Blacks are being oppressed, women are being oppressed. Ever thought about what happens to a black… woman?
Of course, she has a double load of oppression.
In recent times, though the world has gotten more aware of the wrongs of racism and gender inequality, the oppression still goes on in subtle, almost indecipherable ways. The Intersectionality theory aims to analyse the experiences of characters of Maya and Bailey in the text and how different institutions affect them. Therefore, this theory looks at how issues such as gender, class, race, tribalism, etc. all come together to make an impact on the lives of characters in the text. This analysis will focus on the characters of Maya and Bailey in the memoir.
Maya in the novel is the only daughter of Mother and Bailey Senior. Her parents do not live together and for a good part of her childhood, she stays with her grandmother, Momma, and helps out in The Store, a big shop where the habitants on the community buy certain necessities of life. As a black female, Maya faces a lot of discrimination. She grows up with a lot of self doubt and insecurity because she does not see herself as beautiful. At a young age, her mother's boyfriend sexually molests her and eventually rapes her. This pushes her into a period of self-endorced silence until an older woman introduces her to books and helps her speak again through poetry. However, her insecurities and self-doubt push her to seek male affection when she asks a boy to sleep with her and she eventually get herself pregnant. Therefore, growing up, she has to deal with standards set by society for the woman which include being slim, curvy, and having hairy legs.
She also has a struggle with racism. When she seeks for a job, she encounters discrimination which proposes that a black woman cannot be a conductorette for the rail-way company. She does not accept this proposition and for months, she battles for the position. She eventually overcomes and becomes the first black lady to be a conductorette, even though she's underaged.
Bailey, on the other hand, has to go through traumatic experiences as a black male child. At the age of seven, he's made to move the dead body of a black man which traumatizes him for a long time. This experience moves his grandmother to move the entire family to stay with the children's mother, Vivian. When Bailey grows older, he comes into conflict with his mother. He later has to move out to face the world on his own. This is based on the ideology of men learning to be independent and facing the world on their own and he decides to make this decision even if he's not prepared for it.
Generally, the black male or female at the time of Maya’s childhood has a bleak future. The school system presents a lot of limitation. While white children would have opportunities to become scientists with groundbreaking achievements, the black children would have to struggle to make a name for themselves in basketball. Maya Angelou, herself, comments in page 191: "The fact that the American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste, and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance." Nevertheless, Maya Angelou struggles to break these barriers and eventually does not let discriminations that stem from her being a woman, a black or a black woman, to limit her. Bailey, himself, embraces the challenges that life brings to him and seeks to handle them the best way he thinks possible.
With these, an analysis of the experiences of Bailey and Maya in Maya Angelou's memoir I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings has been presented to portray how themes such as racism and gender intertwine to affect the lives of characters in the text.
Commentaires