Through the use of identity, Maya Angelou presents herself as a young girl who is confrontational, hopeful, and feels unattractive. Firstly, we can infer that Marguerite (Maya’s full name) is a confrontational person. “What you look at me for? I didn’t come to stay…” “What you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay…” She is a confrontational person because she is not afraid to stand up for herself, and question those who have been mocking her. Anyone else would not have dared to speak for themselves, and I believe that it was rare at the time when someone had the strength to confront those who degraded them. Also, the use of repetition further proves my point. Secondly, I believe Marguerite is a hopeful person. “…I knew that once I put it on I’d look like a movie star,” “I was going to look like one of the sweet little white girls who was everybody’s dream of what was right with the world.” This is significant because it shows us that Marguerite is very hopeful about looking like a white girl one day, who she believes epitomizes true beauty. She states that it is her dream to look like that, as well as everybody else’s.
When her mother sews the dress for her, she fantasizes about looking like a movie star. Maya uses a simile,”…like a movie star,” to further convey that she knows that her dream will come true, and that she is very optimistic from what is to come. Thirdly, she is the kind of person that feels unattractive, and she isn’t happy about the way she looks. “Wouldn’t they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and blonde, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn’t let me straighten?” “Because I was really white and because a cruel fairy stepmother, who was understandably jealous of my beauty, had turned me into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet, and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil.” This is significant because it shows that she is the kind of person that is not comfortable in her own skin. She yearns to be someone else, and feels that she unattractive. She calls the state she is in “a black ugly dream,” this shows how unhappy she is in her life as a result of her outward appearance. She states that her “real hair,” is long and blonde, not nappy and black. She refuses to accept her appearance as she says that “a cruel fairy stepmother,” changed the way she looks out of jealousy. Also, Maya Angelou’s use of a rhetorical question is used to convey that she is not happy with her identity. Furthermore, Maya Angelou uses a metaphor when describing her teeth saying that she had “… a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil,” this also gives us another idea why the author refuses to accept herself. Moreover, Maya Angelou was able to masterfully use identity in order to depict herself in her autobiography.
The Essay on Black Girl Maya White Young
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, is of great value to not only myself, but to society as a whole. By portraying her own life through the book, she is able to convey the difficulties associated with the mixture of racial and gender discrimination dealt with by young, Southern black girls. At the same time, she touches on subjects from child abuse to the search for one's purpose in ...
