Maya's Admiration For Mrs. Flowers

After returning to Stamps Maya meets Mrs. Flowers who is a well-educated African American woman who is everything that Maya wants to be when she grows up. Maya states, “Her skin was a rich black that would have peeled like plum if snagged, but then no one would have thought of getting close enough to Mrs. Flowers to ruffle her dress, let along snag her skin. She didn’t encourage familiarity. She wore gloves too” (Angelou 93). In other words, Maya seen for the first time in her life what is was to feel proud of whom a person was. Mrs. Flowers was not ashamed of being black; she was nothing like the other black people that she had seen in Stamps. Mrs. Flowers was educated, well-mannered but most important she was full of self-pride, nobody disrespected her and that made Maya admired her even more. Maya found a great appreciation for Mrs. Flowers that it was impossible for her to stay quiet. In fact Maya felt great admiration for Mrs. Flowers that Maya felt secured and safe around her.
Flowers Maya doesn’t feel ashamed of herself any longer. Maya states, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have done…tears of love filled my eyes at my selfishness. On that first day, I ran the hill and into the road…and had the good sense to stop running before I reached the Store” (Angelou 101). In other words, Maya realizes that all her silence has only brought more resentment towards herself. Blaming herself for the murder of Mr. Freeman was making her feel trapped in a cage, no longer is Maya feel the need to be ashamed of the color of her skin or feel guilty of Mr. Freeman’s murder. For the first time in Maya’s life she felt free to be herself, no longer did the color of her skin make her feel ashamed of