My high school graduation was one of the saddest moments of my life. Although I was excited about graduating, I did not know what I was going to do with the rest of my life. In Maya Angelou’s “Graduation,” Angelou was excited and proud of all that she had accomplished. In Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter With the Enemy,” Sally Poker Sash was proud that she was finally graduating and just wanted to show that off to all the “upstarts”. In the two readings the pupils are contrasting in a few different areas, and a couple of those areas are in pride and feelings that their families have being involved in the graduation.
In both of the readings the pupils have a great sense of pride; however the pride is in different things. In Maya Angelou’s “Graduation,” Angelou’s pride is in her no absences, no tardies, and her academic work. Angelou has worked extremely hard to achieve the thing that she has and that is what makes her proud. She was proud of the fact that she could say the preamble to the Constitution faster than Bailey. On the other hand is Sally Poker Sash in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Late Encounter With the Enemy”. Sash’s pride is in finally graduating after twenty years of school.
She also wants to show her degree to the “upstarts” and show them that she has this degree, but she is not going to change the way that she teaches. The whole purpose in going to school was to learn the correct way of teaching and just to spite the upstarts Sash still teaches in the same way that she did twenty years ago when she started. Her pride is about her self-absorbing mentality and nothing else. Obviously Sash has not worked very hard and does not even care that she is graduating with a degree, all that she is proud of is that she gets to show it off.
In both stories the main characters have family involved in their graduations, but they are involved for entirely different reasons. Angelou’s mother is proud and excited of her daughter’s graduation. To show this she gets started right away on her butter-yellow pique dress that all the girls are wearing for graduation. Also on the day of graduation her mother makes a Sunday breakfast even though it was only Friday. Another thing, her brother Bailey was also very happy for his sister. We get to see his happiness for her when he gives her a box that is wrapped in Christmas paper.
Bailey had saved his money for months to be able to buy Angelou a soft-leather bound copy of a collection of poems by Edgar Allen Poe. In contrast, the only person that Sash has is her grandfather General Sash. “The General did not give two slaps for her graduation” Also the General would not have even gone to the graduation if Miss Sash had not promised that he would get to sit on stage. Anytime, anyplace that the General can sit on stage, he is there. So it was not even about support, it was about his selfish reasons just as much as it was Sally’s. In concluding, every graduation is different.
The feelings that people have and the way that the families are involved are usually different for everyone as described in the preceding paragraphs. As has been illustrated earlier in “Graduation” a person can feel extreme pride in what they have accomplished and also have their family there to encourage them and want to take part in what their loved one is experiencing. As was also illustrated is the complete opposite side of the spectrum in “A Late Encounter With the Enemy”. Sash was not proud of her accomplishments; she was making a statement and being selfish.