Menu
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 5, Number 1. February 2021 Pp.177-186
English Language Center
College of Science for Girls, Abha
Department of English, King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia
The themes of the existential crisis have been central in taking up their work in different domains of human experience and exhibit the force of departure from the so-called standardized norms and values of a society. These themes have been taken up by many authors of African American origin. This paper attempts to represent and explain the theme of alienation through an in-depth analysis of Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The crisis of identity, gender, consciousness, and everything seemingly comes to question in the powerful narratives of these kinds of writings. One such African American author is Maya Angelou. She is one of those who take these themes with great force and tries to free herself from the shackles of the so-called canonized versions of human values and seeks to explore a world in which she recreates an establishment of her new perspectives and freedom of humanity. The paper concludes by showing the struggles for recognition and self-awareness and developing onto a stronger woman pushed by her feeling of alienation.
Zaini, Q., & Khan, M. H. (2021). Maya Angelou’s Battle with Alienation in I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies 5 (1) 177-186.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol5no1.12
Als, H. (2020). Maya in the mirror. Available at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/08/05/songbird
Angelou, M. & Braxton, J. M. (1999). Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A casebook. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Angelou, M. (1969). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House.
Arensbery, L. K. (1976). Death as a metaphor of self in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. CLA Journal, 2, 272- 2910020040035
Bloom, H. (2019) Maya Angelou. Blooms Literary Criticism.
Cuddon, J. A. (2013). A dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. London and New York: Blackwell Publ.
Herman, J. (1992). Trauma and recovery. New York. Basic Books.
Herton, C. (1987). The sexual mountain and black women writers: Adventures in sex, literature and real life. New York: Anchor- Doubleday.
Jacobs, J. L. (1994). Victimized daughters: incest and the development of the female self. New York: Routledge.
Literary Themes Alienation. (2012, August 18). https://literacle.com/literary-themes-alienation/
Wilfred, D. S. (2007). Encyclopedia of African American literature. New York. Facts on File.
Qudsia Zaini is a lecturer at King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia. She has a Master of Arts degree in English Literature, a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English Literature, and a Bachelor of Education in English. All the degrees were awarded by Aligarh Muslim University, India. Her fields of interest are Postcolonial Literature, Literary Criticism and Theory, Women’s Literature, and Teaching of English. Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6228-7316
Mohsin Hassan Khan obtained his Ph.D. from Aligarh Muslim University, India. He has been working as an Assistant Professor at King Khalid University Abha, Saudi Arabia. His research interests include Postcolonial Literature, Indian Writing in English, and Literary Theory. Orcid id: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0125-3854
Copyright © 2023 AWEJ-tls.org. All rights reserved.