The Value System and Exploitation of Entity: Maya Angelou's Diminished Self-image and Finding Self-definition
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Maya Angelou uses an autobiographical form in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to portray her childhood. She deals with her own early childhood. The black American girl child has succeeded in recognizing the constraints that society imposes upon her. These constraints, or bars, had her imprisoned in a cage with her own diminished self-image. However, by assuming control of her life and gaining acceptance of her black womanhood, the displaced child now has found a "place." That place grew from the matrilineal transmission of life lessons. The lesson she acquires as a child are depicted in positive scenes between her and her grandmother and other female figures in her life. Besides, she aligns herself with her female ancestors and heritage. Struggles between her American self and heritage her mother speaks of become her means for finding self-definition. The turn away from society that is patriarchal and destructive is made toward a society defined in female. Maya Angelou also speaks of the importance of lessons learned through a culture or a figurehead, and she speaks of learning that is passed down matrilineally. In other words, there is learning going on and the writers demonstrate how protagonists learn and how is what the protagonist learns. The conflicting values and traditions that confronted protagonists as a youth must be ironed out and resolved in their own terms.
Abstract
Maya Angelou uses an autobiographical form in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings to portray her childhood. She deals with her own early childhood. The black American girl child has succeeded in recognizing the constraints that society imposes upon her. These constraints, or bars, had her imprisoned in a cage with her own diminished self-image. However, by assuming control of her life and gaining acceptance of her black womanhood, the displaced child now has found a "place." That place grew from the matrilineal transmission of life lessons. The lesson she acquires as a child are depicted in positive scenes between her and her grandmother and other female figures in her life. Besides, she aligns herself with her female ancestors and heritage. Struggles between her American self and heritage her mother speaks of become her means for finding self-definition. The turn away from society that is patriarchal and destructive is made toward a society defined in female. Maya Angelou also speaks of the importance of lessons learned through a culture or a figurehead, and she speaks of learning that is passed down matrilineally. In other words, there is learning going on and the writers demonstrate how protagonists learn and how is what the protagonist learns. The conflicting values and traditions that confronted protagonists as a youth must be ironed out and resolved in their own terms.
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