Finding A Voice Through Maya Angelou

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Finding a Voice Through Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou’s parent’s were divorced when she was three years old, resulting in her being relocated between family members several times. In addition to that hardship, when Angelou was only eight years old, she was left alone with her mother’s boyfriend and he raped her. Because of this experience, she chose not to speak for five years. Maya Angelou later began to speak and show her true self through poetry. Poetry is what ultimately helped her to begin physically speaking again. Maya Angelou regained the strength to speak for herself, and make a difference for her culture and women worldwide. Maya Angelou’s poetry has the power to inspire confidence within the conflicted individuals who lack the courage to speak for themselves. Maya’s intention to inspire confidence to others was best shown through her poems “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “Still I Rise,” and “Phenomenal Woman.”
Marguerite (Maya) Ann Angelou was born in St. Louis on April 4, 1928. Maya definitely did not have an easy start to her complicated and successful life. According to L. Patricia Kite, Maya was only three years old when her parents, Bailey Sr. and Vivian Johnson, got divorced (Maya Angelou 6). This source also states that years later, at eight years old, Maya was left alone with her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, when he raped her (23). Mr. Freeman told Maya that he would “...kill her if she screamed…[and] he would kill Bailey [Jr.] if she told anyone,” (23). Kite continues to say Maya was so afraid of Mr. Freeman that she lied in court saying that he had never touched her (26). Only hours later after Mr. Freeman’s conviction, he was found kicked to death, and Maya became so scared her lying had killed him, t...

... middle of paper ...

...nneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1999. Print.

"Maya Angelou." Maya Angelou Global Renaissance Woman. Dr. Maya Angelou, n.d. Web. 08
May 2014. .

Thursby, Jacqueline S. "'Caged Bird'." Critical Companion to Maya Angelou: A Literary
Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc.,
2011. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 23 Apr. 2014
/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97485&SID=5&iPin=CCMA0033&SingleRecord
=True>.

Thursby, Jacqueline S. "'Phenomenal Woman'." Critical Companion to Maya Angelou: A Literary
Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc.,
2011. Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 2 May 2014 activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97485&SID=5&iPin=CCMA0561&SingleRecord =True>.

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