Woman's Struggles Against Racism As Reflected in Angelou’S I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

WOMAN'S STRUGGLES AGAINST RACISM AS REFLECTED IN ANGELOU’S I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

A THESIS

BY: ZIQRY CHARLA OKTAVIANY

REG. NO. 130705113

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

FACULTY OF CULTURAL STUDIES

UNIVERSITY OF SUMATERA UTARA

MEDAN 2018

Universitas Sumatera Utara ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alamin, I would like to express my highest gratitude to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala for blessing, love, opportunity, health, and mercy so that I can complete this thesis. Salawat and Salam to the noble prophet, Muhammad SAW. This thesis entitled “woman's struggles against racism as reflected in angelou’s i know why the caged bird sings” is submitted as the final requirement in accomplishing bachelor degree at Department of English, Faculty of Cultural Studies in University of Sumatera Utara.

In arranging this thesis, a lot of people have provided motivation, advice, and support for me. In this valuable chance, I intended to express my gratitude and appreciation to all of them.

First, I would like to give a deepest appreciation to my beloved parents, my mother Ir. Yusmanila for the endless love, pray, and support, and my father Drs. Khairil Anwar,M Si for the phone call everyday in order to remind me to keep going and never giving up. And of course my annoying sister, Zahra Ramadhani who always steals my clothes.

And I present my sincere appreciation to the Dean of Cultural Studies, Dr. Budi Agustono, M.S., the Head of English Department, Dr. Deliana, M.Hum., and the Secretary of English Department, Rahmadsyah Rangkuti, MA. Ph.D for their encouragement during my study in this faculty.

And also this thesis would not have been possible without the help, support, and patience of my first advisor, Dr. Siti Norma Nasution, M.Hum., for her supervision, advice, and guidance from the very early stage of this research. Then to my second advisor Dian Marisha Putri, S.S, M.Si who has helped me patiently finishing this bachelor thesis by giving suggestion and correction until the completion of this thesis. I also like to thank Dra. Diah Rahayu Pratama, M.Pd as my examiner for the kindness that I received during my trial exam.

Universitas Sumatera Utara My gratitude also goes to my beloved Opa Alm. H. Tom Usman, who always caring, loving, and supports me since I was a little baby until this time. Thank you so much for taking care of me and be there for me through my best and worst times. I’ll always remember the things you have taught me and may Allah SWT granted you Jannah amiin..

And also to all of my dearest family, Oma, Mami, Tante tika, Dedeh, Om Polo, Ogek, and to all of my family member. Thank you for the love and support. For that I am very grateful to have them in my life.

To T. Ali Akbar, thank you for the most love, care, support, humour, and for being special part in my life through ups and downs. I could never have finished this thesis without your guidance. To my human diary, Vinyuk, thank you for always being my gossip girl. And thank you my friends, Azalia, Santri, Ory, Tassa, for the helps during this thesis progress. Thank you as well to my senior sisters, Kak Refi, Kak Zara, Kak Ossy, and Kak Dini. And also I would like to thank every single person of my classmates who cannot be mentioned here one by one.

Finally, I would like to thank everybody who was so important to the successful realization of this thesis. This thesis is far from perfect, but it is expected that it will be useful for the readers. For this reason, constructive thoughtful suggestion and critics are welcomed.

Medan, January 26th 2018

Ziqry Charla Oktaviany Reg. No. 130705113

Universitas Sumatera Utara ABSTRAK

Woman's Problems and the Struggle Against Racism as Reflected in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings adalah sebuah skripsi yang membahas tentang kehidupan seorang wanita yang bernama Maya yang mana juga merupakan tokoh utama dalam novel tersebut. Dalam skripsi ini dibahas mengenai apa saja yang menjadi masalah Maya selama hidupnya, menjadi seorang anak yang sejak kecil orangtuanya telah bercerai dan bagaimana perjuangan Maya menghadapi masalahnya dan bagaimana pula peran orang-orang disekitarnya dalam membantu dan mendukungnya untuk berjuang melawan rasis sampai akhirnya Maya berhasil menjadi seorang wanita yang memiliki emansipasi dan mendapatkan kebebasannya. Adapun metode yang digunakan dalam menganalisis skripsi ini adalah metode kualitatif yang mana metode ini menggambarkan dan menganalisis data dari novel dan kemudian memberikan beberapa interpretasi dan penjelasan. Dari hasil analisis, penulis memperoleh kesimpulan bahwa pria dan wanita; maupun orang kulit putih dan orang kulit hitam seharusnya memiliki kedudukan yang sama agar tidak ada lagi satu kaum yang tertindas di bawah tekanan kaum lainnya.

Kata kunci: Woman's Problems, Racism, Woman's Struggle

Universitas Sumatera Utara ABSTRACT

Woman's Problems and the Struggle against Racism as Reflected in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a thesis that discusses the life of a woman named Maya which is also the main character in the novel. What Maya problem during her lifetime, being a child who since childhood with her brother was live with her grandmother because their parents divorced; and how Maya struggles to face her problems and how the role of people around her to help and to support her to struggle racism until she finally successes to become emancipated woman and gets her freedom. The method used in analyzing this thesis is a qualitative method which this method describes and analyzes the data from the novel and then give some interpretations and explanations. From the analysis, the author takes the conclusion that men and women; even white and black people should have the same position so that no more one community is under pressure of another.

Keywords: Woman's Problems, Racism, Woman's Struggle.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ……………………………………………………

ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………….… i

ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………. ii

TABLE OF CONTENT ……………………………………………………. iii

CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ……………………………………. 6

1.2 PROBLEM OF THE STUDY ……………………………………………. 11

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY ……………………………………………. 11

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY ……………………………………………………. 12

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY ……………………………………. 12

CHAPTER II – REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 BACKGROUND OF FEMINISM ……………………………………. 13

2.2 THE HISTORY OF FEMINIST THEORY ……………………………. 16

2.3 THEORY OF FEMINISM ……………………………………………. 17

2.4 TYPES OF FEMINISM ……………………………………………………. 20

2.4.1 LIBERAL FEMINISM ……………………………………. 20

2.4.2 RADICAL FEMINISM ……………………………………. 21

2.4.3 SOCIALIST AND MARXIST FEMINIST ……………………. 21

2.5 RACISM AND SEXISM: BLACK WOMAN IN AMERICA ……………. 22

2.6 WOMAN’S PROBLEMS AS REFLECTED IN MAYA ……………. 24

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Universitas Sumatera Utara 2.7 HERMENEUTICS THEORY ……………………………………………. 25

CHAPTER III – THE METHOD OF STUDY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN ……………………………………………………. 27

3.2 DATA COLLECTION ……………………………………………………. 28

3.3 DATA ANALYSIS ……………………………………………………. 28

CHAPTER IV – ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 MAYA’S PROBLEM ……………………………………………………. 30

4.1.1 MAYA’S SEXUAL ABUSE ……………………………………. 31

4.1.2 MAYA’S PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE ……………………. 33

4.1.3 MAYA’S PHYSICAL ABUSE ……………………………. 36

4.2 MAYA’S STRUGGLE TOWARD RACISM ……………………………. 37

4.2.1 DEBILATING DISPLACEMENT ……………………………. 38

4.2.2 RESISTENCE TO RACISM ……………………………………. 39

CHAPTER V – CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 CONCLUSION ……………………………………………………………. 42

5.2 SUGGESTION ……………………………………………………………. 43

REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………. 45

APPENDICES …………………………………………

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Literature refers to compositions that tell stories; dramatize situations, express emotions, and analyze and advocate ideas (Roberts and Jacobs, 1995:1).

Through this statement, it can be stated that literature can make people develop language when they would like to tell stories in order to have aesthetic point.

Hence, language and literature have close relationship. Language is a medium which makes literature exist. Literature also can be a medium to express anger, happiness, sadness, ambition, and even insinuate something in a soft trick.

Literature has beautiful words, it can make the readers become more interested in discussing the topics which are reflected in literary works.

According to Wellek and Warren (1949: 25), among the arts, literature, specifically, seems also to claim "truth" through the view of life

(Weltanschauung) which every artistically coherent work possesses. It is clear that there is truth which is going to be showed by a poet, dramatist, or novelist as the writer of literary works. Therefore, kinds of literature need to be analyzed in order to find the truth embedded in the literature itself.

According Suroso and Suwardi (1898:2), Indonesian literature looking women into two parts categories. The first category is the role of women in term of biological (wife, mother, and a sex object) or based on the tradition of the environment. Second, that the role that gained from his position as an individual and not as a companion to her husband. Female figures such as the above two

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categories, usually referred to as a feminist that women who try to be independent in thought, action and aware of their right. The development of feminist have a desire to improve the position of women and the degree of order equal to or parallel to the men.

Writing with the purpose of changing people‘s pessimistic views about women of achieving gender equalities and denouncing the injustices inflicted to women became the main goal for feminist writers and activists. They aimed at creating a world, at least in literature, where women would be able to live as individuals. Women often depicted as the inferior gender, a passive object that could not survive on its own and that could do nothing for itself. Women, in literature, could only exist through the eyes, minds and lives of men but never for themselves. Beautiful and obedient, they could never think on their own. They were obliged to occupy a secondary place in the male's world not because of their capacities but rather because of imposed cultural and social forces. This representation led to deny women's dignity and even worse their identity.

According to Simone de Beauvoir, in The Second Sex (1949) Women have been made inferiors and the oppression has been compounded by men's belief that women are inferiors by nature. Viewed from the religious side, humans believe that the woman was created from one of the rib of man, it is one which makes the assumption that a woman is under a man. Men are culturally different from women. Physically, men are strong while women are weak. Men’s nature is rude and women’s is gentle. Men’s idea is always authoritative and women’s is dependent. Men are always active and become determiner while women are only passive and become receiver. There are many more things that can show the

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women are in the secondary place. like a woman should stay at home to cook, look after the children and serve her man, and then a woman should keep in silence when a man speaking. These issues finally cause women to start questioning this kind of gender inequality and struggling to fight against the superiority of men, called Feminism.

Feminism is a phenomenon in the society. In discussing feminism, people will talk about women. Feminism is a kind of social changing which derives from women’s suffrage movements in the nineteenth century in Europe and America. It is closely related to the social changing of gender issues. Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist who wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), encourages woman writers to insert feminism in their literary works. Finally, feminism has been widely spreading. The term feminism can also be used to describe a political, cultural, or economic movement that is aimed at establishing equal rights and legal protection for women. Feminism involves political, cultural and sociological theories, as well as philosophies concerned with issues of gender difference. It is also a movement that campaigns for women’s rights and interests.

Feminism has finally changed traditional perspectives in a wide range of area in human’s life. Many feminist activists have campaigned for women’s legal rights such as rights of contract, property rights, and voting rights. Nowadays they are also promoting women’s rights to bodily integrity and autonomy, abortion rights, and reproductive rights. They have struggled to protect women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape. On economic scopes, feminists have advocated for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay. In addition to that, they also fight against other forms of gender

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specific discrimination against women. The reason of why feminism exists is because the patriarchal construction has subordinated and repressed the essence of women during the last decades.

Character is the actor in a story. A character which is become an actor in a literary work should be an alive character, not a dead one like a doll in the author’s hand. Alive character with his/her own personality and character. The characterization in literary work is the way of an author to describe a character through his/her characteristic and behavior.

Feminism movement is a movement of women to against anything that marginalize, supordinated anda underestimated by dominant culture, whether in politic, economy or social domain. Women’s strugle to against the interrelatedness of power relation that place women lower than men, having the strugle during their life, included in giving meaning toward refrective gender.

Gender is a concept which is formed by society in the interrelatedness of relation between men and women. So, gender is constructed socially or culturally, that it is forned because of God’s omnipotence , as men and women are differentiated based on the sex. The concept of gender is impacted by value system, whether it is social value or cultural value. There are difference between custom, culture, religion and value system of a nation and among the societies.

Because of that, position, function and role between men and women in a region is different with another region.

The struggle and efforts to achieve the goals of feminism can be done in various ways. One way is to try to get the rights and obligations equal to men.

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Therefore, then the term equal right's movement . The other way is to free women from the bonds of the domestic environment or the family and household, called the women's liberation movement is a movement of women's liberation. In the end, the woman can show images of women characters strong and support the values of feminism.

In this thesis that a woman has right to decide whatever she wants in her own life. Men may not underestimated others because they are physically strong than women. Even though a wife is only a housewife, her husband should appreciate it because actually being a housewife is not easy as people think.

According to Goefel (1986: 837) in Sugihastuti (2000), feminism is a theory about the equality between men and women in politics, economic, and social; or organized activities. Based on the definition of feminism, it can be said that there must be the background why women talk about feminism now. The main reason that causes women struggle for equality is the personal experiences, living with men in society. It is reflected in the novel which is going to be analyzed.

The analysis of a literary work can be related with the social aspects in a society where the story was told. This kind of approach can be called as sociology of literature. Literature is also influenced by the culture or condition where the literary work was created. Ian Watt (1964: 300 – 313) in Damono (1973: 3 – 4) classified the interrelationship among the writer, literature and the society. The writer records something unusual which happens in society by making it through his creation or imagination and creating the literary works.

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In this thesis, the writer focuses on I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings By

Maya Angelou. She writes about her experiences growing up as a black girl in the rural South and in the cities of St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Maya has an unusual degree of curiosity and perceptiveness. Haunted by her displacement from her biological parents and her sense that she is ugly, Maya often isolates herself, escaping into her reading. Angelou’s autobiography traces the start of her development into an independent, wise, and compassionate woman.

Beside it, she was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist.

She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television showing over

50 years. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is included to her own biographies.

In this novel, she describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s.

The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. This kind of novel concentrates on the experiences a person had during his lifetime, the people they met and the incidents which occurred. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fictional genre, the novel. These reimagined biographies are sometimes called semi- biographical novels, to distinguish the relative historicity of the work from other biographical novels

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Some biographical novels bearing only superficial resemblance to the historical novels or introducing elements of other genres that supersede the retelling of the historical narrative. Biographical fiction often also falls within the genres of historical fiction or alternative history.

This title is very interesting because the struggle of Maya to reach her happiness is a very touching story and teach the reader especially the woman to keep strong to face any life problems. The conflict of this novel starts when

Maya’s parents’ divorce when she is only three years old and ship Maya and her older brother, Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother. Maya and Bailey struggle with the pain of having been rejected and abandoned by their parents.

1.2 Problem of the Study

Problems that the writer would like to analyze are:

1. How are Maya’s problems portrayed in the novel " I Know Why The

Caged Bird Sings "?

2. How are Maya’s struggle for her freedom from racism and finally

reach the happiness?

1.3 Objective of the Study

The objectives are arranged based on the problems of the study. This thesis tries to find out the answers of those questions, they are:

1. To identify the problems that cause Maya suffer deeply.

2. To describe Maya’s struggle for her freedom from racism and finally reach

the happiness.

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1.4 Scope of the Study

As limitation of further analysis in this thesis, scoping the main cause of the problem will be needed to prevent wider analysis in the thesis. The scope of the study is only focused to the main character problems that consist of sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and the struggle of achieving her freedom without the description about any other character of the novel.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The significance of the study is the writer want to represent that all of women in this world should be able to achieve gender equalities and denouncing the injustices inflicted to women and no longer be the oppressed creatures that is a passive object that could not survive on its own and that could do nothing for itself. Nowadays, Men and Women have had the same right. Women have no longer occupy the secondary place but they have been equal to men in society.

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Background of Feminism

Human civilization is made by and for both the man and woman. They both live here in a coordinated social system. Both the species have their own right and needs to live with modest admiration. But the history of human society does not tell us the equivalent existence of both man and woman. Man always dominate on women and women had no way to complaint against it. But in time gradually a change come into women’s brains and they understood that they need to be conscious about their own right. So women move up their voice against women oppression. To do so they had no way but to take some practical actions. All these actions are known as women’s movement against oppression. And the scheme to achieve the goal is called feminism.

Women’s position was changed in various times in the history. Their position did not flow in the same current at all the time. Today oppressed, suffered, violated, ignored. Dominated and so on negative terms are often used to describe women’s position in society. But if we look back to our history, we will get an elegant and striking story of women when women played as significant role as played by men now. And at time we have to confess that women did not give any pressure on men and men live a fair and free life like now they do. Probably this kindness let the men to alter the ruling system and to take over the power from women and turn the free and lively women into their subject. Men put their own made system in such a way that it seems the women are by nature and from the beginning of the history were in this oppressed and subjugated position.

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French philosopher “Rousseau” in his book Social Contract (Book I : Chapter

II) said “Man is born free, but everywhere they are in chains” This comment is completely true for women in society. By nature women born free, but continue their life as a subject of men in society.

How the free and lively women turn into men’s subject, how their relation to men positioned against nature, how women become inferior to men is some unanswered questions in society which have no clear and dependable evidence. In almost all the civilizations women gradually lost their power and men took the power. Men turned all in one in the society. Men did it by a special social system known as patriarchy.

Patriarchy is such a type of society where male control of the public and private worlds and everything done according his will. Patriarchy is the structuring of society on the basis of family units, where fathers have primary responsibility for the welfare of the family and have the authority of his family. The concept of patriarchy is often used by extension (in anthropology and feminism, for example) to refer to the expectation that men take primary responsibility for the welfare of the community as a whole, acting as representatives via public office.

The word patriarchy comes from two Greek words —patēr (father) and archē

(rule). In Greek, the genitive form of patēr is patr-os, which shows the root form patr, explaining why the word is spelled patr-iarchy. The basic meaning of the Greek word archē is actually "beginning" (hence arche-ology or men-arche) — the first words of

Genesis in Greek are En archē ("In the beginning"). However, archē is also used metaphorically to refer to ruling, because rulers are perceived to "start" things.

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Different scholars defines Patriarchy from their own point of view. Allan G.

Johnson said in his ‘The Gender knot’ (1997, 2005: 14) that - “Patriarchy is an obsession with control as a core value around which social life is organized. As with any system of privilege that elevates one group by oppressing another, control is an essential element of patriarchy: men maintain their privilege by controlling women and anyone else who might threaten it.” Elizabeth Cady station said in her ‘The

Women’s Bible’ (1895) that - “Women was made after man, of man and, for man, an inferior being, subject to man.” Sylvia Walby said in her ‘Theorizing Patriarchy’

(1990 : 19) that -“A system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, oppress and exploit women.”

Patriarchy create such a social environment where all manly behavior e.g. – assertiveness, aggressiveness, hardiness, rationality or ability to think analytically and abstractly, ability to control emotion, high ambition, independence are considered as positive for social development, beneficial and control. On the other hand all feminine traits e.g. – gently, modesty, humanity, sportiness, sympathy, compassionateness, tenderness, naturalness, sensitivity, intuitiveness, emotionality, dependence are considered as negative, faulty and against social development, control and stability. Developing a gender difference in society and putting men in higher position than women patriarchy established a false concept that, men should be the leader in society and women should stay under men’s subjugation, this system is good for society as its definitely defined by nature and the natural relationship between men and women.

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2.2 First-Wave Feminism

First-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United

States. It focused primarily on gaining the right of women's suffrage. The term,

"first-wave," was coined retrospectively after the term second-wave feminism began to be used to describe a newer feminist movement that focused as much on fighting social and cultural inequalities as further political inequalities. In Britain the

Suffragettes campaigned for the women's vote, which was eventually granted − to some women in 1918 and to all in 1928 − as much because of the part played by

British women during the First World War, as of the efforts of the Suffragettes. In the United States leaders of this movement include Elizabeth Cady Stanton and

Susan B. Anthony, who each campaigned for the abolition of slavery prior to championing women's right to vote. Other important leaders include Lucy Stone,

Olympia Brown, and Helen Pitts. American first-wave feminism involved a wide range of women, some belonging to conservative Christian groups (such as Frances

Willard and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union), others resembling the diversity and radicalism of much of second-wave feminism (such as Stanton,

Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage and the National Woman Suffrage Association, of which Stanton was president). In the United States first-wave feminism is considered to have ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States

Constitution (1919), granting women the right to vote.

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2.3 Second-Wave Feminism

Second-wave feminism refers to a period of feminist activity beginning in the early 1960s & lasting through the late 1980s. Second Wave Feminism has existed continuously since then, and continues to coexist with what some people call Third

Wave Feminism. The second wave feminism saw cultural and political inequalities as inextricably linked. The movement encouraged women to understand aspects of their own personal lives as deeply politicized, and reflective of a sexist structure of power. If first-wave feminism focused upon absolute rights such as suffrage, second- wave feminism was largely concerned with other issues of equality, such as the end to discrimination.

2.4 Third-Wave Feminism

The Third-wave of feminism began in the early 1990s. The movement arose as responses to perceived failures of the second-wave. It was also a response to the backlash against initiatives and movements created by the second-wave. Third-wave feminism seeks to challenge or avoid what it deems the second wave's "essentialist" definitions of femininity, which (according to them) over-emphasized the experiences of upper middle class white women. A post-structuralize interpretation of gender and sexuality is central too much of the third wave's ideology. Third wave feminists often focus on "micro-politics," and challenged the second wave's paradigm as to what is, or is not, good for females. In 1991, Anita Hill accused

Clarence Thomas, an African-American man nominated to the Supreme Court, of sexual harassment that had allegedly occurred a decade earlier while Hill worked as his assistant at the U.S. Department of Education. Thomas denied the accusations and after extensive debate, the Senate voted 52-48 in favor of Thomas. In response to

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this case, Rebecca Walker published an article in a 1992 issue of Ms. titled

"Becoming the Third Wave" in which she stated, "I am not a post-feminism feminist.

I am the third wave." Hill and Thomas’ case brought attention to the ongoing presence of sexual harassment in the workplace and reinstated a sense of concern and awareness in many people who assumed that sexual harassment and other second wave issues had been resolved.

The history of Third Wave feminism predates this and begins in the mid

1980s. Feminist leaders rooted in the second wave like Gloria Anzaldua, Bell Hooks,

Chela Sandoval, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and many other feminists of color, called for a new subjectivity in feminist voice. They sought to negotiate prominent space within feminist thought for consideration of race related subjectivities. This focus on the intersection between race and gender remained prominent through the Hill-Thomas hearings, but began to shift with the Freedom

Ride 1992. This drive to register voters in poor minority communities was surrounded with rhetoric that focused on rallying young feminists. For many, the rallying of the young is the emphasis that has stuck within third wave feminism.

2.5 The History of Feminist Theory

A feminist is to advocate or to support the right and equality of women.

Hooks, Bell. (2000). Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. Pluto Press.

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical fields.

It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history, psychoanalysis and philosophy. Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, women's rights and sexuality.

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The history of feminism is the chronological narrative of the movements and ideologies aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending on time, culture, and country, most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not

(or do not) apply the term to themselves.

Nancy Cott draws a distinction between modern feminism and its antecedents, particularly the struggle for suffrage. In the United States she places the turning point in the decades before and after women obtained the vote in 1920 (1910-

1930). She argues that the prior woman movement was primarily about woman as a universal entity, whereas over this 20 year period it transformed itself into one primarily concerned with social differentiation, attentive to individuality and diversity. New issues dealt more with woman's condition as a social construct, gender identity, and relationships within and between genders. Politically this represented a shift from an ideological alignment comfortable with the right, to one more radically associated with the left. In the immediate postwar period, Simone de

Beauvoir stood in opposition to an image of "the woman in the home". De Beauvoir provided an existentialist dimension to feminism with the publication of Le

Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex) in 1949. While more philosopher and novelist than activist, she did sign one of the Movement de Liberation des Femmes manifestos. The resurgence of feminist activism in the late 1960s was accompanied by an emerging literature of what might be considered female associated issues, such as concerns for the earth and spirituality, and environmental activism. This in turn created an atmosphere conducive to reigniting the study of and debate on

Matricentricity, as a rejection of determinism, such as Adrienne Rich and Marilyn 15

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French while for socialist feminists like Evelyn Reed, patriarchy held the properties of capitalism. Elaine Showalter describes the development of Feminist theory as having a number of phases. The first she calls "feminist critique" - where the feminist reader examines the ideologies behind literary phenomena. The second Showalter calls "Gynocritics" - where the "woman is producer of textual meaning" including

"the psychodynamics of female creativity; linguistics and the problem of a female language; the trajectory of the individual or collective female literary career [and] literary history". The last phase she calls "gender theory" - where the "ideological inscription and the literary effects of the sex/gender system" are explored." This model has been criticized by Toril Moi who sees it as an essentialist and deterministic model for female subjectivity. She also criticized it for not taking account of the situation for women outside the west.

2.6 Theory of Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment (Hawkesworth, 2006:25-27 ; Bealey

1999:3-11). Or we can say that feminism is a process that aims to create a better relationship between both genders to improve and better to the society (Nugroho,

2008:61). Mary Wollstonecraft, the first feminist who wrote A Vindication of the

Rights of Woman (1792), encourages woman writers to insert feminism in their literary works. Finally, feminism has been widely spreading.

Feminism is defined diferent by different feminist. They define feminism according their own point of view. As they think differently so their definition too is

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different from others. But all the definition is almost same in the main point. Here the writer is going to put some definition of the most popular feminist in the world.

• Estelle B. Freedman (2003:285) said in his book ‘No Turning Back’: “Feminism is a belief that women and men are inherently of equal worth. Because most societies privilege men as a group, social movements are necessary to achieve equality between woman and man.”

• Rosalind Delmar (1986:13) said in her book ‘What is feminism’ that :“Feminism is usually defined as an active desire to change women’s position in society.”

• Christina Hoff Sommers (1994: 22) said, in the book ‘Who Stole Feminism’ that :

“a concern for women and a determination to see them fairly treated”

• Ratna (2004:184): "Dalam pengertian yang paling luas, feminisme adalah gerakan kaum wanita untuk menolak segala sesuatu yang dimarginalisasikan, disubordinasikan, dan direndahkan oleh kebudayaan dominan, baik dalam bidang politik dan ekonomi maupun kehidupan social pada umumnya." (In its broadest sense, feminism is a women’s movement which rejects the marginal, subordinated and underestimated things by the dominating culture either in politics, economics or social life in general).

• Awuy (2002:1) in his essay Feminisme di Persimpangan Jalan states: "Feminisme merupakan sebuah fenomena kultural. alasan kemunculannya ialah berdasarkan ketidakpuasan terhadap realitas yang dianggap sebagai konstruksi patriarkal".

(Feminism is a cultural phenomenon of unsatisfactory to the reality of patriarchal construction).

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From above definitions it’s clear to us that feminism is a doctrine, a thought, a movement that tell us the oppressed position of women in the world, it is such a philosophy in where women’s worked are valued and their political, economic and social rights are preserved. Feminism is for women’s equality in world. It let the women to prove their power to work in the same rhythm of men in society.

Feminism has altered predominant perspective in a wide range of areas within

Western society, ranging from culture to law. Feminist activists have campaigned for women's legal right (rights of contract, property rights, voting rights); for protection of women and girls from domestic violence, sexual harassment and rape; for workplace rights, including maternity leave and equal pay; and against other forms of gender-specific discrimination against women. Simone de Beauvoir wrote that " The first time we see a woman take up her pen in defense of her "sex" was Christine de

Pizan who wrote Epitre au Dieu d'Amour (Epistle to the God of Love) in 15th century. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi worked in the 16 century. Marie Le Jars de Gournay, Anne Bradstreet and Francois Poullain de la

Barre wrote during the 17th ".

2.7 Types of Feminism

Feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliation. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought. There are liberal feminism, radical feminism, socialist feminism, Marxist feminism, cultural feminism, multiracial feminism, post-colonial feminism, third-world feminism, new age feminism, post-structural feminism, post-modern feminism, etc. But in this thesis, the writer only use three types of feminism in analyzing the problem of Maya’s; the

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main character in " I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings ". They are liberal feminism, radical feminism, multiracial feminism and socialist feminism which the definition of each will be explained below.

2.7.1 Liberal Feminism

Liberal feminism asserts the equality of men and women through political and legal reform. It is an individualistic form of feminism, which focuses on women's ability to show and maintain their equality through their own action and choices. Liberal feminism uses the personal interactions between men and women as the place from which to transform society. According to liberal feminists, all women are capable of asserting their ability to achieve equality, therefore it is possible for change to happen without altering the structure of society. Issues important to liberal feminists include reproductive and abortion rights, sexual harassment, voting, education, equal pay for equal work, affordable childcare, affordable health care, and bringing to light the frequency of sexual and domestic violence against women.

2.7.2 Radical Feminism

Radical Feminism considers the male-controlled capitalist hierarchy, which it describes as sexist, as the defining feature of women's oppression. Radical feminists believe that women can free themselves only when they have done away with what they consider an inherently oppressive and dominating patriarchal system. Radical feminists feel that there is a male-based authority and power structure and that it is responsible for oppression and inequality, and that, as long as the system and its values are in place, society will not be able to be reformed in any significant way.

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Some radical feminists see no alternatives other than the total uprooting and reconstruction of society in order to achieve their goals.

2.7.3 Socialist and Marxist Feminism

Socialist feminism connects the oppression of women to Marxist ideas about exploitation, oppression and labor. Socialist feminism is a branch of feminism that focuses upon both the public and private spheres of a woman's life and argues that liberation can only be achieved by working to end both the economic and cultural sources of women's oppression. Socialist feminists think unequal standing in both the workplace and the domestic sphere holds women down. Socialist feminists see prostitution, domestic work, childcare, and marriage as ways in which women are exploited by a patriarchal system that devalues women and the substantial work they do. Socialist feminists focus their energies on far-reaching change that affects society as a whole, rather than on an individual basis. They see the need to work alongside not just men but all other groups, as they see the oppression of women as a part of a larger pattern that affects everyone involved in the capitalist system.

2.8 Racism and Sexism: Black Women in America

From the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, black women were in a difficult position. Between the civil rights and feminist movements, where they fit in. They had been the backbone of the civil rights movement, but their contributions were deemphasized as black men — often emasculated by white society — felt compelled to adopt patriarchal roles. When black women flocked to the feminist movement, white women discriminated against them and devoted little attention to class issues that seriously affected black women, who tended to also be poor.

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Historically, black women have chosen race over gender concerns, a choice that was especially poignant during Reconstruction when African American female leaders, such as Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, supported the Fifteenth Amendment giving black men the right to vote over the objections of white women suffragists.

Stereotypes and generalizations about African Americans black people and their culture have evolved within American society dating back to the colonial years of settlement, particularly after slavery became a racial institution that was heritable.

A comprehensive examination of the restrictions imposed upon African-Americans in the United States of America through culture is examined by art historian Guy C.

McElroy in the catalog to the exhibit "Facing History: The Black Image in American

Art 1710-1940." According to McElroy, the artistic convention of representing

African-Americans as less than fully realized humans began with Justus Engelhardt

Kühn's colonial era painting Henry Darnall III as a child. [1] Although Kühn's work existed "simultaneously with a radically different tradition in colonial America" as indicated by the work of portraitists such as Charles (or Carolus) Zechel, the market demand for such work reflected the attitudes and economic status of their audience.

From the colonial era through the American Revolution ideas about African-

Americans were variously used in propaganda either for or against the issue of slavery. Paintings like John Singleton Copley's Watson and the Shark and Samuel

Jennings' Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences are early examples of the debate underway at that time as to the role of Black people in America. Watson represents an historical event, while Liberty is indicative of abolitionist sentiments expressed in

Philadelphia's post-revolutionary intellectual community. Nevertheless, Jennings' painting represents African-Americans as passive, submissive beneficiaries of not

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only slavery's abolition, but knowledge, which liberty has graciously bestowed upon them.

Black women have a long feminist tradition dating back to 19th-century activists such as Maria W. Stewart and Sojourner Truth as well as organizations like the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (NACWC) and the National

Council of Negro Women, founded in 1896 and 1935, respectively. Events of the

1960s and 1970s, not to mention black men’s changing attitudes regarding the role of black women, focused awareness around new concerns such as race, gender, and class, and several organizations attempted to address these issues:

1. The ANC (Aid to Needy Children) Mothers Anonymous of Watts and the

National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO): Johnnie Tillmon was an

early pioneer of addressing the concerns of poor black women. A welfare mother

living in Los Angeles’s Nickerson Projects, Tillmon helped found ANC (Aid to

Needy Children) Mothers Anonymous of Watts in 1963. She was later tapped to

lead the National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), founded in 1966.

Through these organizations, Tillmon addressed such issues as equal pay for

women, child care, and voter registration.

2. Black Women’s Liberation Committee (BWLC): Student Nonviolent

Coordinating Committee (SNCC) member Francis Beal was one of the founders

of the Black Women’s Liberation Committee (BWLC) in 1968. In 1969, Beal

helped clarify the struggles of black women in the influential essay “Double

Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female” that also appeared in the landmark 1970

anthology The Black Woman, which ushered in a new wave of black female

writers. Beal identified capitalism as a key factor in the chasm between black

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men and women. During the early 1970s, the BWLC evolved into the Third

World Women’s Alliance.

3. National Organization for Women (NOW): Reverend Dr. Anna Pauline (Pauli)

Murray is a cofounder of the nation’s most prominent feminist organization, the

National Organization for Women (NOW), founded in 1966.

4. The National Black Feminist Organization: While many black women remain

active in mainstream feminist organizations only, other black women have

created organizations aimed at addressing black women’s unique concerns more

effectively. The National Black Feminist Organization launched in 1973 with the

specific goal of including black women of all ages, classes, and sexual

orientation. Although it and similar organizations didn’t outlive the 1970s, the

legacy of black feminism lives on.

In 1983, Alice Walker coined the term womanism, a feminist ideology that addresses the black woman’s unique history of racial and gender oppression. Women such as Angela Davis; law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw; academics Patricia Hill

Collins, Beverly Guy Sheftall, and Bell Hooks; and historians Darlene Clark Hine,

Paula Giddings, and Deborah Gray White have greatly expanded the context in which black women and their history and activism are discussed by underscoring black women’s issues related to race, gender, and class.

For further information about the story I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the writer gives the synopsis below:

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old Maya and her older brother are sent to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with their grandmother and ends when Maya becomes a mother at the age of 16. In the course of Caged Bird, Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to prejudice.

Angelou was challenged by her friend, author James Baldwin, and her editor,

Robert Loomis, to write an autobiography that was also a piece of literature.

Reviewers often categorize Caged Bird as autobiographical fiction because Angelou uses thematic development and other techniques common to fiction, but the prevailing critical view characterizes it as an autobiography, a genre she attempts to critique, change, and expand. The book covers topics common to autobiographies written by Black American women in the years following the Civil Rights

Movement: a celebration of Black motherhood; a critique of racism; the importance of family; and the quest for independence, personal dignity, and self-definition.

Angelou uses her autobiography to explore subjects such as identity, rape, racism, and literacy. She also writes in new ways about women's lives in a male- dominated society. Maya, the younger version of Angelou and the book's central character, has been called "a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in

America". Angelou's description of being raped as an eight-year-old child overwhelms the book, although it is presented briefly in the text. Another metaphor that of a bird struggling to escape its cage is a central image throughout the work, which consists of "a sequence of lessons about resisting racist oppression". Angelou's treatment of racism provides a thematic unity to the book. Literacy and the power of words help young Maya cope with her bewildering world; books become her refuge as she works through her trauma.

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Caged Bird was nominated for a National Book Award in 1970 and remained on The New York Times paperback bestseller list for two years. It has been used in educational settings from high schools to universities, and the book has been celebrated for creating new literary avenues for the American memoir. However, the book's graphic depiction of childhood rape, racism, and sexuality has caused it to be challenged or banned in some schools and libraries.

2.9 Woman's Problems as Reflected in Maya

We use the word problem to describe a wide range of situation of different importance. Problem can be defined as a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome. Problem also can be defined broadly as situations in which we experience uncertainty or difficulty in achieving what we want to achieve or those where the current situation is not what was expected. In this thesis will be analized about woman's problems as reflected in

Maya, the main character of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings which her problems are focused on her sexual abuse, psychological abuse and physical abuse.

The World Health Organization (2002) defines violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community, which either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, male development, or deprivation", but acknowledges that the inclusion of "the use of power" in its definition expands on the conventional meaning of the word. This definition involves intentionality with the committing of the act itself, irrespective of the outcome it produces. However,

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generally, anything that is excited in an injurious or damaging way may be described as violent even if not meant to be violence (by a person and against a person).

There are nine distinct forms of violence and abuse: Physical violence,

Sexual violence, Emotional violence, Psychological violence, Spiritual violence,

Cultural violence, Verbal abuse, Financial abuse, and neglect. But in this thesis will only discuss about the sexual abuse, physical abuse, and psychological abuse associated with Maya’s problem which the definition of each will be explained below:

Sexual violence is unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent. Most victims and perpetrators know each other. Immediate reactions to sexual abuse include shock, fear or disbelief. Long-term symptoms include anxiety, fear or post-traumatic stress disorder. While efforts to treat sex offenders remain unpromising, psychological interventions for survivors especially group therapy appears effective.

Physical violence is an act of a person involving contact of another person intended to cause feelings of physical pain, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm.

Psychological abuse which also referred to emotional abuse or mental abuse is a form of abuse characterized by a person subjecting or exposing another to behavior that may result in psychological trauma.

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2.10 Hermeneutics Theory

Hermeneutics is the theory of text interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. There have been two very different approaches to social explanation since the nineteenth century, and they differ most fundamentally over a distinction between explanation and understanding or cause and meaning (von Wright 1971). This distinction divides over two ways of understanding a why question when it comes to social events. Why did it happen? may mean : what caused it to happen? or it may mean : why did the agents act in such a way to bring it about?.

The hermeneutic approach holds that the most basic fact of social life is the meaning of an action. Social life is constituted by social actions, and actions are meaningful to the actors and to the other social participants. Moreover, subsequent actions are oriented towards the meanings of prior actions; so understanding the later action requires that we have an interpretation of the meanings that various participants assign to their own actions and those of others. So the social sciences (or the human sciences) need to be hermeneutic. researchers need to devote their attention to the interpretation of the meanings of social actions.

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CHAPTER III

THE METHOD OF STUDY

In the analysis of the aspect of feminism in I Know Why The Caged Bird

Sings, the writer apply library research. The writer collect the data from related books and other literature that can be connected to the object of investigation. The writer also find suitable references from the internet in doing this analysis. The writer got the primary source from the novel (I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings), in this case through the patriarchal system, while my secondary source is from other books that related to Feminism.

3.1 Reseach Design

The very first procedure the writer collect the main sources of the data which is I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings novel by Maya Angelou. The technique is used by gathering all the data from the library or from the internet and other supporting material relevant to the topic of this thesis as many as possible, and then the writer begin to read the data carefully, to take down notes and the writer compose it properly. In reading the novel the writer underline every data that show about the struggle of live to make me easier in collecting from the whole data. The whole data, the quotation will be put in my thesis later on and find out the relations with the study. The right data are divided into parts to suit the parts of the study. All of the data are read carefully line by line to find out the relation with study. The research design can be seen from the scheme below;

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Researcher Data Source: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Conclusion Data: Characters and Quotation from the text of the novel

Method: Qualitative Data Selected- Interpreted-

Analysed

Scheme 1: The Steps of Analyzing Data

3.2 Data Collection

The second procedure is data selecting. After the writer read the novel many times and underline the data, then the writer select the data that show the patriarchal system. The whole data, the quotation will be put in my thesis later on and find out the relations with the study. The right data are divided into parts to suit the parts of the study. All of the data are read carefully line by line to find out the relation with study.

3.3 Data Analysis

.The data of this analysis are based on qualitative research methods because it interprets phenomenon in terms of the meaning people bring, involving naturalistic approach to its subject matter. In addition, it is exploratory because the

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data could not be put into a context that can be graphed or displayed as a mathematical form.

According to Wahyuni (2012:1), qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomenon. Qualitative research is an inductive approach and its goal is to gain a deeper understanding of a person’s or group’s opinion. The writer analyzes the data which has been collected from the quotations of the novel. It concerns with the attitudes that have been done by the main character who pictures the way she breaks the social norms. In addition, this analysis also shows how a woman struggles to achieve their freedom. After getting the quotations, the writer analyzes what kind of feminisms which support the attitudes.

For the last procedure is data analyzing. In composing this analysis, the writer have to combine the important data from many sources which have been collected and analyzed them well. The writer apply library research. Library research is a kind of research where researcher gains the data from related books and other literature, the writer analyze the selected data, describe clearly the analysis and then the writer can make a conclusion in the end of the analysis.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Maya’s Problems

Maya, as the main woman character in I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings is an African-American woman who suffers oppressions from her patriarchal family and being sexual, physical, and psychological abuse child. Maya’s real name is

Marguerite, and most of her family members call her Ritie. The fact that she chooses to go by Maya as an adult, a name given to her by her brother, Bailey, indicates the depth of love and admiration she holds for him.

Basically, family is where people usually share love and care. The members of a family usually support each other. In this novel, Maya Angelou tells the story of her life from age three, when her divorcing parents sent her and her brother to live with their maternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, to age sixteen, when, reunited with her mother in San Francisco, she gave birth to her son. Thus her story begins with semi-orphan hood and ends with motherhood. Interpreting her quest for freedom and self-affirmation as representative of that of many African Americans and American women—especially black American women—she presents incidents from her life that illustrate conditions faced by many persons. In her case, these conditions result, after much struggle, in a moment and message of hope.

When her parents ended their marriage in 1931, little Marguerite and her brother Bailey were sent, at ages three and four, to live with their paternal grandmother in Stamps. How bad the racism in that small southern town was. The racism and social class differences of that small-town environment had such a negative impact on her identity formation that she had delusions that one day she

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would emerge from her “black ugly dream” and be recognized as the white person she really was. While that was one aspect of her cultural situation, the town was also a kind of refuge, for a girl who felt dislocated because of being sent away from her parents. After all, her grandmother’s store was a central aspect of the black community there, and she eventually felt a sense of belonging.

A much more complex memoir than this brief commentary can explain, “I

Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” makes us realize that as we mature and relate to others, we all struggle for a meaningful identity, although rarely against such horrific cultural conditions and personal difficulties as Angelou faced. The writer don’t know of a memoir that provokes more thought about the impact that others can have on the inner life of a child.

4.1.1 Maya’s Sexual Abuse

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is usually undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or

(often pejoratively) molester. The term also covers any behavior by an adult or older adolescent towards a child to stimulate any of the involved sexually. The use of a child or other individuals younger than the age of consent, for sexual stimulation is referred to as child sexual abuse or statutory rape.

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the most severe form of abuse that

Maya endures is when she moves to St. Louis to live with her mother and her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Because of Maya's nightmares, her mother allowed

Maya to sleep in the bed she shared with Mr. Freeman. When Maya's mother is out of the house, she is raped.

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I knew, as if I had always known, it was his “thing” on my leg. He said, “Just stay right here, Ritie, I ain’t gonna hurt you.” I wasn’t afraid, a little apprehensive, maybe, but not afraid. Of course I knew that lots of people did “it” and they used their “thing” to accomplish the deed, but no one I knew had ever done it to anybody. Mr. Freeman pulled me to him, and put his hand between my legs. (Chp.11, P.12)

One morning after Vivian has left the bed and the house, Mr. Freeman sexually molests Maya. He does not rape her but rather masturbates on the bed while holding her close to him.

“Now, I didn’t hurt you. Don’t get scared.’ He threw back the blankets and his “thing” stood up like a brown ear of corn. He took my hand and said, “Feel it”. It was mushy and squirmy like the inside of a freshly killed chicken. Then he dragged me on top of his chest with his left arm, and his right hand was moving so fast and his heart was beating so hard that I was afraid that he would die. (Chp. 11, P. 15)

In late spring, after Vivian stays out all night one time, Mr. Freeman sends

Maya to buy milk. When she returns from the errand, Mr. Freeman rapes her. He threatens to kill her if she screams, and he threatens to kill Bailey if she tells anyone.

“We was just playing before.” He released me enough to snatch down my bloomers, and then he dragged me closer to him…… and then. Then there was a pain. A breaking and entering when even the sense are torn apart. (Chp. 12, P. 8-9)

Adult Maya's abstract thinking and use of figurative language make us forget that we are hearing about her own experiences. Instead of describing the rape in detail—which is what young Maya probably would have done—she tries to conceptualize it differently. Eight-year-old Maya couldn't process what had happened, but adult Maya has had time to reflect, to heal, and to understand.

Mr. Freeman then sends her to the library, but Maya returns home because of the intense physical pain she feels between her legs. She hides her underwear under her mattress and goes to bed. Vivian thinks she might be coming down with the

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measles. Later that night, Maya hears Vivian argue with Mr. Freeman. In the morning, Vivian tells Maya that Mr. Freeman has moved out. When Bailey tries to change the linens, the bloodied panties Maya has hidden under the mattress fall out.

From the quotations above, the writer conclude that Mr. Freeman takes advantage of Maya because she has never experienced much physical contact or affection, and she confuses Mr. Freeman’s exploitative behavior with the physical attention she has yet to receive as a child. Mr. Freeman also takes advantage of

Maya’s caring personality, especially her tendency to care for people in similar positions of neglect and pain. Perhaps trying to foreshadow the rape, Maya shows that she spent much time observing Mr. Freeman as he pathetically awaited Vivian’s return in the evenings. Maya notes that Mr. Freeman has breasts like deflated female breasts and how she feels sorry for him. After the two separate incidences of sexual molestation, Mr. Freeman ignores Maya for weeks, augmenting her feelings of rejection and guilt.

4.1.2 Maya’s Psychological Abuse

Psychological abuse (also referred to as psychological violence, emotional abuse, or mental abuse) is a form of abuse, characterized by a person subjecting, or exposing, another person to behavior that may result in psychological trauma, including anxiety, chronic depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. It is often associated with situations of power imbalance in abusive relationships including bullying, gaslighting and abuse in the workplace.

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya tells her story of abuse and neglect from all angles while growing up a poor, black female in the segregated

South. There are some quotes dealing with psychological abuse from this novel.

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I was really white and because a cruel fairy stepmother, who was understandably jealous of my beauty, had turned me into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil. (Prologue.9)

Even as a little girl, Maya already has it in her head that white girls are sugar, spice, and everything nice. And little black girls has negative meaning in her head.

Racism has already made its way into Maya's world—and it's not leaving any time soon.

When I was described by our playmates as being shit color….. my head was covered with black steel wool. (Chp 4, P.9)

From the quotation above, we can see that Maya struggles with in her childhood and young adulthood: feeling ugly and awkward and never feeling attached to one place. Maya imagines that though people judge her unfairly by her awkward looks, they will be surprised one day when her true self emerges.

At the time, she hopes that she will emerge as if in a fairy-tale as a beautiful, blond white girl. By the age of five or six, Maya has already begun to equate beauty with whiteness, a sign that the racism rampant in the society in which she grows up has infiltrated her mind.

I wanted to throw a handful of black pepper in their faces, to throw lye on them, to scream that they were dirty, scummy peckerwoods, but I knew I was as clearly imprisoned behind the scene as the actors outside were confined to their roles. (Chp 5. P 22)

From the quotation above, we can see the situation when Maya is still young, then the white girls come to the Store and taunt Momma, but she already knows what it means to be black in Stamps. And for that matter, what it means to be white in Stamps.

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A light shade had been pulled down between the Black community and all things white, but one could see through it enough to develop a fear-admiration-contempt for the white “things”—white folks’ cars and white glistening houses and their children and their women. But above all, their wealth that allowed them to waste was the most enviable.(Chp 8)

In the quotation above, it seems Maya’s childlike observations about what makes white people different. Her fixation on clothing as a sign of difference also refers back to the incident in church when she suddenly realizes that her fairy-tale taffeta dress is really an old, faded white woman’s hand-me-down. Stamps,

Arkansas, suffers so thoroughly from segregation and Maya’s world is so completely enmeshed in the black community that she often finds it hard to imagine what white people look like. They appear to her more like spectral ghosts with mysterious powers and wonderful possessions than as fellow human beings. At the same time, from a young age Maya knows that white people bear responsibility for the suffering of the cotton-pickers. She also learns from Momma that it is best not to address any white people directly, as it might lead to mortal danger. Momma goes so far as never to even speak about white people without using the title “they.”

My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped. . . . This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than the apes. (Chp 19)

In this scene in Chapter 19, Maya crowds around the Store’s radio with the rest of the community to listen to Joe Louis defend his world heavyweight boxing title. As Maya conveys in this passage, the entire black community has its hopes and psychological salvation bound up in the fists of Louis, “the Brown Bomber.” This passage describes the precarious nature of black pride in the face of hostile

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oppression, highlighting the staggering and wrenching significance this boxing match held for the community as the community teeters between salvation and despair.

The rarity of black people achieving public acclaim in both the black and white communities meant that the few who managed to do so had to bear the expectations of the black community. The match becomes an explicit staging of black against white. Louis’s loss would mean the “fall” of the race and a return to the idea that whites had a right to denigrate black people. Cynics might say that

Louis’s win does little more than stave off the black community’s psychological despair. It does not turn the tables on whites because there is no denying that whites still hold all the power. His public victory, however, proves to blacks in the Store that they are the most powerful people in the world and enables them to live another day with strength and vigor in the face of oppression. Racism plays many psychological games with blacks and whites, and perhaps Louis’s public recognition helps to teach both whites and blacks to accept African-Americans as equals.

4.1.3 Maya’s Physical Abuse

Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or workplace aggression.

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, there is physical abuse that happen with Maya as main character and her brother Bailey. When Maya and her brother,

Bailey, are sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with her father's mother, Momma, and her disabled Uncle Willie after her parents' divorce, she laments the feeling of

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abandonment from not being wanted by her parents. Although Uncle Willie administers harsh discipline in the form of beatings, she describes them as a fact of life for Southern families during that time rather than as a form of mistreatment.

Often, the threat of maltreatment is enough to keep the children in line. Maya tells about Uncle Willie's threat of burning them on the stove if they make a mistake on their times tables. She narrates, 'When Bailey was six and I a year younger, we used to rattle off the times tables with the speed I was later to see Chinese children in

San Francisco employ on their abacuses. Our summer-gray pot-bellied stove bloomed rosy red during winter, and became a severe disciplinarian threat if we were so foolish as to indulge in making mistakes.' Although he never actually allows them to get burned, it's a pretty severe way to get kids to study.

Maya also tells about a time that 'Bailey and I received the whipping of our lives' when they can't stop laughing after the reverend lost his teeth in the middle of a sermon. She narrates, 'Uncle Willie ordered us between licks to stop crying. I tried to, but Bailey refused to cooperate. Later he explained that when a person is beating you you should scream as loud as possible; maybe the whipper will become embarrassed or else some sympathetic soul might come to your rescue.' Sure enough, on this occasion, the preacher's wife stopped him because the children were so loud they disturbed the service.

4.2 Maya’s Struggle toward Racism

In the I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya confronts the insidious effects of racism and segregation in America at a very young age. She internalizes the idea that blond hair is beautiful and that she is a fat black girl trapped in a nightmare. Stamps, Arkansas, is so thoroughly segregated that as a child Maya does

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not quite believe that white people exist. As Maya gets older, she is confronted by more overt and personal incidents of racism, such as a white speaker’s condescending address at her eighth-grade graduation, her white boss’s insistence on calling her Mary, and a white dentist’s refusal to treat her. The importance of Joe

Louis’s world championship boxing match to the black community reveals the dearth of publicly recognized African American heroes. It also demonstrates the desperate nature of the black community’s hope for vindication through the athletic triumph of one man. These unjust social realities confine and demean Maya and her relatives. She comes to learn how the pressures of living in a thoroughly racist society have profoundly shaped the character of her family members, and she strives to surmount them.

4.2.1 Debilitating Displacement

Maya is shuttled around to seven different homes between the ages of three and sixteen: from California to Stamps to St. Louis to Stamps to Los Angeles to

Oakland to San Francisco to Los Angeles to San Francisco. As expressed in the poem she tries to recite on Easter, the statement “I didn’t come to stay” becomes her shield against the cold reality of her rootlessness. Besieged by the “tripartite crossfire” of racism, sexism, and power, young Maya is belittled and degraded at every turn, making her unable to put down her shield and feel comfortable staying in one place. When she is thirteen and moves to San Francisco with her mother, Bailey, and Daddy Clidell, she feels that she belongs somewhere for the first time. Maya identifies with the city as a town full of displaced people.

Maya’s personal displacement echoes the larger societal forces that displaced blacks all across the country. She realizes that thousands of other terrified black children made the same journey as she and Bailey, traveling on their own to newly

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affluent parents in northern cities, or back to southern towns when the North failed to supply the economic prosperity it had promised. African Americans descended from slaves who were displaced from their homes and homelands in Africa, and following the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, blacks continued to struggle to find their place in a country still hostile to their heritage.

4.2.2 Resistance to Racism

Black peoples’ resistance to racism takes many forms in I Know Why the

Caged Bird Sings. Momma maintains her dignity by seeing things realistically and keeping to herself. Big Bailey buys flashy clothes and drives a fancy car to proclaim his worth and runs around with women to assert his masculinity in the face of dehumanizing and emasculating racism. Daddy Clidell’s friends learn to use white peoples’ prejudice against them in elaborate and lucrative cons. Vivian’s family cultivates toughness and establishes connections to underground forces that deter any harassment. Maya first experiments with resistance when she breaks her white employer’s heirloom china. Her bravest act of defiance happens when she becomes the first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Blacks also used the church as a venue of subversive resistance. At the revival, the preacher gives a thinly veiled sermon criticizing whites’ charity, and the community revels in the idea of white people burning in hell for their actions.

The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos and Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren't even in on it) would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises. (Chp23. P40)

The quotation above is one of racism in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

Mr. Donleavy sees the world in black and white (intended). In his mind, black kids are destined for sports stardom. It’s not every tall black kid is going to be the next

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Michael Jordan. We need more George Washington Carvers and Jean Michel

Basquaits (and of course, Maya Angelous) in the world, but these future heroes need help and support to grow, just like Edison and Gauguin did.

It seemed terribly unfair to have a toothache and a headache and have to bear at the same time the heavy burden of Blackness. (Chp24. P9)

And we can see from the quotation above that the dentist do. Throw racism into the mix and things get much more complicated. Even something as basic as sufficient medical care is impossible to ensure in the racist South.

Though Maya struggles with insecurity and displacement throughout her childhood, she has a remarkable number of strong female role models in her family and community. Momma, Vivian, Grandmother Baxter, and Bertha Flowers have very different personalities and views on life, but they all chart their own paths and manage to maintain their dignity and self-respect. None of them ever capitulates to racist indignities.

I WOULD HAVE THE JOB. I WOULD BE A CONDUCTORETTE AND SLING A FULL MONEY CHANGER FROM MY BELT. I WOULD. (Chp 34. P25)

The quotation above proves that Maya also charts her own path, fighting to become the first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco, and she does so with the support and encouragement of her female predecessors. Maya notes at the end of

Chapter 34 that the towering character of the black American woman should be seen as the predictable outcome of a hard-fought struggle. Many black women fall along the way. The ones who can weather the storm of sexism and racism obviously will shine with greatness. They have survived, and therefore by definition they are survivors.

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The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power. The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence.(Chp 34. P34)

This passage in Chapter 34 addresses why black women have strength of character. Maya says that most of the strong black women in her novel are

“survivors.” They have strong characters quite simply because they have survived against impossible odds. Therefore, they obviously show heroism, courage, and strength. Moreover, Maya states that the odds pitted against black women include not only the triple threat of sexism, racism, and black powerlessness, but also the simultaneous presence of “common forces of nature” that assault and confuse all children. Maya has had to grow up more quickly than the children around her. Her experiences driving the car in Mexico, living in the junkyard, returning to witness

Bailey move out of the house, and then successfully fighting to get a job as the first black conductor on the San Francisco streetcars, rather than go back to a school where she would not belong have made her feel displaced and older than her years.

Maya is already on her way toward becoming “a formidable character” as a result of the many assaults she deals with in “her tender years,” but this does not mean that

Maya is an adult. Maya’s discussion of the “common forces of nature” foreshadows how her journey of survival has yet to meet the obstacles of adolescence, sexuality, and teenage pregnancy. These obstacles face all children, but for black females, they exacerbate an already difficult situation.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

5.1 Conclusion

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes her coming of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s. It is an autobiographical story of

Maya Angelou's life in facing racism, molestation, and teenage pregnancy. It is also a wonderful story that portrays the gradual forming of a new black woman, Maya, who involves from patriarchal oppression to awakening and independence. Bailey, Vivian and Mrs. Bertha Flowers help Maya a lot to face her problem and for her happiness.

By the end of the novel Maya learns to love her and find her place in the world. She learns to fight to stand up for herself, and she is rewarded. Bailey love her so much and Mrs. Bertha Flowers, "the aristocrat of Black Stamps", who encourages her through books and communication to regain her voice and soul. It’s all that help

Maya to emancipate and free herself spiritually, physically and economically.

Maya’s is able to open up emotionally and release the pressure and pain that had muted throughout both childhood and adulthood. Her family and friendship finally develops into a lifetime bond and accompanies Maya throughout her struggles with

Mr. Freeman as well as with the remembrances of her childhood hardship. Mrs.

Bertha Flowers’s concept of love and life makes Maya out of her shell and realize that the most important thing in life is love, admiration and enjoyment of the beauty and happiness in life. Maya become more confident, realizes her submissive situation and decides to move on and fight. Woman bonding and brotherhood play an

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important role in Maya’s strive process. Maya is able to transform her life and free herself physically, economically and spiritually with the help of these people.

Through this novel, Maya taught us that we needed resilience in order to survive what life handed to us. She also taught us that neither our gender nor our skin color should prevent me from achieving our goals. She also indicated that she wanted to demonstrate how to face the complexities of rape. She wanted to prevent it from happening to someone else, so that anyone who had been raped might gain understanding and not blame herself for it.

5.2 Suggestion

Literary works in general and the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in particular are creative works of the writers. As creation, the literary writers try to explore social phenomenon to be known and understood by the readers. They communicate things happen in society as shown in the novel I Know Why the Caged

Bird Sings. Sexual and psychological abuses in racism are supposed to be morally and legally wrong. It tends to break normally social being both morally and religiously. Related to this, literature is a kind of instrument to know what life is.

Thus, this thesis wants to encourage students of literature to study more deeply about life matters through literary works.

This thesis analysis also offers an understanding towards the role of woman under the patriarch system. Woman position tends culturally to be lower than man in negative sense. Woman seems under the control of man dominance as a weak object to be treated unwell. Thus, this study can broaden the understanding of man and woman about equal position humanly. Whatever the reason is woman and man are different creatures. Yet, mutual understanding can be traced properly by having

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awareness to stand together without looking at sex difference. Therefore, understanding novel is meant to know ourselves better. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a good example for further study ever more to know who we are individually and socially.

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REFERENCES

Abrams, M. H. 1999. A Glossary of Literary Terms: Seventh Edition. USA: Earl McPeek.

Angelou, Maya. 1997. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: USA: Bantam Books.

Beauvoir, Simone de. 2003. Second Sex: Fakta dan Mitos (terj.). Surabaya:Pustaka Promothea.

Broverman, IK. Et al. (1972). “Sex-role Streotypes and Clinical Judgments of Mental Health”. Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology.(34)

Budiman, Arief.1982. Pembagian Kerja Secara Seksual. Cetakan Kedua. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Damono, Sapardi Djoko. 1979. Sosiologi Sastra Sebuah Pengantar Ringkas. Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan.

Endraswara, Suwardi. 2008. Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Cetakan Keempat. Yogyakarta: Media Pressindo.

Engels. 1973. The Condition of the Working Class in England, Moscow; Marx.

Fakih, Mansour. 2004. Analisis Gender dan Transformasi Sosial: Epistemologi, Model, Teori, dan Aplikasi. Cetakan Kedelapan. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

Kamla Bhasin dan Nighat Said Khan. 1995. Feminisme dan Relavansinya. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Matthews, Glenna. 1992. The Rise of Public Women. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Milled, Kate. 1971. Sexual Politics. London: Share

Nurgiyantoro, Burhan. 1995. Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta. Gadjah Mada University Press.Pustaka Promothea.

Roberts, V Edgar and Henry E Jacobs. 1995. An Introduction to Reading and Writing. United States of America: Prentice-Hall Inc.

Sisiwanto, Wahyudi. 2008. Pengantar Teori Sastra, Jakarta: PT Grasindo.

Sugihastuti dan itsna Hadi Saptiawan. 2007. Gender & inferioritas Perempuan. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar.

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Teeuw, A. (1983). Membaca dan Menilai Sastra. Jakarta: Gramedia.

Tong, R. (1989). Feminist Thought: A Comprehensive Introduction. London: Unwin Hymen.

Walby, Sylvia. 1990. Theorizing Patriarchy. Oxford: Blackwell

Wellek, Rene dan Austin Warren. 1990. Teori kesusastraan. Terjemahan Melani Budianta. Jakarta : Gramedia.

Wellek, Renne and Warren, austin. 1977. Theory of Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich. http://www.dummies.com/education/history/american-history/facing-racism-and- sexism-black-women-in-america/ Diunduh tanggal 24 Desember 2017 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cagedbird/themes.html Diunduh tanggal 24 Desember 2017 https://www.shmoop.com/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/religion-theme.html Diunduh tanggal 24 Desember 2017

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_abuse) Diunduh tanggal 24 Desember 2017 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermeneutics/ Diunduh tanggal 28 Januari 2018 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes_of_African_Americans Diunduh tanggal 28 Januari 2018 http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/cagedbird/characters/ Diunduh tanggal 26 Januari 2018

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APPENDICES

I. Maya Angelou’s Biography

Marguerite Annie Johnson Angelou (April 4, 1928 to May 28, 2014), known as Maya Angelou, was an American author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet and civil rights activist best known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird

Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-

American woman. Angelou received several honors throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, in

2005 and 2009.

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Maya Angelou’s Poetry

'Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die' (1971)

Angelou published several collections of poetry, but her most famous was 1971’s collection Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

'On the Pulse of Morning'

One of her most famous works, Angelou wrote this poem especially for and recited at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ceremony in January 1993. The occasion marked the first inaugural recitation since 1961, when Robert Frost delivered his poem "The

Gift Outright" at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration. Angelou went on to win a Grammy Award (best spoken word album) for the audio version of the poem.

Maya Angelou’s Books

'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' (1969)

Friend and fellow writer James Baldwin urged Angelou to write about her life experiences, resulting in the enormously successful 1969 memoir about her childhood and young adult years, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The poignant story made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. The book, which made Angelou an international star, continues to be regarded as her most popular autobiographical work. In 1995, Angelou was lauded for remaining on The New York Times' paperback nonfiction best-seller list for two years—the longest-running record in the chart's history.

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'All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes' (1986)

A lyrical exploration about of what it means to be an African American in Africa, this autobiographical book covers the years Angelou spent living in Ghana.

'Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now' (1994)

This inspirational essay collection features Angelou’s insights about spirituality and living well.

'A Song Flung Up to Heaven' (2002)

Another autobiographical work, A Song Flung Up to Heaven explores Angelou’s return from Africa to the U.S. and her ensuing struggle to cope with the devastating assassinations of two human rights leaders with whom she worked, Malcolm X and

Martin Luther King Jr. The book ends when, at the encouragement of her friend

James Baldwin, Angelou began work on I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

'Letter to My Daughter' (2008)

Dedicated to the daughter Angelou never had, this book of essays features Angelou’s advice for young women about living a life of meaning.

Cookbooks

Interested in health, Angelou’s published cookbooks include Hallelujah! The

Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories With Recipes (2005) and Great Food, All

Day Long (2010).

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Death

After experiencing health issues for a number of years, Maya Angelou died on May 28, 2014, at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The news of her passing spread quickly with many people taking to social media to mourn and remember Angelou. Singer Mary J. Blige and politician Cory Booker were among those who tweeted their favorite quotes by her in tribute. President Barack Obama also issued a statement about Angelou, calling her "a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman." Angelou "had the ability to remind us that we are all God's children; that we all have something to offer," he wrote.

Angelou’s Son and Husbands

In 1944, a 16-year-old Angelou gave birth to a son, Guy (a short-lived high school relationship led to the pregnancy). A poet himself, Angelou’s son now goes by the name Guy Johnson.

In 1952, the future literary icon wed Anastasios Angelopulos, a Greek sailor from whom she took her professional name — a blend of her childhood nickname,

"Maya," and a shortened version of his surname. The couple later divorced.

Notoriously secretive about her marriages, Angelou was likely married at least three times, including in 1973 to a carpenter, Paul du Feu.

Family, Early Life and Education

Angelou had a difficult childhood. Her parents split up when she was very young, and she and her older brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their father's mother, Anne Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas.

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As an African American, Angelou experienced firsthand racial prejudices and discrimination in Arkansas. She also suffered at the hands of a family associate around the age of seven: During a visit with her mother, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. Then, as vengeance for the sexual assault, Angelou's uncles killed the boyfriend. So traumatized by the experience, Angelou stopped talking. She returned to Arkansas and spent years as a virtual mute.

During World War II, Angelou moved to San Francisco, California, where she won a scholarship to study dance and acting at the California Labor School. Also during this time, Angelou became the first black female cable car conductor — a job she held only briefly — in San Francisco. After giving birth to her son, she worked a number of jobs to support herself and her child.

Acting and Singing Career

In the mid-1950s, Angelou's career as a performer began to take off. She landed a role in a touring production of Porgy and Bess, later appearing in the off-

Broadway production Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and releasing her first album, Miss

Calypso (1957). A member of the Harlem Writers Guild and a civil rights activist,

Angelou organized and starred in the musical revue Cabaret for Freedom as a benefit for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also serving as the SCLC's northern coordinator.

In 1961, Angelou appeared in an off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's

The Blacks with James Earl Jones, Lou Gossett Jr. and Cicely Tyson.

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Angelou went on to earn a Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look

Away (1973) and an Emmy Award nomination for her work on the television miniseries Roots (1977), among other honors.

Time in Africa

Angelou spent much of the 1960s abroad, living first in Egypt and then in

Ghana, working as an editor and a freelance writer. Angelou also held a position at the University of Ghana for a time. In Ghana she also joined a community of

"Revolutionist Returnees” exploring pan-Africanism and became close with human rights activist and Black Nationalist leader Malcolm X. In 1964, on returning to the

U.S., she helped him set up the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which disbanded after Malcolm X’s assassination the following year.

Screenplay Author and Director

After publishing Caged Bird, Angelou broke new ground artistically, educationally and socially with her drama Georgia, Georgia in 1972, which made her the first African-American woman to have her screenplay produced. In 1998, seeking new creative challenges, Angelou made her directorial debut with Down in the Delta, starring Alfre Woodard.

Other Awards

Angelou's career has seen numerous accolades, including the Chicago

International Film Festival's 1998 Audience Choice Award and a nod from the

Acapulco Black Film Festival in 1999 for Down in the Delta. She also won two

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NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, for her 2005 cookbook and 2008's Letter to My Daughter.

Personal Life

Martin Luther King Jr., a close friend of Angelou's, was assassinated on her birthday (April 4) in 1968. Angelou stopped celebrating her birthday for years afterward, and sent flowers to King's widow, Coretta Scott King, for more than 30 years, until Coretta's death in 2006.

Angelou was also good friends with TV personality Oprah Winfrey, who organized several birthday celebrations for the award-winning author, including a week-long cruise for her 70th birthday in 1998.

II. A Short Story about the I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography about the early years of American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma. The book begins when three-year- old Maya and her older brother are sent to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with their grandmother and ends when Maya becomes a mother at the age of 16. In the course of Caged Bird, Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman capable of responding to prejudice.

Angelou was challenged by her friend, author James Baldwin, and her editor,

Robert Loomis, to write an autobiography that was also a piece of literature.

Reviewers often categorize Caged Bird as autobiographical fiction because Angelou uses thematic development and other techniques common to fiction, but the

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prevailing critical view characterizes it as an autobiography, a genre she attempts to critique, change, and expand. The book covers topics common to autobiographies written by Black American women in the years following the Civil Rights

Movement: a celebration of Black motherhood; a critique of racism; the importance of family; and the quest for independence, personal dignity, and self-definition.

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