Maya Angelou and Alice Walker

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that female African-American writers Alice Walker in "The Color Purple" and Maya Angelou in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" use the horrors of the African-American experience to draw attention to racial prejudice, injustice and sexism making their protagonists struggle for their independence and their indignity. The author points out that in "The Color Purple", Walker, telling the story in diary form in a series of letters to God and between the sisters, uses a rape scene on the first page to draw her readers into the story. The paper relates that Angelou's work, written in a more formal style, is based on her real life experiences, which makes "Caged Bird" much more disturbing than "The Color Purple".

From the Paper:

"One of the most disturbing parts of the book is when the young Marguerite has a toothache and visits the white dentist. The dentist is in debt to Marguerite's grandmother, but refuses to treat the child, saying, "Annie, my policy is I'd rather stick my hand in a dog's mouth than in a nigger's." Usually, her grandmother responds to such racism with quiet dignity. However, in this case, Angelou uses a dream sequence to put the Dentist in her place. She imagines her grandmother confronting the dentist behind the closed door and telling the bigot "to leave Stamps by sundown". Momma tells him when he gets to the next town he is going to live his punishment will be he has to treat dogs with mange and cats with cholera. In this way, Angelou defeats the memory of the indignity of racism and her toothache."

More papers on Maya Angelou and Alice Walker:

• Analytical Essay # 123638 : "Maya Angelou and Themes"
• Analytical Essay # 56619 : "African-American Women's Literature"
• Analytical Essay # 62664 : "Maya Angelou and African-American Society"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: