On The Bildung Theme In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou is one of the most celebrated and influential contemporary African American female writers and poets. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is her first autobiography and the bestseller, which receives higher praise and also brings Angelou the international recognition. Through the records of Marguerite’s Bildung of pursuing for African American female discourse and identity, Angelou reveals the misfortunes and real living conditions of the oppressed African American females under a white-dominated society and male-dominated culture.This thesis mainly focuses on the Bildung theme in Caged Bird according to Braendlin’s ethnic female Bildungsroman theory. Firstly, this thesis investigates the dilemmas in Marguerite’s Bildung, from the oppressions of traditional patriarchy, identity crisis of the racism, and the deprivation of African American female discourse. Secondly, this thesis investigates the three important African American female mentors in Marguerite’s Bildung from the intergenerational relationship, mother-daughter relationship, and community relationship. Besides, from the traditional grandmother, to the radical mother, to the intellectual spiritual mother, the writer also explores the three mentors’ different strategies, attitudes and values to pursue the African American female discourse and identity under the oppressions of race and patriarch; and also their influences on Marguerite’s spiritual growth. Lastly, this thesis probes into Marguerite’s self-discovery and self-fulfillment in her Bildung:subversion to the traditional patriarch, construction of African American female identity, and the construction of African American female discourse. Marguerite’s Bildung is an epitome of the whole African American female Bildung. Through the explorations of the Bildung theme in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the autobiography reflects the long and arduous growth construction from endurance to resistance, from muteness to singing under the deprivation of African American female discourse and confusion of African American female identity. This thesis attempts to help readers have a better understanding of African American female Bildungsroman, and realize the arduous of African American females’growth construction.