Opression in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and James McBride’s Color of Water

An Analysis of ?The Ways of Meeting Oppression? Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movement brought about many different views on how one?s oppression should be handled in America. ?The Ways of Meeting Oppression,? by Martin Luther King Jr., is based on how people handle oppression. According to Dr. King there?s a whole spectrum that ranges from violence to non-violence action in which the views are placed. Martin Luther King Jr. illustrates strategically how oppressed people deal with the three types of oppression, which are: acquiescence, violence, and non violence resistance.

An example of Maya facing racism is during her eighth grade graduation. Maya was so excited to graduate. The school she attended enrolled both whites and blacks. First of all during the assembly the blacks had to recite their own national anthem titled “ The Negro National Anthem”. The principal gave a speech the the students and instead of treating the kids equal, he proudly stated the new achievements the whites were going to have, and

Maya Angelou is a leading literary voice of the African-American community. She writes of the triumph of the human spirit over hardship and adversity. “Her style captures the ca-dences and aspirations of African American women whose strength she celebrates.” (Library of Chattanooga State, n. d.) Maya has paved the way for children who has had a damaged

Maya Angelou, the current poet laureate of the United States, has become for many people an exemplary role model. She read an original poem at the inauguration of President Clinton; she has also appeared on the television show "Touched by an Angel," and there read another poem of her own composition; she lectures widely, inspiring young people to aim high in life. Yet this is an unlikely beginning for a woman who, by the age of thirty, had been San Francisco's first black streetcar conductor; an unmarried mother; the madam of a San Diego brothel; a prostitute, a showgirl, and an actress (Lichtler, 861927397.html). Her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings argues persuasively

Three ways of meeting oppression, is a speech that was prepared and presented by the late Martin Luther King Jr. Mr. king was a civil rights activist in the nineteen sixties who is accredited for being one of the biggest leaders in the fight for African American equality. Known for his approach of being civil disobedient, Mr. King delivered many speech’s which aimed that we as a people should be non- violent in our quest for freedom. His most famous speech “I have a dream” which was delivered in Washington D.C at the Lincoln memorial, is one of the most famous speeches in history to date. In three ways of meeting oppression, Mr. King characterized the ways in which we as people can overcome being treated like the lessor class by, acquiescence, violence, and non-violent resistance; Even though it has been shown that the approach of the non- violent has become the way of thinking, I believe if change is not shown, violence the next solution.

She raises Bailey and Maya as if they are he own kids. Through the novel Maya never had a father figure, but she had Momma. An independent black woman. Momma owned her own store, took care of her crippled son and took care of her two grandchildren. She is a religious and a strong woman. Growing up Maya always questioned why Momma did some of the things the way she did, for instance one time some white children called Momma names and mistreated her, but she did not budge. Maya thought, “Who owned the land they lived on?... If there was any justice in the world, God should strike them dumb at once!” (23), Maya is thinking about retaliation, but does not realize that there can be serious consequences. Kinsolver exemplifies with this quote that society separates black and white and gives power to only the whites. Maya thinks otherwise, in that they should be equal and this is her first step of breaking societal expectations. As Maya matures she learns how to be more womanly and independent from

“The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country 's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin 's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective” (Angelou 218). Maya believes that blacks are being robbed of their lives and freedom to explore, grow, and succeed. This statement shows that ones with the very little they have will utilize it completely and have that to their advantage, and then they will succeed. Racism and prejudice are large factors that shapes Maya’s autobiography and eventually motivate her to ignore all of the negative influences and build her confidence. There are also many violent events towards blacks that show Maya the severity of prejudice in her society. One day when Maya was at the store a fight was on the radio where a black man and white man were battling in a boxing ring. When the black fighter Louis was getting beaten Maya thought, “It was our people falling. It was another

In Graduation, a chapter in her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya Angelou talks vividly about her middle school graduation in the segregated South. Graduation is an important milestone in most people’s life, as they get a degree and move on to their next level, something better and more important, with the hope that they can use their new knowledge to achieve their life goals and ambitions. This is what the all black children of the graduating class of 1940 in the grammar school in Stamps, Arkansas, believed as well, including Maya Angelou. In this passage, the author persuasively uses ethos to expose, as an African American girl, how her graduation ceremony was another episode of the unfinished struggle for freedom and against racial segregation.

Maya’s upbringing as a child is very parallel to Taylor’s because she is raised by her grandma, whom she calls Momma, without an affective paternal figure in her life. As a child, Maya sees that her grandma successfully raised her and her brother on her own. Momma owns a shop in their town called, The Store and she runs it generally by herself. She makes an effort to protect Maya and Bailey from being mistreated in society because when the dentist refuses to attend to Maya’s needs, Momma tells the dentist, “I wouldn’t go press on you like this for myself but I can’t take No. Not for my grandbaby” (Caged Bird 189). Momma asserts her power in demanding service for her granddaughter and shows Maya that she is strong and possesses the power to be successful in society and overpower a male in some circumstances. Maya watches her grandma in this situation and instantly categorizes her as a powerful woman and looks up to her even more now. Maya visualizes her Momma as a form of a hero because, “Momma had obliterated the evil white man” (Caged Bird 191), because she stood up to the white dentist that is seen as evil in her family’s eyes. Maya then realizes that Momma is one of the more powerful black women in society that is able to stand up to the white race when the blacks are mistreated. Maya can then exert her

Spokesperson and leader of the Civil rights, Marther Luther King Jr., once said, “the ultimate tradegy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”Oppression has, is, and always will be part of a society and there will always be oppressors; however, it is up to the individuals being oppressed to speak up and end the oppression that occurs in a community, it is there job to identify the rights and wrongs and not let the cycle of oppression continue, it is their obligation to speak up and act, it is under their accountability to terminate oppression and not let it snare them. In the book Black Boy by Richard Wright and “Overcoming Obstacles: What Oprah Winfrey Learned From Her Childhood

In the modern era, many people are shown the freedom that the world has to offer them. This facade of reality blinds those who are facing modern day oppression. It is no longer the straightforward unjust treatment demonstrated in the past, but it is subtle things that happen in people’s lives. What Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in “Three Ways of Meeting Oppression”, can not only be applicable to racial oppression, but also to common problems. Many common problems and issues are forms of oppression that people do not even realize it is. In the face of oppression, the natural responses that people would have are stated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. : violence, acquiescence, and nonviolent resistance . Although there are countless ways in which people can respond in a situation, for the loss of a job, there is an order of effectiveness.

Vivian takes Maya to the hospital. Bailey privately urges Maya to name the rapist, assuring her that he would not allow the culprit to kill him. Maya reveals Mr. Freeman's name, the authorities promptly arrest him. Maya thinks of herself as a grown woman, remembering that her nurses told her that she has already experienced the worst that life has to offer.

The poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou tells the story of two birds: one bird has the luxury of freedom and the second bird lives its life caged and maltreated by an unknown tyrant. Maya Angelou wrote this poem during the Civil Rights Era, the period when black activists in the 1950’s and 1960’s fought for desegregation of African Americans. This poem parallels the oppression that African Americans were fighting during this time period. In “Caged Bird”, Angelou builds a strong contrast that shows the historical context of discrimination and segregation through the use of mood, symbolism, and theme.

Maya Angelou describes what her life with her grandmother is like while constantly being discriminated against her race. She then found her father, and he leaves Maya and Bailey off to their mother’s house. There, the mother’s boyfriend rapes Maya. After suffering from psychological shock, Maya then moves back to her grandmother’s. As a teenager Maya gets nervous about her sexual identity and tries to discover it. Through these harsh times, the naïve and softhearted Maya grows to become a strong, independent woman.

The feeling of displacement leaves a painful hole in one's heart. Whether a person is a male or female, white or black, lives in the North or South, or young or old, displacement takes a toll on their character and personality. Maya Angelou creates a theme of displacement in her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou's novel has been critiqued by many notable scholars for being a classic autobiography. The critics note the importance of the setting to show universal displacement and the use of characterization to display the influences in Angelou's life. The critics also note that Angelou's diction and tone allow her pain and suffering to be evident throughout her novel and into her life. Angelou's use of setting shows how she was personally affected by displacement. She also uses characterization and tone to personalize her childhood experiences. Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is critiqued to have a theme of displacement based on the setting, characterization, and tone.