I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing - Research Paper Example

?Stephen Herman Lynda Majarian Intro to Literature 8/3 I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing – Maya Angelou The plight of African Americans was clearly a struggle; Maya Angelou used the title I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as an analogy to the struggle of Black people being held back by the cage of rules applied to them. It takes place during the times of the Jim Crow Era where segregation and advancement for African Americans was held back from progressively evolving in society. The troubles that were placed upon them as though it is a sort of societal prison in which those that deserved more from their environment didn’t get it. The racist elements that were prevailing in the society during those times were clearly unacceptable today. Angelou spoke of her personal experiences as a black woman and of the Black experience in general. The text is a classic work of literature which is a mix of feelings, emotions, along with a touch of courage and aspiration, and all these elements along with the tone of the piece makes it a distinct yet impactful production. The story I Know Why the Caged bird Sings is thus a powerful connotation of the racist elements prevailing in society, which miscalculates every sense of humanity as I know it. The unjust behaviors placed on the Black people are mostly all justified by the White, relating Black people to animals. Further, the use of powerful words, actions and strong literary tools contribute towards producing an everlasting impact on the reader. Since the context of the work relates to Maya Angelou and her personal experience, it becomes crucial to shed light on her life and experiences, her written as well as writing style. Maya Angelou is an African American writer whose main focus is on her autobiographies that have been acclaimed by the mass audience as quite resourceful yet impactful sources of rebellion (Bloom 23). Her autobiographies mainly focus on her childhood experiences, portraying her life as a Black child and various events that she went through during the course of her life. Her writing correctly reflects unjust attitudes of the society along with the various issues that the Black community had to face including racism, and discrimination. The most widely acclaimed publication produced by her is an autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings, which is an account of the first seventeen years of her life, which portrayed the discriminatory attitudes of the white community towards the colored one, not only to the American audience, in fact to an audience worldwide (Angelou 63). She is considered a bold personality, especially as a woman since she was one of the first to make her accounts public. She is also regarded by many, as the spokesperson of the black community due to her advocacy via her works and publications. Her position is dignified and is reflected further by the fact that she was asked to recite her poem, “On the Pulse of Morning” at Bill Clinton`s presidential inauguration (Angelou 13). Due to her bold style of writing and open critique over all kinds of issues, her books were also banned at various libraries. Her main genres of study have been racism, sexism, identity, and family values. (Angelou 16) An interesting chapter in her story focuses on the author`s tooth which has been badly infected and swollen due to serious cavities. The situation is bad enough to call for a dentist but this is where other issue arises. The town where the author lives doesn’t have any colored dentists, and those present are white ones who refuse to treat Black patients. However, the Mother of one dentist’s client decides to take action on the issue as she observes that the toothache had become unbearable and calls for some serious solution, thus she takes her to the dentist. The dentist is white, but owes a favor to Mommy as she had lent him some money during the depression without interest. Due to that favor Mommy is expecting that the dentist will treat the author. Mommy and the author leave for the dentist in the hope to be served. The dentist comes out and is rather upset. The dentist claims that it is against his policy to treat Black children. When Mommy reminds the dentist of the favor, he again justifies his refusal by citing his policies and further humiliates them by saying that he would rather put his hand in the mouth of a dog than in a black child`s mouth. Mommy reacts, by sending Maya away, and goes inside the office to threaten the dentist physically, she than also demanded the interest on the money she had lent him. Mommy then takes the author to a dentist in another town, and on coming back she laughingly discusses it with her son how she threatened the dentist and took the interest money from him. (Angelou 85) Given the plot, the thesis has been posed in a cause-effect manner to enhance value of the proposition made. The cause involves the unjust and humiliating behavior of the white populace towards the black population. This is indicated in the passage on various instances that must be analyzed thoroughly. Firstly, it is specified in the beginning of the passage how the author is hesitant in going to the dentists, rather going to the dentist is surprisingly quite at odds with what seems to be normal. This is an effect to the cause, which are the discriminatory attitudes of the whites that aren’t willing to offer their services to Black people. Secondly, another indicator specified in the passage is the general trend that the black people are of the habit of pulling out the tooth in case of an issue, as a facility isn’t available. Mommy decides to take her grandchild to the white dentist, but that too on the basis of returning favors and not as if it is an implied responsibility of the dentist. Also, once Mommy decides to take the grandchild to the dentist, she specifically asks her to take a bath and wash her mouth with Listerine. This implies that they are mindful of the general perception about the blacks that they are unclean and untidy individuals, thus Mommy wants to make sure that the dentist doesn’t feel this way about them. Mommy particularly stresses on this point where she asks the grand child to clean her teeth despite the fact that it`s swollen to such an extent that it`s hard even to open it. Thus, once they reach the dentist, they get a very unwelcoming tone from the nurse and later from the doctor as well. Though the dentist seems polite in the beginning while explaining his position but once Mommy pushes him, his tone changes and he is rather humiliating towards them, and insults Mommy in front of her grandchild. Thus, Mommy sends her grandchild away as she considers it impolite and disrespectful to humiliate the dentist back in front of the grandchild. However, the tone abruptly changes when mommy insults the dentist to make him realize his wrongful acts, and gets the most aggressive when she says, ... Now, that brings me to my second order. You will never again practice dentistry. Never! When you get settled in your next place, you will be a vegetarian caring for dogs with menace, cats with cholera, and cows with epizootic. Is that clear? (Angelou 98) However once she comes back home after the treatment, her tone again goes back to normal, in fact now turns into a pleasant one. Similarly, shedding light on another event where Bailey who is Maya`s brother returns home after running an errand. He is all shocked and anxious after having witnessed the murder of a Black man by whites, and also threatened to lock them up with the dead body. At this instance, he asks Momma about what they had done to the whites that they have to bear such hatred. Momma is left unable to answer to the situation, thus she decides to leave for California to live with her mother. Momma is a strong women and their family is comparatively well off as compared to other blacks. Momma is a strong woman who accepts the harsh behavior and discrimination; however, her grandson Bailey becomes her weakness after which the effect is seen as her leaving the city. Since their family is comparatively well aware, they give a mild effect, but if this behavior would have been inflicted upon a mob, violence would definitely have been the effects. Also, Bailey is a weaker character in the story, not someone who has the potential to revolt; he shows the effect of questioning Momma about what had happened. Further, to draw a more valid conclusion, it will be convenient to go back to the beginning of the novel, where Maya is still a little girl. She is at a congressional prayer, where she expresses discomfort over her physique, as she is heavy and dark, because of which she is being discriminated against. This is the time when she is weak and doesn’t have the capability to even voice her opinions and feelings, thus the only reaction she shows is that running away from the prayer once she is tripped by another girl. The point to be noted here is that Maya is still a little girl who doesn’t have the will or the resources to revolt to give a hard effect and finds running away as the most convenient option. This implies that the black community initially accepts the discrimination and considers revolting as rather an undesirable option. They keep running away and avoiding conflict as long as possible, contrary to what the whites think of them. It was later on that Maya expressed her opinion with such intensity that she ends up writing a bulk of poems and stories over her experiences. The limit to testing the patience once crossed inflicts the desire for revolt amongst the Black community. The language which she has used, also the transitions which she gives in terms of the use of language in various situations, and the choice of words for implicating various scenarios also suggest how after prolonged mental torture on part of the white community, the blacks are in turn so disgusted that they tend to rebel and react to situations. For instance, Angelou right in the beginning of the text specifies, The nearest Negro dentist was in Texarkana, about twenty-five miles away, and I was certain that I`d be dead long before we reached half the distance. Momma said we`d go to Dr. Lincoln right in the Stamps, and he`d take care of me. She said he owed us a favor (Angelou 95:2) Thus, in this excerpt when there is still a ray of hope for both Momma and the author, the intensity of disgust is much controlled, they are annoyed by the decision of rather to be satisfied with the discrimination, and as indicated by the language the element of rebellion is absent. However, as soon as the conditions change and the doctor refuses to check on the grandchild of Momma, the entire context changes. If one does a comparative analysis of the text before the situation when the doctor refuses, and after that, a clear contrast can be observed. And once, the situation gets calmed down and the grandchild gets treated the language again takes a different course. Thus, Angelou, via her use of language and by adding strong textual details, has made it very clear that though the Blacks were already disturbed by the discrimination on the part of the whites, but it is only when they feel helpless that they actually give an aggressive reaction. Also, another point to be considered of significance in this context is that the aggressive behavior is not just an emotional reaction or rather a baseless rebellion; rather it is supported by perfectly sane logic. For instance, when Momma retaliates in front of the Dentist, she supports her attitude with the claim that since the doctor considered it fair enough to lend money from a black during crises; it is quite ironic of him to deny his services while the same black is in crises. In such a case, as per the text as supported by the details and events chronology, it was fair enough, rather inevitable for the Blacks to show a reaction as an effect to various causes on part of the whites. These events as compared to the ones mentioned in other chapters addressed above are quite harsh and reactive, as this was the time when Momma couldn’t take it anymore and was sick of the instances her grandchildren had went through. The above indicators clearly determine a cause and effect relationship; the Whites are racists towards the Blacks and people of color. This leaves two kinds of effects on the black populace determined above. Firstly, they feel confused and inferior to the whites, thus a natural tendency to develop a complex is found in them, they seem to be powerless and have to learn to accept the discrimination and don’t have many choices to do anything about it. They even start accepting what is believed to be true about them, as though they are unclean or impure individuals. However, once they realize that the whites are unjust on their part and also inhumane, as when it comes to their own personal needs they undermine the discriminatory attitudes for instance, when the doctor needed money he didn’t consider it to be against his professional or even moral values to do so, but when it came to treating the patient he made that an excuse. Thus, when blacks realize that they aren’t wrong and are being discriminated without a reason, and they don`t see another way out, they react and rather rebel, which is aggressive on their part, being an effect of the various causes listed in the paper. Thus, the rebellious attitudes stimulating from the blacks overcoming their complexes are a result of the racist and unjust attitudes of the Whites, which leaves the Blacks at a position where the only option left is to rebel and retreat to use force or aggression to fight for their dignity. Though they seem to bear the discriminatory attitudes in the beginning, there often comes a time when they are sick of seeing their self-respect shatter in front of the whites for no reason. This is the time where aggression becomes an effect, as supported by evidence gathered from contextual analysis of the events of the story. Works Cited: Angelou, Maya, Alice Walker, Olive Senior, Lorna Goodison, and Liz Gerschel. Quartet of Stories: Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Olive Senior, Lorna Goodison. London, England, 2003. Print Angelou, Maya, Edwin G. Wilson, and Jerome Lagarrigue. Maya Angelou. New York: Sterling, 2007. Print Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House, 1970. Print. Angelou, Maya. The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou. New York: Modern Library, 2004. Print Bloom, Harold. Maya Angelou. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998. Print Rosa, Alfred F, Paul A. Eschholz, and Brian Kent. Models for Writers: Short Essays for Composition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2004. Print. Read More