A Study Of The Theme Of Growth In The Bluest Eye And I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Toni Morrison(1931-)and Maya Angelou(1928-2014)are leading figures in contemporary African-American literature.Both of them have been working hard to speak for the black women,which marked the awakening of the black women.Among the black women,black girls were the victims of conflicts and the most overlooked group with the weakest power of discourse.Morrison’s debut,The Bluest Eye(1970)and Angelou’s autobiographical novel,I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings(1970)both depict the life of black girls.The most concerned issues in the two novels among scholars are on racial discrimination and gender oppression,and little attention has been paid to the initiation motif.In both works,Pecola and Marguerite grow up with similar experiences,but the results of development are completely different.Marguerite grew up successfully but Pecola’s growth ended in madness.This thesis,based on the ecological systems theory of U.Bronfenbrenner(1917-2005),makes a comparative analysis of the growing experiences and the development settings of the protagonists in the two novels,and finds that the fragmented family relationships,segregated peer relationships,alienated communities are generally harmful to the innocent life of the black girls,revealing the suffering of the black girls and the unspeakable shocking experiences as well.Pecola and Marguerite are immersed in the growing pains of self-loss affected by these unhealthy environments.Thanks to the beneficial ecological transitions in Marguerite’s ecological systems,Marguerite could re-recognize herself and grow up successfully relying on “a guide” and the ceremony of “a rite of initiation”,while in Pecola’s morbid ecological systems,there was no beneficial ecological transition,which resulted in the failure of her growth.