Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde encounters a number of teachers, all very different and of varying significance to  her learning. One of her teachers was her mother. Audre shows how her mother is very fixated on rules and the 'way things are' by showing how distressing her mother found it when she did silly things such as leave off the 'y' in her name because she disliked the tail. She further illustrates her mother's attitude by simply saying, "No deviation was allowed from her inter-pretations of correct."
      She also shows her mothers stringency when she explains the reasons for her resistance to the materials she was provided in her kindergarten class, saying  "Having been roundly spanked on several occasions for having made that mistake at home, I knew quite well that crayons were not what you wrote with, and music books were definitely not what you wrote in" again asserting her mothers conformity to her beliefs and her demands that her daughter do the same, under threat of spanking.

      A contrast to her mother's seemingly harsh behavior was her kindergarden teacher. She seems to be kind and encouraging, as well as smart as shown when she motivates Audre o write her name, even with her black crayon by saying "Imagine that, a big girl like you. Such a shame, I'll have to tell your mother you won't even try," an gentle admonishment that shows she is smart because she is playing off of any child's fear of being in trouble with their mother' She then shows her encouragement by saying "Now just try dear, I'm sure you can try and print your A."
     Lorde also expresses her impression of the woman by saying that "Her voice smiled a big smile," showing an aspect of her personality through they way she sounded. This first impression of the teacher, however, seems to be disproved when the woman reacts extremely negatively to Audre writing her entire name rather then one letter.