Resistance for Self-formationin Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the CagedBirdSings

Abstract

Taking the idea from Bildungsroman genre, this research work analyzes Angelou’s coming of age and her self-consciousness from innocence to adolescence. InI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou details her journey into adulthood and struggles to develop her personality and dignity in African American society. Her past experiences are the sources of education which teach her about morality and also learns to adjust in the new community. Threat given by Mr. Freeman to kill Bailey indicates that she has done something wrong and the experiences in the junkyard shows her intellectual growth, sense of confidence and independence. By looking childhood experiences, Maya also tries to raise the voice of marginalized people in the white dominated racist and sexist America society. Despite lots of difficulties, she is able to establish herself as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco. At the beginning of the text she is innocent and immature child but at the end she is able to construct herself as independence and self-dignified woman. So, every scene of the novel illustrates blossoming awareness of Angelou with significant self-formation. Key words: bildungsroman, discrimination, morality, maturation, identity