The Self-Salvation Of The Black Girl In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou is one of the most celebrated and influential contemporary African American female writers. In her autobiographies, she shows in-depth thinking on racial issues and keen attention on black females’ living conditions. She writes about women’s life in male and white dominated society through deft use of language and various writing skills. In her works, women are no longer described as the stereotype of submissive breeder under double oppression; instead they are independent and strong with self-worth and positive power.I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is her first and also the most successful autobiography, which has won international acclaim. It tells the story of Maya Angelou’s experience from childhood up to seventeen, revealing how a black girl caged in racism and male-dominance can get out of such bondage to seek for salvation and freedom. Current and previous studies abroad and at home on this book mainly center on the aspects of genre, theme, and writing skills as well as interpretation of some specific images. There are also domestic studies using critical theories like feminism and psychoanalysis to analyze this work. However, little attention has been paid to the image of the young teenage black girl in particular as a special group to probe into her course of salvation, which makes some difference from that of the adult females’ in general. Even though they share some similarities, there are some differences. Different from most adult black females who usually make salvation on the base of their social role as the counterpart to men and enjoy part of the discourse power, young black girls have no discourse power for themselves at all. They have to build their own subjectivity through continuing search for self-identity to define their role in the society, while adult females do not necessarily need to do so. Black girls as teenagers face even more obstacles, but they have higher figurability.Caged in racism, she witnessed the suffering of her race since young; they were treated unfairly by the whites, with no access to equal education conditions and job opportunities. They were discriminated, and lived in the bottom of the white society. Caged in male dominance, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and couldn’t get rid of the trauma for a long time. She became a victim of patriarchy. Under the dual oppression of race and gender discrimination, Maya is a black girl confused about and uncertain of her identity. In order to survive, she had to find her self-identity to make for self-salvation. As a social human being, she must walk out of her own cocoon and fit into the society to realize the uniqueness and worth of her existence. As an African American, she turned from denying her black identity to fight against racism, and developed a sense of racial pride and found her black identity. As a female, she finds her female-subjectivity in the process of self-construction. She walks into motherhood with positive attitudes. Finally, she realized her self-salvation, breaking out the cage of the oppression. Even though such kind of breaking is on the spiritual sense, it inherits the long black tradition of her people for survival. Spiritual freedom is a kind of makeshift and driving force for them to move forward on the road to material freedom. Maya’s salvation demonstrates that as a black girl, the weakest social group, she can still bravely face the harsh reality and find a way out. She is even stronger than adult females or her male counterparts to some extent. Her salvation is successful and meaningful, inspiring more teenagers like her or those trapped in dilemma to make for their own salvations.