Monday, 12 February: begin I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Web highlight (midterms): Melissa Tippit

Introduction : I went onto the course website and found two essays from the 2004 class midterms. The assignment was to compare and contrast two or more texts in African American literature to develop a theme of your choice. The following essay excerpts both discuss the double minority found in our reading.

2004, Essay 1

            In coming up with an idea for this essay I found that the topic of the “double minority” that faces African-American women an interesting one.  Many would believe that being a minority has no stipulations or “add-ons” but after reading stories such as Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Harriet Jacobs’ “Incidents in the Live of a Slave Girl”, and Donald Goines’ Black Girl Lost, the realization occurred to me that African American women are and have always experienced the status of a “double minority”.  Not only do they have to overcome the racial barriers and stigmas that come along with being African-American, but they also have to deal with the suppressors and demeaning ideas brought on by being women.  

            With these factors bearing down, African-American women have had to face more ridicule, physical abuse, and emotional distress at the hands of white and black men alike.   Beginning with Harriet Jacobs, we see the atrocities endured by this young slave girl. The question that needs to be asked, when dealing with the concept of a double minority, is whether young African-American men were dealing with some of the things Jacobs was in her life.  Beginning in her youth, Jacobs was subjected to years and years of physical and sexual abuse by her master. 

Maya Angelou also experiences many of the physical atrocities Jacobs had to experience, however Angelou was a free black child as opposed to Jacobs in slavery.  Maya’s problems seem to be augmented by the fact that she is African-American in a society where being black is similar to being dumb, stupid and even property.

            Sandra, along with both other girls endures sexual abuse but unlike the other two must supercede all of the troubles in her life without a support system.  This story offers a very side view of the life of an inner city girl with no direction or support. 

            In looking closely at Angelou’s and Jacobs’s stories, I found that both women had a strong African American mother figure to model themselves after.  Both women were able to draw upon that strength in later life and overcome many of the adversities. 

            In contrasts to these, the story that ends in the protagonist’s death is one where the young girl does not have the strong tie to a motherly figure.  Her mother, an alcoholic, seems to be annoyed by her daughter.  Even she exploits the poor girl for money.  Her example of tawdry life living does not give Sandra something to shoot for, but something to run away from.  This can be seen when someone calls Sandra “Sandy” and she explains that that is her mother’s name not hers.  She eventually physically runs away from her mother and her mother’s lifestyle but even in trying to make one for herself, fails miserably. [PN]

Essay 2

Throughout the first half of the course on Minority Literature, several themes and objectives have been covered. One theme, in particular, stands out from the others, the idea of an African-American woman being a double jeopardy type of minority. From the readings of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and Black Girl Lost, it becomes apparent that although minority males have disadvantages, minority females have it twice as difficult because there is also the element of sex involved.

            In Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, the double-jeopardy minority appears throughout the narrative. Linda is told that she is the property of Dr. Flint and must “[. . .] be subject to his will in all things” (page, 361). She knows that she cannot go to her mistress because her mistress is jealous of her and will be of no help to her.

            In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, there are several occasions in which Maya has no voice or choice. One incident is when the “powhite trash” girls come to the store and make rude comments and gestures to Momma. Maya stood in the store knowing she could not say any thing to the girls because she was black.

As with the previous two narratives, Black Girl Lost also shows the double minority of Sandra in a more modern urban setting. As with Linda and Maya, Sandra is raped. While Black Girl is a modern novel Sandra still finds herself with no voice, being gagged with a handkerchief and no choice because she is overpowered by Tree. [RK]

Conclusion: These essays discuss the deep similarities among the reading about females, the sexual context and the reoccurring theme of “no voice or choice.” The essays point out that even though Maya Angelou is “free,” she has not been spared from similar circumstances as the slave women. The only thing I want to point out is, both essays mostly compare the stories and only dedicate a short paragraph to contrasting.