"In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn't really, absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than that they were different, to be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well dressed. I remember never believing that whites were really real." Maya held them on such a pedestal, always thinking that she was less of a being for being the color black. Although this perception changes, it is there simply to show Maya's low self image of herself to compare to the later epiphany of her embracement of her "blackness".
"If you ask a Negro where he's been, he'll tell you where he's going." (pg. 189) This quote depicts that blacks in the past had no opportunity, nothing to be proud of, nothing to be held close to an achievement of immense proportion. The only thing the "Negro" held was a hope. Hope is significant in the novel, because hope is what it gives the readers, especially the women and the African-Americans. It gives them triumph that something better is to come, such as Maya's unexpected pregnancy and birth gave her a joy and fulfillment and acceptance she could have never imagined. It is hope of a new tomorrow.
"One more woman ambushed and raped. A Black boy whipped and maimed.a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful." (pg. 131) In one sentence Maya captures the essence of several instances of life. The first instance is one of a woman being ambushed and rape. This foreshadowed Maya's own scarring incident, the very same incident that changed her life and molded her into the person she is. Women are often victims or their own bodies. They can be taken advantaged of in away that no man could ever fathom. Maya's incident occurred with a person, who was close to her family, her mother's boyfriend, molested her and raped her.