Writing Features In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: An Approach Of Signifyin(g)

Maya Angelou was one of the most famous African-American writers in 20th century. However, she had possessed mulriple identities-poet, autobiographer, best seller, director, Civil rights politician, dramatist and actress. She had ever published 10 best sellers and nominated as the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for several times. For her several identities and plentiful experiences in early age, Maya’s works were apt to show the fact that the black female had lost in the misery circumstances for masculine prejudice and white illogical hate. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was one of Maya’s most famous autobiographies, which had exhibited her poetic ways of perform language as well as her strong ability of portraying. Based on Henry Louis Gates’theory of Signifyin(g), the thesis had made an analysis of writing features in the caged bird from the particular view, which had provided a new prospective to study Maya’s autobiography.For a long time, African-American literature had been unscrambled repeatedly in the frame of western literature theory. However, Gates’s Signifyin(g) directed at the inner property of African-American works, which explains the works from the characteristics of nationality and differences of culture. The theory of Signifyin(g) originated from the black tradition, aiming at exposing the complexity of structure in black literature and the levels of the black logic. Signifyin(g), a particular phenomenon in African-American literature, referred to the adding tropes in expressing process, which was developed into a way of expression that was filled with African-American features. Based on the definition, Gates had brought forward the theory of Signifyin(g) that directed at language, images, and texts. This thesis would analyze the writing features of the caged bird from the three aspects with the frame.In the aspect of language, Signifyin(g) mainly concentrated on the naming process and language features. Maya inherited and developed the naming tradition in African-American literature, realizing her Signifyin(g) on the main character’personality and destiny by the literal meaning of the name. Besides, in the novel, several languages including vernacular, stand English and any other regionally language had achieved Signifyin(g) on black female’s predicament. Vivid depiction and plentiful rhetorical devices made a Singnifyin(g) of African-American unique way to confide under the cage of discrimination. In the aspect of images, the novel involved both images of western literary:"mad women", "sex", "religion", and the particular images of the African-Amercian literature:"Store", "book and cinema", "the body features", "aphasia", "the black grandmother". The former reflected African-American literature had been influenced by western mainstream culture; the latter images had been endowed with abundant social and cultural connotations in the course of literature practice. In the aspect of text, the novel continued to repeat and revise both the forms and themes on the basis of the common black texts. All the subjects - black female’s awaking and racialism, sexism and the autobiographical narrative way had actualized Signifyin(g) on the continuity among the common black texts and reflected the proprietary features of African-American literature.The thesis made an analysis of The Caged Bird by an approach of Signifyin(g) from microcosmic view to macrocosmic view (from language, image to text) and reappears the properties of African-American literature. At the same time, it reflects the dilemma that the black community faced with from several lays and exposes the cruel reality that the black is oppressed and discriminated. In the whole analyzing process, Maya’s writing practice is been exhibited obviously:firstly, she tends to express authentic meaning by trope(several kinds of rhetoric). Then, her works is apt to communicate connotations by particular images belong to African-American culture. Thirdly, the works inherits both the forms and themes of African-American’s literature. Therefore, analyzing writing features in/Know Why the Caged Bird Sings on approach of Signifyin(g) is in fact a kind of recurrence and integration of African-American culture.