Graduation day is a festive day that doesn't come to often in one's life. People graduate onto bigger and better things everyday by accomplishing something. People feel that they graduate because they take a step ahead. In the essay "Graduation" by Maya Angelou, the town's people of Lafayette County displayed a change of attitude, gained a new understanding and became more active.
Like most places, Graduation time only comes once a year. The people of Lafayette County had a change of attitude when graduation time came around. The children "trembled visibly with anticipation", "Some adults were excited too". The people of the county had positive attitude changes due to graduation. They knew this was an exciting time. The children were taking a step ahead in life. The county came down with a "graduation epidemic". The whole county atmosphere changed because of the excitement, which caught on to others.
As graduation day approached closer, certain individuals gained new understandings. The graduating class understood that they had a new authority over the other grades. "Their authority was so new that occasionally if they pressed a little too hard it had to be overlooked." The graduation class was the oldest and most of the time was the biggest physically. The younger grades often could not challenge their authority. They graduates were about to depart and felt that they needed to leave a lasting impression on the others. The people older then the graduates also gained a new understanding for them. "Even teachers were respectful of the now quiet and aging seniors, and tended to speak to them, if not as equals, as beings only slightly lower then themselves." The teachers gained the understanding that graduating students were growing older and wiser. The teachers knew that soon the graduates would be just like them because they will be faced with new decisions too make about life, which all adults share.
