Graduation" written by Maya Angelou is about a young black girl who waits with great pride at her graduation day but gets put down by a white man who says a speech.

Anticipation Imagine how it would feel to have someone of another race speak at your graduation and put your race down. This is the story of "Graduation" written by Maya Angelou. In this story we see how a young black girl awaits with great pride and anticipation her graduation day. When the day finally arrives, her dreams and expectations are shadowed by the speech that Mr. Donleavy, a white man, gave to the graduating class …

…her full academic accomplishments. In conclusion the story of "Graduation" was very interesting. It was able to fully demonstrate the literary element of tone. In my opinion, the message in this story is that we should all be proud of who we are, what we do, and where we come from. Pay less attention to what others say or think about you, and worry more about what you think and what you want to accomplish.