Women of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and the Color Purple
The Women of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple The women in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple have been raped and forced to live life harshly as African Americans during the time when civil rights for many people of the United States of America was still very much a dream. The novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, is an autobiography of Maya Angelou's life. In the novel, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of eight and had to move constantly from her grandmother's place in the rural part of Stamps, Arkansas to her mother's place in the city of St. Louis. Not only was it awful for Maya Angelou to not have a permanent place to stay, but it was more horrible in that she was alienated from her own black community. The novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is about the life of an African American woman named Celie. She was raped by her stepfather at the age of fourteen and was forced to marry a violent husband who treated her terribly. Although she was uneducated in the beginning of the book, with the help of her sister, Nettie, she becomes informed about the world and learns to appreciate and love herself. The two novels, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and
Lincoln's statement that he would "rather stick his hand in a dog's mouth than in a nigger's" (Angelou, 160) was probably the most straight forward racist remark throughout the novel. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya's parents were separated, so she never received any attention. She would fantasize that her "real hair, which was long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn't let her straighten" and that her "light-blue eyes" would replace her eyes that were "small and squinty" (Angelou, 3). For example, Maya was raped by her mother's boyfriend and Celie was raped by her stepfather. The two novels are outstanding and should be recommended to everyone. But very unlikely, she becomes the victim of racism. Nettie was the prettier and smarter one between them. You can do everything just like you want to and she ain't gonna make you feed it or clothe it" (Walker, 9) was what Alfonso, Celie's stepfather, had said to describe Celie to her arranged husband. Sofia is an excellent example of women who refuse to be dominated by anyone, whether it be of men, other women, or the white society. "Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. This kind of treatment will certainly lead Celie to think of men in a negative way. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't.
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Acceptance Essays
