and what it means if the speaker knows we are all different and unique. This juxtaposition helps the poem as it brings up all the things the reader would be thinking in their brains if it had simply said that we are all the same. The speaker states that it is fact we are all different, but when looked at on a deeper level, we all share the same emotions and are very similar.

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Alzheimer’s by Kelly Cherry

Imagery: The description of an event, object, or person that is so in depth that the reader can picture it in their minds.
Example: “He remembers it as his, remembers the walkway he built between the front room ad the garage, the rhododendron he planted in the back, the car he used to drive” Alzheimer’s, Kelly Cherry, 14-17.

Function: A man with Alzheimers is just arriving home for the first time after being in the hospital. He is welcomed by, what we assume to be, his wife. As he arrives at the door he begins to think and remember the vivid memories he has in this house. This imagery shows the reader that the man, although he has alzheimers, can still remember the house he built and everything about where he lived. He also talks earlier in the poem about the weather

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