An Analysis Of The Inheritance And Development Of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings On The Black Women Writings

In the United States, Black women writings have undergone three periods. The firstperiod originated from the Slavery period; the second appeared during the HarlemRenaissance; and the third was formed in the1970s when the black women writers and criticsflourished. Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became very popular amongreaders soon after its first publication in1970. The prevailing time and the book's greatinspiration make Angelou one of the influential leaders in this literary wave. This thesis isgoing to explore Caged Bird's inheritance and development on black women writings oncharacters, plots and the theme to display Angelou's great contribution to the black womenliterature.Angelou lived in the North and the South of the United States in her childhood and knewa lot of people, among whom black women are the most important mentors and models forher. Compared with works of Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Jacobs, Harriet Wilson, FrancesHarper and Toni Morrison, all the black female characters in Caged Bird are positive andoptimistic. By this, Angelou deconstructs the stereotypes of black women who are alwaysnegative Mammy, Matriarch, Vamp and misery mulattos. When portraying the positivecharacters to debunk the stereotypes, Angelou takes into account the authentic characteristicsand well-rounded personalities under racial oppression.Angelou inherits plots of raping and renaming from other women writers. Comparedwith works of Hurston, Morrison and Jacobs, Caged Bird shows Angelou's differentunderstandings on her special experiences in raping and renaming. For example, raping isoften portrayed as the outcome of racial oppression, which later arouses the victim'sawareness of the cruelty of racial oppression. But Angelou dispels the racial factor and offersa more universal reason for the raping she experiences, which is due to the rapist'scharacteristic, loneliness and illness. In terms of renaming, Milkman in Morrison's novelgradually finds back his family name from African myth, which brings him awareness to inherit African culture. Angelou knows the meaning of her name and struggles with the whitepeople for renaming herself. From this event, she becomes aware of racial oppression.As far as religion is concerned, black women writers in the19thcentury intended toreveal the positive influence of Christianity among the black people as well as its enslavingrole for the white slaveholders to control the black slaves. Hurston and Morrison in the20thcentury emphasize the influence of Voodoo, the African religion on the black people.Compared to their concerns on religion, Angelou inherits the positive impact of Christianityamong the black people, though she also criticizes the negative influence in it. She alsoexplores African feature of "shouting pray" in black churches, where remains the form ofVoodoo pray.Combining the Black Feminism with Literary Theory on elements of fiction, this thesisexplores the inheritance and development of Caged Bird in comparison to previous blackwomen writings. Through the analysis, the thesis argues that Angelou further develops anddiversifies the black women writings before1970and plays a pioneering role in the blackwomen writing after1970. Chapter one is concerned about the positive and optimisticnon-mulatto black women and mulatto women to show the inheritance and development ofCaged Bird on describing characters. Chapter two is on Angelou's special description andelaboration of raping and renaming, two common plots in the black women writings to showher inheritance and development of Caged Bird on plots. Chapter three is from the functionsof Christianity and the form of shouting praying to show the inheritance and development ofCaged Bird on theme of religion.