Okay in the midst of choosing poems to write about and/or truly analyze, it was only natural that I choose Alone by Maya Angelou. This poem tells a lot about identity and association, but it says it very direct and simple. No complicated metaphors or mind blowing hidden messages, the messages are right there for you to look at and analyze without having to think so hard. Despite the fact that this poem as of many Maya Angelou's poems received more fame by being read in a motion picture, specifically speaking in regards to Poetic Justice starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, this poem did not become tainted by it's display within the film. Instead the film offered an doorway of opportunity for impoverished and urban kids to realize or identify poetry as a academic and fun style of writing that can tell any story. The poems chosen to be read in the movie as if they were written by Janet Jackson's character gave insight to how the is a so called rose growing from the concrete. Low-income and crime-ridden communities are filled with talent and insight that is barely touched or looked upon by the rest of the world. I personally believe that Maya Angelou's poem in the film GAVE the main character (Justice) an identity. An identity that both united and separated her from her community. The poems gave her the ability to claim that independence while also proclaiming her connection and social ties with her community. I strongly feel that I have a identify with this poem in particular because I come from a low-income urban community and it is right that you cannot make it alone. Not only in my community but in any community anywhere in this world as the poem says, you CANNOT make it alone. Without my family and close friends that I share my life with I would not be the person I am today. Let me not forget to also include the communities in which I have lived and grown in who have shaped my own perception of societal expectations. Family, friends, significant others, communities, mentors, employers are also very important factors in shaping identity and making you into the person you become. Without those boundaries or limitless boundaries you wouldn't be yourself, I don't even know if it would possible to be a person in general, who would one be without a community???

Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.

I love this stanza because she is not only saying that nobody can make it in this world alone, but also that nobody but nobody can make it. So if you do make it somehow in this world and you are alone, then you are still a nobody, you identity is not being claimed until you are able to compare it with someone else's standards. I think that is powerful to think about, because its basically saying that until you stand in the spotlight with someone under you, above you, or by your side, you are nobody because there is not any available references to compare you to. And why is it important to have those references? But then again how can we measure success without a basis? But who measures success the person her/himself or the public? These are the many questions I thought about as I read this poem.

As far as facebook and other social networking websites, I believe some people create a construed notion by constantly comparing themselves to others then continuously reevaluating their self worth. It also reconstructs the way human beings connect and associate with one another. We keep furthering and widening the gap between individuals with new technology and advanced software, lol, soon enough sex will be a rare way to make children because everyone will be participating in artificial insemination to conceive. Some of these technological creations do benefit, but most are more of a negative detriment than a benefit.


-Dorothy