According to Blaine Robinson, you have to live it, to understand it. Life is about
learning, living, and planning. Claude McKay in “The Tropics in New York”, Martin L.
King Jr. in “From The World House”, and Maya Angelou in “Passports to
Understanding” expresses what life is about through the combination of their work.
Claude McKay in “The Tropics in New York” gives a flashback through a
description of how fruits and the sky looked; when he was back in Jamaica. The
memories of fruit trees, mystical blue skies, and mornings, made him remember what life
was like back home. By Claude McKay telling memories of old familiar ways, in an
indirectly way, he is telling a message to his audience. The message is to treasure your
childhood before you get older. Because he did not take of advantage of being young, he
now weeps learning from the past. As he walks pass a fruit stand in New York, he sees all
kinds of fruits that gives memories of the old familiar ways.
Martin L. King Jr. in “From The World House” gives the “big picture” about the
world around him. He looks at the world as being shared through connections like from
slavery. As Martin L. King Jr. lives through life, he realize that everybody rely on one
another for support. According to Maya Angelou, whatever affects one directly affects all
indirectly. If a person in a family dies, everybody in that family may feel sad, worried, or
depressed. The message to this short story is that if people can go through life
understanding the past and realizing that everybody is interrelated, then they could go
through life being friends and treating each other equally.
Maya Angelou in “Passports to Understanding” gives an understanding of why
people should travel. She helps to come to realize that everybody is interrelated with each
other. According to Maya Angelou, traveling to see other lands and experiencing other
cultures, helps a person to acknowledge that other people cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die,
By acknowledging Maya Angelou essay, gives a better understanding about the people in
the world. Once people realize this, they could go through life being friends than as
strangers towards each other.
