Experiences of the Marginalized Women in America: Re-reading Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970)

The aim of this article is to discover unnoted experiences of African-American women by taking Angelou’s novel in focus. Experiences of marginalized women in African American haven’t got sufficient attention. Their literature hasn’t accorded the level it deserves. Specifically, autobiographies of black women have been ignored more severely than those of Americans. Maya Angelou, who won Pulitzer Prize for her first volume of autobiography- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , is one of the significant authors who wrote in addressing American subalterns’life. This article applies text based analysis and Black feminist literary theory. As a theoretical framework, it enables one to interrogate the relationships between self and selves of black women in America. Hence, race, gender and class issues were the general brands of black women’s oppression. Racial prejudices against black women and the response to the injustices have been discussed based on the nature of resistance from helpless anger to outright protest. In addition, sexual abuse and segregation followed by ignorance and maternity have been analyzed as interlocked oppressions of black feminism. Although different kinds of oppression such as race, gender and class are discussed, the article argues that Angelou’s feminist portrayals are optimist. Thoughtful and kind as depictions show that the triple form of oppression of racism, sexism and classism can be resisted.


Introduction
In the world, every nation has its own literature though some of them remain unknown due to hegemonic influence of dominant nations. Literatures of colored people have been given less emphasis while they themselves have been reading and studying works of white world. Black-Americans' literature has been neglected from American literary history for a long period of time. Literary works of Black women Americans have gotten the worst treatment considered as incompetent to different white made literary canons.
African-American literature is an ingredient of American literature that is produced, as the name implies, by Black Americans. The genre traces its origin to the slave narratives (Trudier Harris in, Mario Azevedo [2005]). It is continuing today with crafted Black authors such as Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Maya Angelou and Walter Mosley; and they are ranked along with the top writers in the United States. Some of the themes and issues explored in African-American literature are the depiction of experiences of marginalized women. They also point to the role of African-American women within the larger American society, culture, racism, slavery, and inequality.
The position of African-Americans in American society has changed over the centuries from at least explicit marginalization into implicit one. As their place altered, the focus of their literature also changed. Before the American Civil War, African-American literature first and foremost paid attention on the topic of slavery, as indicated by the subgenre of slave narratives. According to Tyson (2006), at the turn of the 20th century, books by authors such as W.E.B. Dubois and Booker T. Washington discussed whether to

Major works of Maya Angelou
Although, Angelou began her literary career as a poet, she is well known for her five autobiographical works, which depict sequential periods of her life. I Know Why theCaged Bird Sings (1969) is about Marguerite Johnson and her brother Bailey growing up in Arkansas. It chronicles Angelou's life up to age sixteen, providing a child's view of the confusing world of adults. Although her grandmother instilled pride and confidence in her, her self-image was shattered when she was raped at the age of eight by her mother's boyfriend. Angelou was so devastated by the attack that she refused to speak for approximately five years. I Know Why the Caged Bird sings concludes with Angelou having regained self-esteem and caring for her newborn son, Guy. In addition to being a sharp account of an African-American girl's coming-of-age, this work affords insights into the social and political tensions of the 1930s. This volume is unique from others because it recounts the life experiences of a black girl's life, challenges and resistance in her early period of being a woman. The researcher chose it as it enables to study life and way of resistance to become a woman. Her stories trace the foundations of her identity as a twentieth-century American Black woman. Angelou has been praised for the rich and insightful prose of her narratives and what many observers feel is an indispensable record of Black experience. In her own words "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat," she wrote in the book "It is an unnecessary insult" (Angelou, 1969: 4). Her next autobiographical work, Gather Together in My Name, (1974) covers the period immediately after the birth of her son Guy and depicts her heroic struggle to care for him as a single parent. Her third volume, Singin ' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976) describes Angelou's stage introduction and concludes with her return from the international tour of Porgy and Bess. The forth one, The Heart of A Woman (1981), portrays the mature Angelou becoming more comfortable with her creativity and her success. The fifth and the last volume, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), recalls her four-year stay in Ghana, and its dominant theme is motherhood (Bader, 2004 whites on the stage. There should be equal participation of Black women. Angelou also described the awareness and responsibility she feels in providing images for Black women.

Black Feminism
There is no only post-colonial theory and no one critic can perhaps stand for, or articulate for, the post-colonial critical field. Out of the multitude of theories found under postcolonial theory, feminist theory is prominent. Even feminism is a broad area where various types of it are found. Among these, Black feminism is the perfect theory from which African-American women's fictional autobiography can be approached. Though the matter is severe with Black women writers, all post-colonial women writers explore their own cultural specificities in their literary works" (Katrak, 1996).  Leglistizin and Ross (1976), "Women in every country western or not western, industrialized or rural, modern and premodern are underutilized … denied access to positions of prestige and power…" (7). Therefore, to keep away from the problem, various theories have been developed under feminism though still arguments are available on them. The dominant argument against the popular feminist literary theory is the inadequacy of the theory to be representative of all women writers in the world. It is exclusively made for white middle class women.
As Ketu H. Katrak in Bruce King (1996)  women. Nevertheless divisions among feminists depend on nationality, race, language and religion occurred. Hence, it disproved the project of western feminists. Prominent scholars who exposed the limitedness of western feminism include famous Black feminists such as: Dubois, 1978;Davis, 1982;Rich, 1986 andAnzaldua andMorga, 1981.
Black feminists and critics of post-colonialism have made mere investigations of the racism and ethnocentricism at the heart of white feminisms. bell hooks argues that: All too frequently in the women's movement it was assumed one could be be free of sexist thinking by simply adopting the appropriate feminist rhetoric; it was further assumed that identifying oneself as oppressed freed one from being an oppressor. To a grave extent such thinking prevented white feminists from understanding and overcoming their own sexist-racist attitudes towards Black women. They could pay leap service to the idea of sisterhood and solidarity between women but at the same time they dismiss Black women (bell hooks, 1984: 8-9).
White feminism has no any perfect support from any of other feminisms. For instance, they don't understand as there is power relation between them and Black feminists, and the central point of western feminism is highly problematic for Black feminism. The primary source of oppression for white feminists is men, but Black feminists raise a number of sources for their oppression such as race, gender and class. In other words, assumptions at the heart of white feminism don't reflect the experience of Black women. This is well stated Black Feminist scholars accused white feminists as they failed to address the issues of race, class and gender as determinants for women's oppression. And they question white feminists' act of universalizing their feminist ideas to all women of the world. This idea is strengthened by Lorde states as follows: Mainstream feminist thought reflected the hardship of white women and specifically middle to high income bracketed ones. This narrowly defined movement was dominated by white feminist thinkers whose main assertion was that there was equality in women's oppression. But the crucial point here is the extent of the oppression experienced by different women i.e. it did not include the issue of class, race, religion and sexual orientation. Although a Black and a white woman are both victimized by the institutionalized form of sexism, a Black woman has to live with the added complexity of class and race issue (Lorde, 1989:1 not only been prepared on a fine platform, it first and foremost called interest to issues pertinent chiefly to white women with class privilege. She adds by saying "We need a theory mapping thought and strategy for a mass based movement, theory that would examine our culture from a feminist standpoint rooted in understanding of gender, race and class" (xii).

Racial Prejudice and Negro Resistance
Arkansas is a racist area divided between Black and white, male and female.
Angelou uses metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage, described in Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, as a central image throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. As she reveals via her works, the caged bird sings of freedom bound by the cage of race, gender and class. The novel represents Angelou's imprisonment resulting from racism and oppression.
Angelou demonstrates, through her involvement with the Black community of Stamps, as well as her presentation of vivid and realistic racist characters and the offensiveness of Southern white attitudes toward African-Americans, her developing understanding of the system for surviving in a racist society. Her fictional autobiography contains a sequence of lessons about resisting oppression. The sequence she describes leads Angelou, as the protagonist, from helpless rage and resentment to forms of subtle resistance.
Angelou displays that Momma's approach to handle racism serves as a base for actively protesting and combating racism. Momma is portrayed as a practical person whose patience, courage, and silence ensured the survival and success of those who came after her.

31-32)
However, Maya realizes that her grandmother has achieved something and won it.
Maya learns a lesson that there is a more effective strategy for reacting to racism and segregation than rage and indignation, a strategy of fine resistance. Here, the response to the racist children is subtle resistance that doesn't harm life, liberty or property. The white man disheartens and annoys the Black crowd including students and their parents together with school administrators by saying that Black students will hired in labor oriented jobs, and they luck mental brilliance so that they couldn't be like the known scientists.
Maya's first response of humiliation and anger happens; "Then I wished that Gabriel Prosserand Nat Turnerhad killed all whitefolks in their beds" (Ibid., p. 176). The anger doesn't remain limited to the young Maya rather it gets shared now by her community in the hall; "…the proud graduating class of 1940 had dropped their heads" (Ibid., p.175). Then there is the action on the part of a member of the Black community -Henry Reed's improvised leading the audience in "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" (Ibid., p. 178). The song is called 'Black National Anthem' and every Black in the hall sings it. In the same vain to the response against powhitetrash girls, the song avoids an out-and-out conflict with the white oppressor and permits the Black community to feel its dignity and superiority; "We were on top again. As always, again. We survived" (Ibid., p. 179). Here the response is not only noticed from the central character but also from the Black community. The resistance is still Momma threatens the white dentist in front of him which is unusual to her. Actually, this happens in the mind of Maya who fantasizes her grand-mother bothers her enemy. The actual event happened to the dentist is that momma collects an interest of the money she gave him before. The italicized passage reveals what Maya wishes her grandmother could do to the racist dentist.
Maya noticed no open confrontation from her Momma against the racist whites, and she knows that is out of momma's philosophy. The act created by Maya herself highlights that subtle resistance is not enough as an overall strategy for responding to racist oppression.
On the other hand, the fantasy passage anticipates the kind of outright confrontations between oppressed Black and racist oppressor. Although it is only a fantasy, it is the first instance in the novel of a Black person openly confronting a racist white, and thus is the first hint that such confrontation is a possibility. Maya becomes really ashamed of Glory who does not mind to be renamed by the white lady. This incident is provided to make a contrast of feeling created to Maya and Glory. Maya becomes angry with the act of the boss, whereas Glory enjoys the new name since it is, as she says, 'short'. Though the Black girl is victim of the attack, she does not realize it is an insult. The relationship between Glory and Mrs. Cullinan is well, glory seems to have accepted the fact that Black people are under the control of white section. Even though Mrs. Cullinan renames her Glory, Glory accepts it. However, Angelou did not appreciate being treated like she was an object that could be given a new name whenever its owner pleased, but she also pitied her mistress, and she conveyed her feelings by using an angry tone of writing. She acts against the white women directly in front of her by distracting the precious properties.
In the same chapter of the novel, there are other incidents of racism. When Maya and Glory serve Mrs. Cullinan, it is strictly forbidden to share any materials even drinking ones Glory's on a separate shelf from the others" (Ibid., p. 103). This is an act of racism that shows the misrepresentation of Blacks as sub-humans who shouldn't be served equally with whites the so called humans.
One of the noticeable experiences that happened to Maya in the novel is standing up for what you believe in and not allowing anyone to take advantage of you. Angelou demonstrates the racist habit of renaming African-Americans, as shown when her white employer insists on calling her Mary. Angelou describes the employer's renaming as the "hellish horror of being 'called out of his name'" (Ibid., p. 106). Maya understands that she is being insulted and rebels by breaking Mrs. Cullinan's favorite dish.

Outright Protest
In San Francisco, it was a dream to see a Black woman being streetcar conductor before Maya Angelou's success to be the first Negro girl street car conductor. In fact, it is not the interest to challenge the institution rather a need to survive that leads Maya to apply for the job. But, eventually, it brings another interest beyond securing her income not to pause her education. At the beginning, Maya knows from her mother that it is impossible to be hired as a conductor being a Black girl. "To her question of what I planned to do, I replied that I would get a job on the streetcars. She rejected the proposal with: 'They don't accept colored people on the streetcars'" (Ibid., p. 257).
However, she continues to struggle for the job. When the white secretary of the San Francisco street-car company repeatedly frustrates her attempts for a job interview, Maya is at first persuaded not to take it personally: The incident was a recurring dream, concocted years before by stupid whites and it eternally came back to haunt us all. The secretary and I were like Hamlet and Laertes in the final scene, where, because of harm done by one ancestor to another, we were bound to duel to the death. Also because the play must end somewhere, I went further than forgiving the clerk, I accepted her as a fellow victim of the same puppeteer (Ibid., p. 260).
But then Maya decides that the rejections, which have everything to do with her race, also have everything to do with her personally, and this is because her personal identity and her racial identity cannot be entirely separated: "The whole charade we had played out in that crummy waiting room had directly to do with me, Black, and her, white" (Ibid., p. 260).
After a long and tiring bargain with the white receptionist, she becomes the first ever Black girl streetcar conductor in San Francisco. "[O]n a blissful day I was hired as the first Negro on the San Francisco streetcars" (Ibid., p. 262). San Francisco is a place where there was serious racism. "A story went the rounds about a San Franciscan white matron who refused to sit beside a Negro civilian on the streetcar, even after he made room for her on the seat.
Her explanation was that she would not sit beside a draft dodger who was a Negro as well" (Ibid.,. Attaining the street-car conductor's job becomes not only a victory for civil rights, as a result, but also a personal victory for Maya's sense of self. The active resistance and outright protest, that is Maya's persisting and breaking the 'color line'of the San Francisco street-car company.

Sexual Abuse
The young Maya is raped at the age of eight by her mother's boyfriend-Mr. Freeman.
Maya is abused many times by whites since she is Black, but now she gets hurt by a Black man since she is a woman. As she herself mentioned at the very beginning of the novel, it is quite doomed to be woman in racist and sexist society of America. Black women in America face double jeopardy from the white and the male group but I add classism as the third form of oppression that black women receive. Maya chooses not to speak after her rape because she is afraid of the destructive power of words.
Maya's rape demonstrates how as a Black woman, she is violated as she moves from childhood to adolescence. The act of rape happens to another girl at the time when Joe Louis had boxing race with his white counterpart. During the process of the race when Louis fails, many events take place around the Black community. Among these, rape to the ladies is the serious one. One more woman ambushed and raped (Ibid., p. 131). In general, it can be taken as a depiction of burden and a demonstration of the manner in which the Black female is violated. The writer stated her own experience to demonstrate the complexities of rape.
She also wants to prevent it from happening to someone else, so that anyone who had been raped might gain understanding and not blame herself for it.

Segregation
It is well known that African-Americans living in the southern United States were treated with abhorrence by the majority of white people. The nation was divided by segregation-a formal policy in which Black people weren't allowed to attend good schools, get high-paying jobs, live in valuable houses or receive proper medical treatment for their diseases. They weren't even allowed to sit among white people on public buses, or drink from the same water sources, as they were considered to be unworthy of equality. They weren't slaves anymore since the Civil War brought an end to that inhumanity and social Segregation is noticed with unfair schooling service provided for particularly Black women and for Blacks in general when compared with the rest of white students in America.
As it is mentioned by Angelou, There are separate schools or colleges for Blacks and whites.
At the time when Maya attends training, she notices that Black girls had a less privileged education than white girls. "Admittedly the training was not the same. While white girls learned waltz and sit gracefully with a tea cup balanced on their knees, we were lagging behind, learning the mid-Victorian values with very little money to indulge them" (Ibid., p.

101).
When Maya attends her schooling in LafayetteCountyTraining School, the school of Blacks, up to grade 8, she observes the school quite inferior to the 'White school'. The school where she graduated grade eight lacks many necessary things including teaching aid materials and qualified teachers.
Unlike the white high school, LafayetteCountyTraining School distinguished itself by having neither lawn, nor hedges, nor tennis court, nor climbing ivy. Its two buildings (main classrooms, the grade school and home economics) were set on a dirt hill with no fence to limit either its boundaries or those of bordering farms. Hence, segregation, as revealed in the novel, is one of the dominant experiences of Black women in America. It has been the common thing to be surprised to see a Black woman in white's school, cafeteria, hotel and sometimes road.

Conclusion
The fictional autobiography by Maya Angelou is a specimen of resistance literature.
The article focuses on the exploration of feminine experiences throughout the plot of the novel that enabled the researcher to discover the experiences of resistance and courage in the face of adversity. As Black feminists firmly argue, Black girl in America experiences triple oppression of race, sex and class. As Angelou depicts skillfully in her novel, racial prejudice happens to Maya at her Grade 8 graduation by the white guest, sexual abuse happens to Maya by her mother's Black boyfriend and economic problems happen to Maya all the way through her young life in the segregated Arkansas.
As shown in the analysis part of the paper, the novel directly or indirectly deals with the power of women to survive and shape their own future despite hardships. The lesson gained out of the current study is that failure is inevitable but it is quite necessary to lift one up again. Angelou, in a crafted manner, tries to make visible the relationships between Black and white people via the experiences of the Black girl in Southern America.
As is known, power is still in the hands of white people and Black people are still largely dependent on them. In the USA the struggle for equality, particularly in the southern states, has been long and difficult, from the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s to the political debates still going on today.