Portrayal of Free Spirit in Adrienne Rich’s Aunt Jennifer’s Tiger and Alice Walker’s Meridian

The works of women writers of USA have become increasingly visible in the academy especially since 1970s because of their active involvement in contemporary women’s movement. Writers like Toni Morrison and Alice Walker and poets like Maya Angelou and Adrienne Rich and others have been strongly greeted for their ideologies. Undoubtedly, their works echo strong resistance against racism, patriarchism and militarism. The present paper highlights the remedy of the various maladies like male dominance, subordinated identity and submissive life. It is said that ‘every action has reaction’ and these writers believe that ‘”FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BRAVE”. So they have depicted the undaunted spirits among their female protagonists who fought bravely against the odds and eventually emerged victorious.

An Inspiration to Womanhood through the poems of Kamala Das and Maya Angelou

History reveals that the girls and women had been kept in darkness from ages. They had no right to enjoy their fundamental rights. Women had been treated as inferior to men. They were tortured, suppressed, humiliated, and sexually harassed in all the fields. They were, not respected, and given importance and marginalized politically, economically, socially, culturally and emotionally. The condition of women had been very pathetic and, where rape, female foeticide, infanticide, dowry deaths and various kinds of exploitation were happening almost every day. The women were considered as a sexual object and to take care of the family over the years in the history. But gone are the days, where women were known by her husband’s name or by the name of the family. Now women are educated equal to men. Women can get empowered in their own choices by selecting their own jobs, own life partners, own places to study, and professions etc. They are working in all the fields and in every profession. They are in good positions in their work places. They are recognised by the society. They achieve many things and do wonders in their work places. They have become policy makers in their work places. They are recognised and respected in the family since they are working and earning money and taking care of their family. You can find women as president, chief minister, prime minister, director, principal, pilots, astronomers etc. Women have freedom to make their own choices. And now they have so many facilities announced by the governments where they can enjoy their freedom. Since there are special laws relating to women empowerment in favour of women, they feel free to enjoy their fundamental rights. This paper throws light on how women were leading their lives in the past and how they are leading their lives in the 21st century through the selected poems of Kamala Das and Maya Angelou. Both have been marginalized and subordinated, but difference lies between the way, they were victimized.

A journey towards meaning: An existential psychobiography of Maya Angelou

This psychobiography focuses on meaning making in the early life and young adulthood of acclaimed African American author Maya Angelou (1928-2014) through the lens of Frankl’s existential psychology with a specific focus on the tri-dimensional nature of human beings and the fundamental triad. The primary data source was Angelou’s own published autobiographies, which contain an in-depth narrative of her early life and young adulthood. Data was extracted, organised and analysed according to established qualitative research methods as well as through the identification of psychological saliences. The search for meaning within Angelou’s own narrative of her life was clearly apparent in the thematic analysis. Angelou’s narrative of her journey through the physical (childhood and adolescence), psychological (travelling and searching years) and spiritual (sensemaking years) dimensions was core to her meaning making. The three tiers of the fundamental triad (awareness of meaning, will to meaning, freedom of will) were present in various aspects of Angelou’s existential journey, manifesting as a focus on choice, responsibility, purpose, and acceptance. This study provides a more in-depth understanding of meaning making processes in the lives of extraordinary individuals, as well as contributing to the development of the research method of psychobiography, with a specific focus on meaning making.

A Study of Endurance and Aspiration in Maya Angelou’s Poems The Caged Bird (1968) and Still I Rise (1978)

The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994) manifests that Maya Angelou’s personal consciousness and public awareness sharpened her poetic capabilities. She used art to communicate the pathos and joys of her evolving spirit. This research paper explores the elements of survival, that is, endurance and aspiration in her poetry. The only freedom she enjoyed was the freedom to write which was rooted in her mind and not curbed by societal forces. The rationale of this paper is to trace how personal struggle and the quest for self-sustaining dignity in Maya Angelou’s poetry serves as an aspiration for America’s black community. Her cerebral autobiographies manifest her struggle for survival in a hostile and racist social environment and her poetry reflects the same. The objective of this research is to locate the motifs of endurance and aspiration in two of her poems namely The Caged Bird (1994) and Still I Rise (1994) from her anthology of Complete Collected Poems (1994). Caged Bird has become legendary due to the use of strong images, dichotomy and masked metaphors. Through these devices the poetess depicts her span of fragile development. As she grows physically and emotionally she discards her old mask and in Still I Rise, she presents her self-image with courage. The lyrical qualities of both poems provide soothing and healing power to the black community. In the light of the current analysis, this research paper concludes that the ultra fine resonance with repetition in Angelou’s poetry generates strong emotions. At the same time, it becomes a mode of free expression and endurance for the poetess. Furthermore, the outcome of this research is that it traces the dynamic elements of aspiration in her poetry through which she gains a voice, a voice to address her pathos with a modulated tone and to introduce the tools for productive survival.

Escritas de vida como possibilidade de resistência

Busca-se, com este artigo, engendrar reflexões acerca da narrativa epistolar como uma categoria de escrita de vida, na qual hibridez e fluidez são características importantes para o que se pretende discutir aqui - possibilidades de escritas de vida agirem como potência de escritas coletivas e a amplitude da narrativa epistolar no campo das narrativas literárias. Assim, o objetivo central aqui é discutir escritas de vida que se deslocam da intimidade para a coletividade e se oferecem como uma política de resistência, de modo especial, para se pensar o feminismo interseccional e Letter to my daughter (2008), de Maya Angelou, configura-se como um significativo exemplo desse tipo de narrativa, conforme se demonstrará ao longo deste artigo.

Reimagining Black Freedom – Beyond Place and Time

In this article, the writings of three prolific writers, Canadian Katherine McKittrick, Canadian-Trinidadian Marlene NourbeSe Philips and American Maya Angelou, intersect at the point of Black liberation and form a singular voice where a reimagined freedom can emerge. The piece begins with McKittrick’s research of Black geographies and what Black freedom as a destination looks like, by way of a fixed Underground Railroad journey to settlements like Ontario’s Negro Creek Road. It further interrogates and reverses the power dynamic between the European colonizer and Black settler, by engaging with Philip’s novel, Harriet’s Daughter. Here, teen protagonist, Margaret, changes the rules of her Underground Railroad game, making it possible for anybody to be a slave. Finally, these ideas are connected to Angelou’s autobiographical accounts of racism in the Deep South and her poetic expressions of hope and freedom through her writings, Caged Bird and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.