Friday, May 31, 2019

Comparing In Search of Our Mothers Gardens and I Know Why the Caged Bi

In Search of Our Mothers Gardens and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Alice go-cart and Maya Angelou are two contemporary African-American writers. Although almost a multiplication apart in age, both women display a remarkable similarity in their lives. Each has written about her experiences growing up in the rural South, Ms. perambulator through her essays and Ms. Angelou in her autobiographies. Though they share similar backgrounds, each has a unique style which gives to us, the readers, the gift of their exquisite humanity, with all of its frailties and strengths, joys and sorrows. Tragedy afflicted both of these women at the age of eight. Ms. Walker lost her sight in one eye. Ms. Angelou was raped. Each described the incident as part of a big work. Ms. Walker related her experience in the body of an essay published in her book, In Search of Our Mothers Gardens. Ms. Angelou told her story as a chapter in her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Alth ough both wrote about their traumatic experience, the way each depicted the incident was distinct and seemed to be told for very different purposes. Alice Walker reports the facts to the reader with short sentences written in the present tense. She chooses words which elicit a forceful emotional response from her audience. For example, in telling how her brothers were given BB guns and she was not, Ms. Walker writes, Because I am a girl, I do not get a gun. Instantly, I am relegated to the position of Indian. The word relegated causes the reader to be acidulous and indignant. Most people do not like being relegated to anything. Another illustration of Ms. Walkers use of dynamic words can be found in her descrip... ...e with their help. Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are both extremely courageous writers. From each we receive a rare and poignant gift. As her book suggests, Alice Walker challenges us to inquisition for resolution in the face of loneliness and despair . Maya Angelou, who knows why the caged bird sings, reminds us that loneliness and despair never have the last word. She gently points us to a window of hope. Both women bless us with shades of being human. Works Cited Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. New York Bantam, 1993. Draper, James P., ed., et al. Contemporary literary Criticism, Vol. 77. Detroit Gale Research Inc., 1993. Walker, Alice. In Search of Our Mothers Gardens. Major Modern Essayists. Second Edition. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller with Alan F. Crooks. Englewood Cliffs Prentice Hall, 1994. 329-337.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.