Represent

Many famous people represent different groups of people. For instance, Barack Obama represents the United States of America, Kim Jong Un represents North Korea, etc. In "Champion of the World" by Maya Angelou, Joe Louis represents the African American race.

As a whole, most groups of people take pride in their representatives. For African Americans in the 1930's, however, they not only took pride in Joe, but they relied on him. If he failed, it meant their people would fall, another would be lynched, another would be raped, and another would be whipped and maimed (Angelou 2). On the other hand if he succeeded, they would drink "Coca-Colas like ambrosia" and eat "candy bars like Christmas" (Angelou 3). In other words, Joe Louis served as their hope and pride. His victory or defeat would affect all African Americans at the time.

Similarly today, people still take pride in their representatives; one could even call them role models. For example, many remember Jeremy Lin and how he became revered as a great NBA player. In the asian community, everyone looks up to him. Being a Harvard alumni and showing that one can integrate with society, Lin serves as a model to a substantial amount of asian families. Many asian parents say "Wao, you be like Jeremy Lin. He tall, smart, and successful" (Try to imagine this in an asian accent). His success gives asians a sense of hope; we can be tall and good at basketball too, not only African Americans.

Overall, those who serve as our representatives can also serve as our role models. Through success, we feel pride and hope to forever succeed.