Meghan Patterson

4/29/04

Two Women's Experiences in Life            

Two of the books that we read this semester were Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and Donald Goines’ “Black Girl Lost.”  In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the main character of each book, Maya and Sandra.  In order to do so, I will have to describe how each author was raised and relate some of the book’s story in order to support my points.  The first major contrast between the books is that Maya Angelou’s book is a true story about her life and the discrimination that she faced while she was growing up.  Therefore, she is the main character of her book.  Donald Goines’ book is not a true story nor is it about him, but he reveals some of his experiences in developing the story.

  Maya Angelou was born April 4, 1928 in Saint Louis, Missouri.  When she was very young, her parents divorced and she was sent to live in Stamp, Arkansas with her grandmother, uncle, and her brother Bailey.  Maya learned as a young black girl what it was like growing up within boundaries that were established by white people.  Because her family was very poor, the clothes that she got as a child were hand-me-downs that her grandmother got from the white girls in town.  Because of the discrimination and bad treatment that she witnessed and experienced as a little girl she dreamed of having blond hair because at this time in her life she wanted to be white so she could feel like she fit in to society.  But, through all the bad experienced, living with her grandmother taught her to have pride for who she really was.  Also, her grandmother was a very religious person and religion was very important in her family.  Eventually, Maya and her bother did go back to St. Louis to live with their mother.  After returning to St. Louis, Maya was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and because of this traumatic event Maya did not speak for five years.  After many unsuccessful attempts to get Maya to speak, her mother became frustrated and sent her back to live with her grandmother.  While at her grandmothers house, she was helped by a woman, Mrs. Flowers, who helped Maya restore the pride and confidence that she had before she was raped.  At age sixteen, Maya ran away from home and got pregnant.  She had the baby and returned to her mothers to get help.  Her mother helped her with the baby and helped provide for both of them.  Maya’s difficult childhood probably made her who she is today and she enhances her book by bringing her life into the story.  Maya is still alive today and enjoys telling her stories to people.  She is able to make people “feel” her experiences and relate somewhat to the life she experienced as a little girl.

Donald Goines was born in Detroit and his parents owned a dry cleaning store.  When Donald was a boy, he attended a Catholic elementary school and every one in his family thought he would go into the family business.  Instead, Donald joined the military but, in order to do so, he had to lie about his age.  He served in the army and got hooked on drugs such as heroin.  Goines’ book in not a true story but he brings himself and his experiences from life on the streets into the story, “Black Girl Lost.”  Donald Goines was an American writer who also was a criminal.  He was a drug addict who wrote his first two books in prison.  Donald’s life on the streets was very tough and dangerous because he robbed people, stole from whoever and whatever he could and was involved in bootlegging, pimping, and running numbers.  He was frequently arrested and spent some time in jail.  The language that Donald used in his books, is the same language used by rappers, such as Tupac to Noreaga, in their music.  Donald’s life was very hard but he ended up doing something good by writing books and sharing his experiences with people who read his books.  Donald and his wife were killed in their apartment and police have no clues as to who killed them. Many people believe that it was someone who Donald knew.

            Maya’s story starts with her parents ending their marriage.  She was three and her brother Bailey was four and they were being sent on a train, by themselves, to live with their grandmother.  Her grandmother is referred to in the story as mama.  Mama owns her own store and Maya liked help her in the store.  Maya and her brother Bailey are very close to one another because they know they can count on each other.  Maya does have family, her grandmother, uncle and brother, around her so she is not really totally on her own.  Her family cares very much for one another and both she and her brother are provided for, to the extent that their family could afford.  Even though her experience at Mama’s home was good, Maya does witness and experience much discrimination against her family.  Mama teaches Maya to not let that bother her.  Mama tells her that she is a bigger person then the white girls who are being so mean and discriminating again her.

            After a few years, Maya’s and Bailey’s father came to get them and take them back to St. Louis to live with their mother.  As stated above, while living with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, raped Maya and told her not to tell anyone.  At this time, and only being eight years old, she was very confused, did not really know what was going on, and listened to what Mr. Freeman told her to do.  Amazingly, she apparently was not frightened of Mr. Freeman but obeyed him and did not tell anyone what happened to her.  Perhaps the main reason that Maya did not tell anyone about the rape was because Mr. Freeman told Maya if she told anyone, he would hurt Bailey.  He was able to rape her at almost any time because he lived with Maya’s mother.  Eventually, her family found out about the rapes and Mr. Freeman was sent to jail.  Unfortunately for him, he was not in jail for very long and when he got out, he was killed by some of Maya’s family members.  Or at least, this is what the audience is led to believe happened to Mr. Freeman.

            In contrast, Sandra is not a real person; she is only a character in the story.  Sandra could be a real person because there are many people in the real world who have a life just like Sandra’s.  When the audience first is introduced to Sandra, she was a very young girl who was completely on her own.  The audience sees Sandra waiting for her mother to come out of a party.  Sandra is very hungry and her mother had not fed her for a long time.  She did not want her mother to see her because her mother would get very angry at her for coming to find her.  In reality, her mother did not care that she was hungry, since she had more important things to think about, such as drinking and going to parties.  The readers are led to believe that something bad is going to happen to Sandra while she is waiting for her mother.  While waiting, a man approaches Sandra and asks what is she is doing?  Immediately, the readers are made to think that this man is up to no good.  The readers find out that he did think about hurting her but apparently changed his mind and instead he feeds her when he finds out how hungry she was and he starts to think about how he would feel if he had a daughter and how he would not want anyone to hurt her.  Sandra’s mother is an alcoholic and spends all her money on alcohol and not on food for her or Sandra.  Since her mother would not supply what she needed, Sandra learned how to steal to get what she needed, such as food and clothing, at a young age.  Sandra’s mother is never around and, when she is, she is verbally abusive to Sandra.  This is the only way her mother knows how to communicate with her daughter.  In addition, Sandra has to hide the things that she has stolen from her mother because her mother would take them from her and sell them for enough money to buy alcohol. 

When Sandra gets older she works at a local store and the owner of the store and his wife watch out for her.  These are the first people that the readers see that actually care about Sandra.  By working for the local store, Sandra makes money for food and clothing but is forced to hide the money from her mother because she would steal it from Sandra if given the chance.  Sandra worked hard for her money so that she would not go hungry again and she also would be able to buy new and more attractive clothes.  In return for their kindness, Sandra helps out the owners of the store by teaching the owner’s wife how to read.  Sandra did occasionally go to school.  She did not like going to school the other students would make fun of her, her clothing and how skinny she was. 

All Sandra wanted was to love someone and to have someone love her.  She wants to be cared for and she would like to care for someone.  Eventually, Sandra does find someone to love who loves her back.  Before she meets the man she loves and who loves her, she has led a life of crime by stealing as much as she could.  One day when Sandra is on her way to rob someone, a package is thrown from a passing car that is being followed by a police car.  Picking up the package she knows that it was drugs and immediately knows that she wants to sell the drugs.  She went to school and spoke to a young man named Chink about selling the drugs.  Sandra and Chink while selling the drugs, fall in love with each other and she moves out of her mother’s apartment and moves in with Chink.  Selling drugs is how they earn their money for rent, food, and clothing.  Both Sandra and Chink are arrested for selling drugs.  Sandra is released but Chink is convicted and sent to jail.  This is another set back that Sandra goes through by herself.

            While Chink is in jail, Sandra gets raped by two men, Fred and Tree, who she and Chink had sold drugs to.  They knew that Sandra was hiding drugs from them.  Sandra was sixteen when she was raped.  When she visits Chink, she tells him what has happen to her.  Chink breaks out of jail to kill the men who have hurt the women he loves.

            Based off what I have relayed about the two stories, there are several differences between the two main characters.  Maya, as a young child was, loved and cared for by several close family members.  She did not have to go out on the streets to get food, money or other things.  In contrast, Sandra was completely on her own.  She has no close family members that care for and provide for her.  Maya’s grandmother would go to town and get hand-me-down clothes for Maya.  She wanted Maya to dress as nicely as she could.  Sandra’s mother, on the other hand, did not care if Sandra was clothed well or even if she ate.

            By comparison, both girls were raped.  However, Maya was raped repeatedly by the same cruel man who was living with Maya and her mother.  Her rapes began when she was eight years old.  Sandra was raped by two strangers at age sixteen.  In both books, the rapists were killed either by a family member or by someone who loved the girls very much.  By comparison, Maya had Mrs. Flowers help her get over the rape and begin to speak again.  Sandra had Chink to take care of things after her rape.

            Also in contrast, Sandra learned almost everything that she knew on the streets.  She learned how to fend for herself and how to provide the things that she needed.  She even resorted to selling drugs in order to get money for food and clothing.  Maya, on the other hand, was not as “street wise”.  Her grandmother provided for her when she was very young and she worked in her grandmother’s store as she grew up.

            In both books there was much discrimination against the girls.  However, the discrimination and taunting of Maya was by white girls because she was black.  There were more white people in the area than there were blacks so it was common to see the discrimination.  Sandra, although black also, was teased and taunted by her black classmates at school because of the way she dressed and because she was very thin.

            Another contrast between the two girls lives is the support of their mothers.  Even though Maya’s mother was not always there for her when she was a small child, when she had her baby and returned home, Maya’s mother was very supportive and provided all that she could for Maya and the baby.  In contrast, Sandra’s mother was never there for her.  As a small child, her mother would not even feed Sandra and certainly would not provide clothing.  Her only concern was getting money for alcohol.  In addition, Maya’s grandmother taught her to have pride in herself and to not let the teasing and taunting of cruel people bother her.  Sandra, on the other had, did not have a teacher like this.  Her teacher was the streets and the people from the streets.

            In addition, at the end of the book, Sandra loses Chink, apparently the only person who ever really loved her.  Chink was shot several times and, in order to prevent him from suffering, Sandra stabs him.  After this, Sandra even thinks of taking her own life. Maya, on the other hand, still has her brother and other loving family members.  She never loses anyone close.

            In summary, there are many similarities and differences between the two main characters and their lives.  While both were raised in tough times where there was much discrimination, we can see that the love and support of other family members can have a major impact on the ultimate outcome.  We are shown that even though a person can start out with very little in the way of clothing and financially based items, it is possible to come out of all that with a positive attitude and become a positive influence on others.  On the other hand, we see that without the nurturing of family members and without someone to love who also loves you, life can be very rough and sometimes tragic.  While the settings for these stories are in times where the characters were black and discrimination was prevalent, the stories could have been about anyone who was poor and unloved.

Bibliography

Maya Angelou. I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings. Bantam Books. New York. New York 1969.

Donald Goines. Black Girl Lost. Holloway House Publishing Company. Los Angles, California. 1973

http://voices.cla.umn.edu/newsite/authors/ANGELOUmaya.htm