International Journal of English and
Literature (IJEL)
ISSN 2249-6912
Vol. 3, Issue 2, Jun 2013, 75-82
© TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.
STYLE AND TECHNIQUE IN THE SELECT NOVELS OF MAYA ANGELOU
ISSN 2249–6939
1
K. SASIDHER1 & M. VIJAYA LAKSHMI2
Assistant Professor, Raghu Engineering College, JNT University (k), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
Vol.2, Issue 2 (2012) 1-16
2
Associate Professor, Gudlavalleru Engineering College, JNT University (k), Andhra Pradesh, India
© TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.,
ABSTRACT
Angelou, African American autobiographer is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which
focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. She occupied a unique place in the hearts of readers across the world
as a poet, artist, actress, dancer, writer civil rights activist, film producer, playwright and director. Braxton ranked Maya
Angelou as “America’s most visible black women autobiographer”. The writings of Maya Angelou reflect the struggles of
racial discrimination, gender inequality, and survival for existence in the contemporary society. Because of the untiring
efforts of Angelou, the African American woman has gained wider respectability and greater reception. She richly
recorded the African American feminine experience from the early days of the Civil Rights Movement to the present day.
It is no doubt that Maya Angelou’s realistic depiction of her life was only possible through her wonderful narrating
techniques and peculiar style of writing. The unifying themes of her serial biographies like black womanhood, motherhood,
racial brutality, self-acceptance, survival, hope and revival penetrates the heart of the reader and reveals the very
contemporary African American situations. Maya used a range of techniques and styles to make her autobiographies
thoroughly interesting.
KEYWORDS: Angelou, “America’s most visible black women autobiographer”
INTRODUCTION
Human civilization attached a divine and sublime status to women. However, in reality, the position of women is
pitiable in modern societies, especially for the black women in American society. The fair sex has been subjected to
different types of exploitation in her day to day life in the male dominated society: physical, financial, emotional and
psychological. Only a few women put an end to their lives, but most of them surmounted their traumatic situations in and
out of their domestic arenas and survived from a number of personal misfortunes. They proved that they were no inferior,
but had the capacity to succeed in different spheres of life. A few women came forward to articulate their poignant position
in society, what they really are and their varied experiences in their day to day life through literary expression. Maya
Angelou's is a fine example of this.
Maya Angelou , African American autobiographer and a versatile writer born on April 4, 1928 in St.Loius
Missouri to Vivian Baxter and Johnson Bailey. Angelou is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes,
which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. Angelou was a member of the Harlem Writers Guild in the late
1950s, was active in the Civil Rights Movement, and served as Northern Coordinator of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She occupied a unique place in the hearts of readers across the world as a poet,
artist, actress, dancer, writer civil rights activist, film producer, playwright and director. Braxton ranked Maya Angelou as
“America’s most visible black women autobiographer”.1 The writings of Maya Angelou reflect the struggles of racial
discrimination, gender inequality, and survival for existence in the contemporary society.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), the first novel of Maya Angelou brought her international recognition.
It was nominated for various awards including Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award. In this novel Maya narrates her
childhood experience from 1 to 17. Gather Together in My Name (1974) is an account of her life as a mother with her new
born baby. The third novel Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry like Christmas (1976) describes her dancing career.
The novel also relates her tour with porgy and Bess. The next novel The Heart of the Woman (1981) portrays the
Angelou’s life in 1950s and 1960s. The novel delineates Maya’s relationship with her son and her travel to California, New
York and Ghana. In the novel All God’s Children Needs Travelling Shoes (1986) we can see Maya’s interaction with the
key figures of The Civil Rights Movement. Through this novel Maya opens her emotional life and celebrates it with the
world. A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002) is the final novel of Maya Angelou. The novel reveals the experiences of Maya
after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
The major themes like racial discrimination, oppression, celebration of black beauty, self-acceptance in her poetry
and plays were her autobiographic novels. By means of her autobiographic novels we understand the fact that Maya
Angelou was the first African American writer to discuss life as it is in her autobiographies. The majority of African
American writers did not dare to evoke their nugatory lives in their writings. But Maya Angelo succeeded in exhibiting her
life in her autobiographies with pride and pleasure. Out of her six autobiographies the first two novels were critically
acclaimed. Though her six novels account for the different stages of her life, the first two autobiographies reveal unifying
themes like quest for identity, gradual realization, identification of black grandeur, acceptance of black womanhood and
motherhood. The greatness of Angelou is that all her themes were caricatured with her peculiar style of writing and it
haunts the readers’ memory.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The novel exhibits the contemporary situation in the South during the 1930s and 1940s. The novel can be
considered as a Bildungsroman which means “novel of education” or a “coming of age story” as the novel begins when
Maya was a child at 3 and ends with Maya giving birth to a child at the age of 17. Walker says “ the progression from rage
and indignation to subtle resistance to active protest gives caged bird a thematic unity that stands in contrast to the
otherwise episodic quality of the narrative”.2 On the other hand Maxine Sample says regarding this novel: “this narrative is
also a story of the politics of race and gender as well as story of the strength of a family that empowers and of communities
of women that offer hopes”.3
The saga begins when Maya at 3 years and her brother Bailey at 5 years are travelling alone to Stamps, Arkansas
when their parents put an end to their calamitous marriage. In the beginning of the novel she enjoyed the altering seasons
and reading poetry in Arkansas. In childhood itself she witnessed racial discrimination when the Ku Klux Khan warned her
uncle Willie as one of the black men messed up with a white lady. When she was 5 years she experienced white’s
domination through Powhitetrash girls who taunted her grandmother. But from this incident she has learnt psychological
victory from her grandmother who sang a song silently without any reaction. When she was 8 years she was raped by Mr.
Freeman who was her mother’s boyfriend. After this instance Maya became mute for several years and she returned to
Arkansas to her grandmother from her mother. She once again spoke and was rejuvenated by Mrs. Berthaflowers who was
a black aristocrat in Stamps. The further chapters explains Maya’s trip to Mexico along with her father. Her one month
living in junkyard alone, her doubts on sex, her teenage pregnancy, giving birth to a baby boy are vividly portrayed in the
final chapters. Throughout her book she accepted her true self. The notable trait of Maya Angelo is her restless effort.
Though there were worse conditions in her life she was neither frustrated nor depressed. On the other hand she proved her
mettle at every stage. In this novel we can observe Mayas pain, loneliness, despair and pleasures of life.
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Style and Technique in the Select Novels of Maya Angelou
Gather Together in My Name
Gather Together in My Name is the successive novel of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this novel we will
see Angelou trying and withdrawing various jobs. The novel reveals her life from 17 to 19 years. In these two years of
journey we can observe that Maya as a woman went into unsuccessful relationships and came out dissatisfied. This novel
depicts the joys and burdens of a black mother in America.
In this novel Angelou exhibits her struggles to lead a promising life. Throughout the two years of journey of life
she longed for a safe and secured life but her dream never came true. Though she was betrayed by many men she never
blames them. On the other hand she was able to comprehend the situations better. The novel begins when Maya working as
a cook in Creole Café. Her first love with Curly, her travel to San Francisco, working as a madam for two lesbian
prostitutes is explained in the initial chapters. Her dancing career with RL.Poole is exhibited in the later chapters. In the
final chapters we can see Maya working as a prostitute and sacrificing her life for L.D.Toolbrook.
In both the novels one can witness Angelou’s trials and triumphs in her life. By means of autobiography Angelou
shared her quest for human individuality. Because of the untiring efforts of Angelou, the African American woman has
gained wider respectability and greater reception. Her valor and vivacity made her to stand as a role model for the African
American women. She richly recorded the African American feminine experience from the early days of the Civil Rights
Movement to the present day.
It is no doubt that Maya Angelou’s realistic depiction of her life was only possible through her wonderful
narrating techniques and peculiar style of writing. The unifying themes of her serial biographies like black womanhood,
motherhood, racial brutality, self acceptance, survival, hope and revival penetrates the heart of the reader and reveals the
very contemporary African American situations. Maya used a range of techniques and styles to make her autobiographies
thoroughly interesting.
It is true that Angelou encountered many defeats in her life but she remained undefeated. The situational irony is
evident at every stage in the life of Maya Angelou. Though these circumstances were traumatic, Angelou faced them with
temerity. These situations were narrated in a highly lyrical language by her. Though she was shattered Angelou
comprehended the situations and continued her life with alacrity.
In her first novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya had a terrible experience. When Maya decided to go
to her father’s house upon invitation, she thought she would be welcomed grandly and treated with great hospitality. But
when Maya reached there the situation was topsy-turvy. Her father was with a girlfriend Dolores who is of her (Maya) age.
Maya could not mingle with her. Further she was badly injured. Finally she reached her mother undergoing many
adventures. In her second novel, Gather Together in My Name one can witness her trauma and painful experience when
she tried to enroll herself in US Army. She passed all the oral, written examinations conducted by them. Maya even
managed gynecology tests conducted by them. The US Army could not identify that Maya had a child as stretch marks are
not visible on her. She dreamt as if she stood before the flag with a Bible in one hand and the other clasped to her breast.
She even gave all her clothes and traditional garments to charity. But at last she was rejected by them as she attended
California labor school when she was young. They said California labor school is on house un- American activities list. At
this instant Maya says,
“My clothes were gone, I had no job and I had been rejected by the Army.
The damn
institution, which accepts everybody, had turned me down. My life had no center, no purpose”.4
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In the last chapters of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, One will sympathize the situation in Angelou’s life.
When Maya was working as a cook in a restaurant in Stockton she met L.D.Tollbrook as a customer. He praised Maya for
her serving style and manners. Later he took Maya for long drives and promised to marry her. Though Tollbrook was her
father’s age Maya accepted him as her husband. At this juncture Tollbrook said regarding his gambling habit and further
added he vowed money to big boys which were to be cleared in a short time. He further said after clearing all his debts he
is going to marry her. As Maya could not understand the betraying nature of Tollbrook she turned herself into a prostitute
to earn more money to help him. But with the help of Bailey she could understand she was cheated. During this journey
she even lost her son. When she met Tolbrook at last he slammed the door on her face. At this humiliating situation Maya
says, “I wanted to desperately to cry. I had been stupid again. And stupidity had led me into a trap where I had lost my
baby”.5
Fantasy is one of the wonderful techniques of Maya Angelou’s writing. There are numerous incidents, both in I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Gather Together in My Name, where she used the fantasy technique. The first
instance occurs when Momma was imitated by “Powhitetrash” girls. Momma quietly sings hymns; but Maya is furious,
and would like to bring the rifle which was behind the door. The other example ensued when Maya and her grandmother
were dishonored by a white dentist who said, “Annie, my policy is I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in
niggers.”.6 Momma did not respond to the situation, but Maya, imagined with her dreamful eyes—
Her (Momma’s) eyes were blazing like live coals and her arms had doubled themselves in length. He
looked up at her just before she caught him by the collar of his white jacket. “Stand up when you see a
lady, you contemptuous scoundrel.” Her tongue had thinned and the word rolled off well enunciated.
Enunciated and sharp like little claps of thunder…“You knave, do you think you acted like a gentleman,
speaking to me like that in front of my grand daughter?”…“You will never practice dentistry. Never!
When you get settled in your next place, you will be a vegetarian caring for dogs with the mange, cats
with the cholera and cows with the epizootic. Is that clear?” 7
In Gather Together in My Name, though she was deceived by men she never lost her hope. She says—
My charming prince was going to appear out of the blue and offer me a cornucopia of goodies. I would
only have to smile to have them brought to my feet.8
In the early and mid African-American writings women were portrayed as treacherous. The main images of Black
women were Black Mammy or Mulatto. But, Maya replaced the degraded stereotypical roles. Maya Angelou’s black
women characters are strong willed and authentic. They are economically independent and deeply religious. For example
Maya’s grandmother Momma owned a general merchandise store and she manages the family. Vivian Baxter, Maya’s
mother runs her own business and Maya admires her as beautiful. Maya admired her for her encouragement and her casual
approach to sexuality. Both the grandmothers of Maya are strong and independent who are able to manage their
households. Mrs. Bertha Flowers, the aristocrat of Black Stamps helps Maya to recover from muteness when she was in
traumatic situation. Maya herself drives the car in steep mountainous region when her father is in intoxicated state. Maya
even works as a street car conductor.
Though humour is sparingly used by Angelou but it provokes laughter and provides amusement. The subtle
humour is evident in both the novels.
Maya enjoyed life in the midst of pathetic situations, especially in her brother’s presence. When she was a little
girl, she noticed the religious impact on the people. Some behaved crazy in the name of religious rituals. There was a
Style and Technique in the Select Novels of Maya Angelou
79
common scenario in the churches where people behaved as though their souls were affected by the Holy Spirit and lost
their emotional equilibrium and show their madness. One such occasion evoked Maya, and her brother and other children
to laugh. Sister Monroe interrupted Reverend Taylor by saying, “Preach it. I say, preach it.” When he continued the lecture
again she shouted, “I said, preach it”, and “Then she caught the minister by the sleeve of his jacket and his coat-tail, then
she rocked him from side to side.” people held her tightly and rescued him from Monroe. Later she explained her deeds
that Jesus provided her a resting place in Him. Another instance of joy, she shared with her beloved brother Bailey was
when he described her future dancing career, “You’ll be the tallest dancer on Broadway. Ha ha.” “You’ll make a million
with each leg and a zillion with your nose.”9
The titles of both the novels are apt and suggestive. They indicate the basic theme of the novel.The title of I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings is an allusion to Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem Sympathy. He shows that the bird is unable to
enjoy the beautiful weather due to being caged. The difficulties he has encountered in life are shown in these lines: “I know
why the caged bird beats his wing/ Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; /…And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars/
And they pulse again with a keener sting”.10 Dunbar’s cage is racism, oppression and hatred which prevents his soul form
enjoying equal job opportunities and equal human status as the whites do. Angelou experienced personal rejection, poverty
and institutional racism. Amidst these forces she directed her life on an optimistic note. She tried to get rid of her childhood
prejudices and accepted her life as it was. She confronted risks with great courage. According to Joanne Braxton, Maya
Angelou’s first work is “like the song of the caged bird, the autobiography (also) represents prayer sent from…the depth of
emotion and feeling…to fly free from definitions and limitations imposed by a hostile world.” 11. The title of Gather
Together in My Name is taken from a New Testament injunction for the travailing soul to pray and commune while
waiting patiently for deliverance.
Maya Angelou’s writing style is distinguished due to her unique use of language. It is a fact that Blacks were
oppressed and ill-treated in many arenas. But the Blacks accepted the circumstances with muteness. Maya Angelou used
her autobiography as an opportunity to exhibit her violent anguish with her idiosyncratic language.
Donleavy came as a guest on the graduation day and gave an emotional speech. In that he says Whites have to
settle as Galileo and Edison and blacks have to excel in sports. He said the blacks should not strive well. From the words of
Donleavy, Maya could understand that her race was defamed. She felt the emotional brutality. Maya felt as bricks were
falling around the auditorium. She cannot oppose and resist. At that torturous humiliating juncture Maya was speechless.
But in her autobiography she satisfied her anguish with her unique style of writing. This helpless humiliating event was
narrated by Angelou as
“It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young and
already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of
defense. We should all be dead. I thought I should like to see us all dead, one on top of the
other. A pyramid of flesh with the white folks on the bottom, as the broad base, then the Indians
with their silly tomahawks and teepees and wigwams and treaties, the Negroes with their mops
and recipes and cotton sacks and spirituals sticking out of their mouths. The Dutch children
should all stumble in their wooden shoes and break their necks. The French should choke to
death on the Louisiana Purchase while silkworms ate all with their stupid pigtails. As a species,
we were an abomination. All of us.”12
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K. Sasidher & M. Vijaya Lakshmi
Blacks cannot imagine when whites invade them. This was even Angelou’s personal experience. She wrote in her
autobiography when she was at 4 years KukluxKhan warned her grandmother as one of black messed with a white lady.
That night she had seen Uncle Willie hide himself in a potato bin to escape from death. From the words of Bailey she
comes to known how a black was killed and thrown in a pond. These incidents coupled Maya to intimidate her even to
walk in the white’s territory. This was expressed by her in a sentence, “We were explorers walking without weapons into
man- eating animal’s territory.”13
When Maya had altercations with a white lady in Arkansas her grandmother forcibly sends her to her mother
house. While returning in a train when whites watching her, Maya say with rage as
“If the tables could have turned at that instant, I would gladly have consigned every white
person lying and the millions dead to a hell where the devil was blacker than their fears of
blackness and more cruel than forced starvation. But, powerless”.15
As a prolific writer Maya Angelou has revealed a keen insight into the working of the black mind and
has thus created a deep impression in the minds of the readers regarding the mules of the world. Along with other
acclaimed African American novelists she has contributed her own mite to black consciousness and has created
niche in the minds of the reading public. In spite of her slender literary output Maya Angelou’s works has add to
the canon of the African American writing and once again proved the strength and determination of the colored
women in voicing their opinions in a forth right manner.
Notes
1.
Braxton, Joanne M. ed. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook. New York: Oxford
University Press, (1999):4
2.
Walker, Pierre. “Racial Protest, Identity, Words, and Form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings” College Literature 22.3 (October 1995): 91-108.
3.
Maxine, Sample. Gender, Identity, and the Liminal Self . North- South Linkages and connection in continental
and Diaspora African Literatures. (2005), 213-225.
4.
Angelou, Maya. Gather Together in My Name. (New York: Random House, 1974) 111.
5.
Angelou, Maya. Gather Together in My Name. (New York: Random House, 1974) 188.
6.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (New York: Random House, 1969) 184.
7.
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (New York: Random House, 1969) 185.
8.
Angelou, Maya. Gather Together in My Name. (New York: Random House, 1974) 114.
9.
Angelou, Maya. Gather Together in My Name. (New York: Random House, 1974) 129.
10. Chapman, Abraham. Ed. Black Voices: An Anthology of African-American Literature (New York: Signet
Classic, 2001) 356.
11. Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ed. African American Autobiographers: A sourcebook (US: Greenwood Press, 2002) 18.
12. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (New York: Random House, 1969) 176.
13. Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (New York: Random House, 1969) 24.
Style and Technique in the Select Novels of Maya Angelou
81
14. Angelou, Maya. Gather Together in My Name. (New York: Random House, 1974) 94.
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2.
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Abrams, M.H. Ed. 17 A Glossary of Literary Terms, New Delhi: Harcourt College Publishers Papers Ltd., 2001.
4.
Baisnée, Valérie. Gendered Resistance: The Autobiographies of Simone de Beauvoir, Maya Angelou, Jenet Frame
and Marguerite Duras. Amsterdam-Atlanta GA, 1997.
5.
Braxton, Joanne M. ed. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook. New York: Oxford
University Press, 1999.
6.
Chapman, Abraham. ed. Black Voices: An Anthology of African American Literature. US: Signet Classic, 2001.
7.
Elliot, Jeffrey M. ed. Conversations with Maya Angelou. US: University Press of Mississippi, 1998.
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Franklin, Hope J. From Slavery to Freedom: A History of Negro Americans. 3rd ed., rev. New Delhi: Amerind,
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Hoffman, Daniel. ed. Harvard Guide to Contemporary American Writing. Delhi: Oxford, 1981.
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12. Maxine, Sample. Gender, Identity, and the Liminal Self . North- South Linkages and connection in continental
and Diaspora African Literatures. (2005), 213-225.
13. Nelson, Emmanuel S. Ed. African American Autobiographies: A Sourcebook. US: Greenwood Press, 2002
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Read Books, 2006.
17. Walker, Pierre. “Racial Protest, Identity, Words, and Form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings” College Literature 22.3 (October 1995): 91-108
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22. McPherson, Dolly A, Mary Jane Lupton “Order Out of Chaos: The Autobiographical Works of Maya Angelou”
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