Awareness and Difficulty of Recounting Truth in the American Autobiographies - Essay Example

English Literature Table of Contents Introduction 3 Awareness and Difficulty of Recounting Truth in the American Autobiographies 4 The Autobiography of Malcolm X 4 I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings 9 Conclusion 13 References 15 Introduction Autobiographies constitute a major genre of literary form. When such autobiographies are the living experience of a controversial or a person with great stature, it becomes all the more interesting. Since early days, many sub-genre and myriad forms of writing evolved in the domain of autobiography itself. With the passage of time, the writing style of the autobiographies also changed a lot. Some autobiographies are widely received; some are also open to criticism. American autobiographies are criticized for the awareness of the difficulty of recounting truth. This is true to some extent, but again it cannot be generalized. This thesis statement can be more closely introspected if we give a thorough gaze and reviewing glance to the two great American autobiographies of the contemporary times. The two books taken into consideration are “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” by Malcolm X published in the year 1965 and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou published in the year 1969. Awareness and Difficulty of Recounting Truth in the American Autobiographies The Autobiography of Malcolm X “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” cannot be granted as an Autobiography in its truest sense as it was written by Alex Haley during the years 1964 and 1965. According to Haley, the book was written on the basis of the interview conducted by Haley with the great historical figure Malcolm X and the interview was conducted shortly before his death. The book was published in the year 1965 with an epilogue just after the death of Malcolm. Here lies the greatest controversy on the fact and fiction. Times Magazine claims “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” as “one of the most important nonfiction books of the 20th century” (Gray, 1998). But an autobiography should depend on the testimony and not on documentation. Haley himself admitted in his documentary “Eyes on the Prize” about the difficulty of recording the life and experience of Malcolm X as he was averse to talking about personal issues and was more keen on discussing about the “Nation of Islam” (American Experience, n.d.). Again, in a more controversial document, historian Manning Marable claimed that just before writing the book, Haley had collaborated with FBI to produce misleading criticism on Malcolm and his Nation of Islam. This is again a possibility for the distraction of truth and will always remain open for controversies and criticism (Democracy Now!, 2005). “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” encapsulates the upbringing of Malcolm in Michigan and his experience of adulthood to the quest of maturity in the city of Boston and New York. Malcolm’s span of life in prison and his conversion to Islam are all captivated in the pages of the book. Malcolm’s formation of ministry and his consequent travels to Africa and Mecca forms important portion of the book. It also covers Malcolm’s subsequent career and his assassination near the Audubon Ballroom in New York City. Any autobiography undoubtedly captivates the person’s thought and philosophy. Ideals are integral part of a man and in this regard the book “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” throws adequate light on the thought process of Malcolm regarding the African-American existence. Haley has done justified this sphere. Yet, the book is regarded as the exaggerate version and many inaccuracies. Some of it was even acknowledged by Haley himself. As once, Haley narrates that Malcolm described one incident where he pointed a revolver with a single bullet towards his head in order to portray his criminal associates and repeatedly dragged the trigger to display that he was not afraid to die. This is further mentioned by Haley in the epilogue of the book that when Malcolm was proof-reading the manuscript himself, he admitted to Haley that he had palmed the bullet just to enact in order to scare the people present there into obedience. This and many other facts are very controversial regarding recounting the truth and its vitality in the contemporary autobiographies. Malcolm X himself said to his coauthor Haley that “People dont realize how a mans whole life can be changed by one book”. And to this very statement, there will always remain a controversy as to what extent the truth of his life was distorted and the transcribed author of the book Alex Haley’s degree to recollect the facts and figures of Malcolm’s life and experience. In “The Limits of Autobiography” by Leigh Gilmore, a thesis is aptly put forward which is very crucial and at the same time befitting to realize the shortcomings of the autobiographies encompassed with an extra sense of awareness and difficulty of recollecting truth. Gilmore’s understanding and knowledge of psychology and legal matters are impressive which helps any reader to understand the thin line of difference between the fact and the fiction which is operative even within the periphery of autobiography. Gilmore argues that the compelling commentaries in regard to the social and psychic forms within which the autobiographers present their personal experience in literate and unconventional ways lead to the creation of “imaginative texts” which are formless and break the conventional rules for the formation of “autobiographies” and bear no commitment to literal and “facts” that are verifiable with which the victims of trauma are perceived and treated by the legal and the professional from the domain of health care. This is a true testimony that always acts as an eye-opener for a reader and helps one to understand the clear divide between the fact and the exaggerated fact that often leads to imaginative fiction behind the cover of an autobiography though the line of difference is always cliché (Gilmore, 2001). Autobiography often suffers from a tussle in between self-representation and postmodernism. The subject of autobiography that evolves out, according to Gilmore, is not always the de-centered human elements of myriad versions of postmodernism. Rather, the producer of texts calls for attention to the controversies and contradiction in a mode that is dominant of self-representation and which demonstrates the possibilities and scope of writing from other locations. This structural and the post-structural element are quite evident in the American autobiographies and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” is not an exception in this regard. A thorough gaze and an in - depth study of the text will easily launch its readers to a realm with new contentions. More than a personal document, the book bears the testimony of social and economic stratification and the religious beliefs and perspectives of people on various social problems and chances in life. Malcolm’s experience of life is also deliberately guided by political incidents. The experiences of his life are portrayed in a way that helped him to construct and reconstruct his political belief and faith. His childhood experiences are mostly guided with racial discrimination which is shown as Malcolm’s consequent transformation to a pimp, drug peddler and an anti-social. His encounter with the religious leaders and subsequent transformation into an activist are the incidents that are guided by particular religious, political and social motif. This eventually kills the true essence of an autobiography. While writing an autobiography of a very famous and controversial political and religious leader, it falls into the conventional scheme of things as if to portray the course of his life will always be shaped with some political and religious pattern. But beyond that, autobiography as a literary form can be a perfect blend of human and social elements. In “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”, the human elements seem to be diminished by the glory of the political thoughts and agendas. These factors subvert the human element in the text and make it more bias, constructed with a deliberate awareness. The text “Autobiography of Malcolm X” lays much emphasis on the story how Malcolm emerges out of a socialized value system and put more stress on the new ideological orientations upon the relations of race craved out on the path of hatred and violence that is transformed into a re-socialized system, very much closer to the ideals and viewpoints of Martin King Luther. The book is a document bearing the process of development of a social structure and it is examined in this book through the eyes of Malcolm. This deviate the book more from the conventional pattern of an autobiography and emerges as a deliberate testimony of political ideologies and structures. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” definitely suffers from certain problems of reconstruction and recounting of the truth. It appears that Malcolm himself also had some obvious agenda while being interviewed for the book. The book does not completely display an essence of indigenous piece of sublime literary art form. Much of his political faith and belief appears in this book e.g. “Since I learned the truth in Mecca, my dearest friends have come to include all kinds -- some Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, agnostics, and even atheists! I have friends who are called capitalists, Socialists, and Communists! Some of my friends are moderates, conservatives, extremists -- some are even Uncle Toms! My friends today are black, brown, red, yellow, and white!” (Malcolm X & Haley, 1999, Pg 375). Again in another quote directly from the book, it becomes more evident that he wanted to make some of his political thoughts clear before the mass that he preached all through his life and this autobiography as if became the greatest platform for him to reach thousand of minds and so he had chosen this medium for almost putting a kind of explanation before the citizens of America. In the page 400 of the book, a direct comment from the Malcolm’s end makes it more evident, “Ive had enough of someone elses propaganda. Im for truth, no matter who tells it. Im for justice, no matter who its for or against. Im a human being first and foremost, and as such I am for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” (Malcolm X & Haley, 1999, Pg 400). Haley also takes the same refuge of black words pitted against the white page as a medium to clarify himself and after a college campus speech in the epilogue to “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”: “The young whites, and blacks, too, are the only hope that America has, the rest of us have always been living in a lie.” (Malcolm X & Haley, 1999, Pg 245). And further, in an excessive emphatic speech from the book, Malcolm makes his intentions clear: “They call me “a teacher, a fomenter of violence.” I would say point blank, “That is a lie. Im not for wanton violence, Im for justice.” In another place, he states that, “I feel that if white people were attacked by Negroes — if the forces of law prove unable, or inadequate, or reluctant to protect those whites from those Negroes — then those white people should protect and defend themselves from those Negroes, using arms if necessary. And I feel that when the law fails to protect Negroes from whites attacks, then those Negroes should use arms if necessary to defend themselves. ‘Malcolm X advocates armed Negroes!’ What was wrong with that? Ill tell you whats wrong. I was a black man talking about physical defense against the white man. The white man can lynch and burn and bomb and beat Negroes — thats all right: “Have patience”... “The customs are entrenched”... “Things will get better” ”. (Malcolm X & Haley, 1999). From the close inspection and a thorough reading of the book, it is certain that the readers can view the book from various perspectives that of a post-structuralism, or post-colonial text. Many post-modern elements also peep in between the lines and thoughts presented by Haley and Malcolm. But it becomes more obvious with these facts that the representation of truth and facts here are guided necessarily by some kind of pervading awareness throughout the entire book which confuses its readers and put to a contradiction of faith and belief on the author of the text and on the testimony of Malcolm. I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is an autobiography by the African –American poetess and authoress Maya Angelou and the book is published in a six volume series, the first of which appears to be a story of ‘coming-of-age’. The autobiography basically covers the early life of the poet. The book opens with the experience of Maya when she was only three- years-old. The plot begins with Maya and her brother being send away to their Grandmother’s place in Stamp, Arkansas. The story ends when at the age of seventeen, Maya experiences the taste of motherhood. “I Know Why the Caged Bird sings” is a tale of a quest. It’s a story of an African-American women and her trajectory from victim of racism to her emancipation into a self-possessed, dignified women who is capable of responding to chauvinism. Angelou’s autobiography is also guided by certain awareness as it too caters many other purposes simultaneously. Through the text, Angelou explores the theme of identity, rape, racism and literacy. She also tried her best to uphold the situation of the African –American community and their saga of deprivation through her own story. At this point, it can be argued that the autobiography is not essentially a story of a women and her struggle of life. The text has many parallel themes interwoven within the small capacity of her book that emphasizes on many socio-cultural problems which puts the book into a cultural milieu. The facts of Maya’s life are hence projected with a purpose and it can also be treated as the fiction rather than a book documenting only facts. To build up the story line lying beneath the autobiography, Angelou had to construct some facts and figures with the shade of awareness and hence the presentation here too becomes more cooked up and imaginative. In Angelou’s autobiography too, a considerable amount of problem in recollecting the truth is visible. Maya, who is the younger version of Angelou and the protagonist of the book, is considered as “a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America” (Braxton & Angelou, 1999, Pg 150). Critic Pierre Walker places Angelou’s autobiography in a canon which is an archetypal traditional political protest in the African American literature (Walker, 1995). “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” has a lot to say from the feminist perspective or approach of the text. Angelou’s major themes recorded in the book are rape and racism. The vivid description of the rape that Angelou had to underwent as an eight years old girl has overwhelmed the autobiography and at the same time has formed the most controversial part of the book too. But Angelou in later part of the book and also after the publication of her autobiography; chooses not to speak about the incident, this is again guided by an awareness created as a shell to cover up the chastity and the representation of the truth is only that much as she wanted it to be portrayed in this case. Power of words and the destructive fear of words has not only compelled Angelou to remain silent after her rape but in writing the autobiography too, she deliberately chooses the words to present a systematic document or deprivation and protest rather making and representing the incident of life in a naked vein as an autobiography should be. Glazier found that many critics have focused although on the area where Angelou fits in appropriately within the genre of African - American autobiography but her way of storytelling and literary techniques “surprise, particularly when [they] enter the text with certain expectations about the genre of autobiography” (Glazier, 2003) and while representing the facts with the surprise element of a story, Angelou finds difficulty and consciously or unconsciously distort the truth. Angelou attempted writing the autobiography in a new style and this she has done intentionally to challenge the conventional structure of the writing format of autobiography by critiquing, alternating and expanding the genre (Poetry Foundation, n.d.). This is more poignant and evident in her writing. In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya expresses her fear and apprehension in a dramatic way: “I was sure that any minute my mother or Bailey or the Green Hornet would bust in the door and save me” (Angelou, 2009, Pg 78). The harsh effect of the truth or the cruelty with which a rape was inflicted upon her was represented by Maya as characters bewildering in her world of fantasy and this was launched even to cope with the gruesome incident of rape. However, critic Opal Moore commented about “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”: “... Though easily read, [it] is no ‘easy read’ ” (Braxton & Angelou, 1999, Pg 55). Angelou expressed and explicitly stated that she played cards while writing the piece in order to reach that height of enchantment and exercise her memory more effectively. She stated that she was desperate to express truth: “It may take an hour to get into it, but once I’m in it—ha! It’s so delicious!” She does not find the process cathartic; rather, she has found relief in “telling the truth” (BBC, n.d.). Only awareness or problem of recounting the truth is essentially not the sole problem with Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings”. Along with the too much aggressive and naked use of the language the book encountered much other negative reception too. Author Francine Prose considers that the book is “dumping down” the American society and also challenges the book as the “manipulative melodrama”. She also considers the writing style of Angelou as inferior example of “poetic prose in memoir”. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is often categorized as an “autobiographical fiction”. This is done because of its extensive usage of dialogues, character portrayal and thematic representation. In an interview with the African American critic of literature, Claudia Tate, Angelou described all her books as “autobiographies”. Lupton insisted that all the autobiographies of Angelou conventionally support a standard structure: “They are written by a single author, they are chronological and they contain elements of character, technique and theme”. Lupton also argues that traditionally an autobiography of an author is influenced by his or her favorite book. Lupton contends that “autobiographical theme is affected by literary tradition”. She puts forward a very valid point in this regard. She argues that when a writer reads or thinks about his favorite book, the writer is likely to be influenced by the specific, creative form and use of the language in that particular book. Style, structure and philosophy are not an exception in this regard and these facets of the autobiographies are also determined by the favorite book of the writer. The major challenge lies with the selection of theme and representation of it in the autobiographies. Language can be influential and so can be the style but when an author is inspired the theme of the influenced pieces and tries to incorporate it into the theme of his for her own autobiography, then it may always collide with the representation of the fact and in recounting the truth. (Lupton, 1998). Conclusion In “Bequest and Betrayal: Memoirs of a Parent’s Death”, Miller insisted on the point that “we read what we need to find” (Miller, 1996, Pg 41) and her embalming the happy and contended middle-class married life of her parents in New York is successful but then the abrupt portrayal of all the truth in her life, like the death-bed confession of her mother and all the letters of her father does not alone make her autobiography successful. As an autobiographer, Miller too seems blind in screening her own self-disclosure. This is a major area of problem in the autobiographical genre and pervades through the texts under consideration. Both the autobiographies, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” are contemporary and both are guided by a deliberate awareness in recounting the truth of their life which is inevitable and obvious in these texts. After giving a very close inspection to this literary form under review, it feels like adhering to an age-old saying “truth is cruel but it should be loved”. The autobiographies like “Autobiography of Malcolm X” or “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” are retrospective and while writing autobiographies one must remember that an autobiography is not only a testimony bearing the truth of one’s life. But it is also the document about the age, culture and society in which the individual lived in. So, while narrating the truth one must remember that the distortion of facts may mislead the future generation and keep them off from the truth which should be always appreciated irrespective of the degree of darkness. This contention is rightly supported by Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson in their epoch making thesis on narratives and autobiography, “A Guide to Interpreting Life Narratives”. The writers stated that autobiographies have suffered from the generic plane to the outset of the “life narrative” (Smith & Watson, 2001, Pg 3). These writers also felt that it is an indigenous necessity in the American market to embark both upon teaching as well as learning in higher curriculum so that each individual can adhere to a particular format for rendering their retrospectives and narratives of life. References Angelou, M., 2009. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House Inc, 2009. Pg 78. American Experience, No Date. The Time Has Come. Eyes on Prize. [Online] Available at: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/eyesontheprize/about/pt_201.html [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Braxton, J. & Angelou, M. Maya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook. Oxford University Press, 1999. Pg 55 & Pg 150. BBC, No Date. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. World Book Club. [Online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Democracy Now!, 2005. Manning Marable on “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention”. Headlines. [Online] Available at: http://www.democracynow.org/2007/5/21/manning_marable_on_malcolm_x_a [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Gilmore, L., 2001. The Limits of Autobiography: Trauma and Testimony. Cornell University Press. Glazier, J., 2003. Moving Closer To Speaking the Unspeakable: White Teachers Talking about Race. California Faculty Association. [Online] Available at: http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/teqwinter2003/glazier.pdf [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Gray, P., 1998. Required Reading: Nonfiction Books. Time. [Online] Available at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,988496,00.html [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Lupton, M. J. Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998. Malcolm X & Haley, A. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Ballantine Books, 1999. Pg 240, Pg 375 & Pg 400. Miller, N. K. Bequest & Betrayal: Memoirs of a Parents Death. Oxford University Press, 1996. Pg 41. Poetry Foundation, No Date. Maya Angelou. Biography. [Online] Available at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=180 [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Smith, S. & Watson, J. Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. University of Minnesota Press, 2001. Pg 3. Walker, P., 1995. Racial protest, identity, words, and form in Maya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. BNET. [Online] Available at: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3709/is_199510/ai_n8723217/ [Accessed March 29, 2010]. Read More