Maya Angelou and M.F.K. Fisher

When reading two passages, one by M.F.K. Fisher on the French port of Marseilles and the other by Maya Angelou on the small town of Stamps, I noticed that the passages had some similarities but where entirely different in their effect and the handling of language resources. While Angelou and Fisher organized and constructed their passages similarly, the persona and rhetoric of the authors are opposite.

Angelou and Fisher’s styles differ greatly, however, they both used very similar plot structure in which they introduced the common stereotypes of the places they were speaking of, and they shot it down with reality. Angelou speaks of “harmonious black music drift[ing] like perfume through this precious air” (Angelou, 3) but later on crushes that fantasy with the true “flesh-real and swollen-belly poor” (Angelou, 5) of the South. In the same manner, Fisher speaks of Marseilles “reputation as world capital for dope, whores and street violence” (Fisher 6) but later in the passage her states that “a trip through old Marseilles/ cannot fail to thrill” (Fisher 21, 22). Thus, Fisher and Angelou organized their plot structures in order to have the same effect on the