Trauma in Maya Angelo’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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Faculty of English
Abstract
The aim of this research his to analyze trauma of the main character in Maya
Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings who is Maya herself, and come up at the
end with her recovery. This book was selected because it seems to hold very
important themes which can change many lives. Literature plays its significant role in
this book, and thanks to it Maya could manage her serious situations and
psychological state to shift from her trauma, insecurity and feeling of shamefulness to
self-confidence, race pride and speech recovery. This research includes two chapters
where the first one contains a theoretical presentation of the African-American society
and literature in the 20
th
century, as well as the definition of trauma, its types and
effects on the person. On the other hand, the second chapter is devoted to analyze
trauma and recovery in this book. In this case the author’s or the major character’s
trauma is analyzed from a psychological perspective in order to examine her inner
state and feeling as a child who experienced trauma at an early age and how she
succeeded to free herself from these cages and traumas throughout literature and her
desire for the change. The conclusion that are reached from this research are the
importance and power of literature and reading books in Maya’s life, how they could
do miracles in changing her situation from the worse to the better, and her survival
after all what she went through.