How a Strong Identity Strengthens Character: A case of Maya Angelou - Essay Example

How A Strong Identity Strengthens Character: A case of Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiography by Maya Angelou. It is an informative piece of literature especially for those who never experienced the infamous times when racial segregation was widespread in the south. Angelou has very vivid memories of life at Stamps, Arkansas, where she and her brother Bailey were brought up by her intelligent grandmother. Though she led a reasonably good life, at least as compared to the life of other African Americans, she was constantly in pain which emanated from the ill treatment the minority blacks faced from their white counterparts. At the beginning of the book, Angelou discusses the continual labor of African Americans in cotton fields. This toil lasted their entire lives. In the end, however, what they received from these toil was hardly enough to sustain them or their families. Consequently, they were always in debt. The blacks continually complained of foul play in the fields. For instance, the weights used were faulty, and this ensured they never had their fair share. This narration sets the tone for the rest of the book; it explains just the type of suffering that Angelou and her fellow African Americans had to endure in Stamps, Arkansas. However, it is much more for Angelou since she has to constantly bear the thought of rejection. Before Angelou and her brother came to Stamps, they had lived with their parents until she was three years old. After that the parents sent them to live with their grandmother in Stamps; Angelou never understood why they had done it, but she believed that the parents had sought to get rid of them. She was particularly concerned by how they had been sent to their grandmother. Angelou’s search started at age three and seemed to last her entire life. This was until she was aged seventeen where she concludes the book. It is this search that forms the background of this discourse. This paper traces Angelou’s search for her identity as a girl, a daughter, and an African American. It is this search we trace throughout the novel that makes her the strong lady. This discourse also seeks the input of other resources beyond Angelou’s book to examine how a purposeful search for identity and need to rise above adversity strengthens character. Her life is not an ordinary life. She is without parents at age three. Besides, she has to live with a grandmother who contends with the insults and insubordination by whites every day. The other person close to her is Uncle Willie who has a disability and, being an African American, has to continually contend with racism. It is in these difficult circumstances that a young child has to define her identity. In a normal setting, it is the parents who help in building a child’s identity. Without them, this is not an easy task (Arciero and Guido 98). The only option is to constantly search for one’s identity amidst those one lives with which is quite challenging when the situation is as unfair as the one that Angelou finds herself in. One’s moral identity and understanding of morality (justice and care) exist in tandem. The more one identifies with a moral standard, whether as an act of will (such as committing oneself to a religious tradition) or as an act of insight (such as seeing someone suffer a social injustice and being deeply moved by the experience), the more that standard (and the identity, which is the internalization of that standard) will direct one’s attention and flavor and filter one’s perception and interpretation (Flanagan and Ame?lie 78). At the same time, the more able one becomes to understand whether actions are moral or not, the more likely it is that morality will figure in self-evaluations and become tied to self-esteem. Identity, then, contributes to development by its demand of the corresponding focus and practice, and the focus and practice contribute to one’s sense of mastery of morality. According to Aristotle, you are what you repeatedly do (Peterson and Seligman 86). Angelou’s search for her identity starts very early in the book as can be seen in the following thoughts, “If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult” (Angelou 6). These thoughts imply that being an African American is not so much a problem for Angelou. However, her biggest tussle is getting to know her displacement. These particular thoughts trigger the young African American girl to establish her identity and live a worthy life irrespective of the multiple insults hurled at her by the white children. At a young age, Angelou has already seen enough to assure her that the life ahead is not a smooth ride. It is the life that requires her to have a strong resolve and copy those who are strong willed. She is fortunate that she has people around her who demonstrate, through action, that being an African American does not mean incapacitation or inferiority. The footprints of these thoughts are all around her. For instance, her brother Bailey supports her whenever other children critique her looks. According to her own confession, she is not one of the most outstanding girls and her brother has the looks that even the whites seem to envy. Other than her brother, there is Momma who is the children’s grandmother. She owns a store which feeds the entire African American population in Stamps, Arkansas. According to Angelou, Momma remained her greatest inspiration. She is very intelligent and collected. As we learn from the book, her store is one of the few stores which survived the Great Depression. However, she passed for a coward and this seemed to make Angelou doubtful as to whether she would find her identity in her. This opinion changed when Momma hid a black man who faced a white mob that wanted to lynch him. These instances underline her strong character and it is in her that Angelou seems to first trace her identity. The amount of time she spends observing Momma is significant which explains some of her latter approaches in dealing with people. One of such instances is when their father comes to collect them from Momma’s place. For a long time, they had considered it home. Moving away from Stamps was not easy for Angelou. The epitome, however, was how she handled the new challenge. The tricky part was having to deal with a new family of a father and a mother who had chosen to give them away. This is an act that haunted her throughout her life. However, she avoids getting into confrontations with her father or the mother regarding their earlier actions. Her decision clearly outlines the strong identity she has built which is one that was not founded on past suffering but built on perseverance. This is an identity which is continuously linked with Momma. The other critical source of identity is self-determination. Angelou’s life is one that would be considered to have started improperly. She was particularly concerned with how their life was handed down to a porter. Apparently, their life was left to an unknown person as symbolized by the note To Whom It May Concern. All the same, she knows that she has to push on and establish herself beyond the divisive society and rise above racism. Deep inside her, she knew that the superiority of the whites was insinuated rather than factual. She also knew that getting dragged into these injustices would only yield anger and would rid her of her only chance of living a worthy life and proving to the whites she was an equal. She notes, “Like most children, I thought if I could face the worst danger voluntarily, and triumph, I would forever have power over it” (Angelou 10). This is the first pointer that she knows she has to establish her identity which will differ from that of the African Americans who had succumbed to racism and became angry with life or others who had taken to crime like Big Bailey. Crime is also around her in St. Louis where she lives with her mother, Vivian, and her extended family. Once Angelou moves on to live with her mother, Vivian, she does not feel displaced. Perhaps, it is because she has already built an identity based on strong belief in her inner strengths and impacted only by like minded individuals. This is quite apparent when she meets with her uncles who are Vivian’s brothers. They are strong willed people. It is these characteristics which inspire her immediate bond with them. They help her a lot in further building her identity and strengthen her character. She particularly remembers one of her uncle’s insisting that her looks should not be the determinants for her future and character: “Do not worry ‘cause you don’t have pretty looks, I rather you have a good mind than a cute behind” (Angelou 66). These words resonate in Angelou’s mind. Despite the multiple challenges, she manages to always do the right thing. From that point, she seems to yield greater will and it is only after the unfortunate rape incident by Freeman that she seems to lose this power. Probably because of Freeman’s intimidation, Angelou had chosen to keep quiet about the unfortunate incidence. Though her brother, Bailey, finally finds the bloody pants hidden under the bed, she chooses to momentarily keep silent as she feared for her life. She eventually confesses that Mr. Freeman raped her. He is later arrested and sentenced to one year in prison. After a while, however, he is released and this leads to his death through a mob lynching. This incidence presents the only time that Angelou is lost in her own world. She is constantly feeling guilty as she feels that it is her fault that Freeman died. This has nothing to do with race loyalty; the concern stems from her long built character and identity as an African American who has a soul, a sense of family, and, most importantly, a dignity that cannot be eroded by a rapist. In view of the presented example of Angelou, it is evident that cultural identity plays a major role in the development of a person’s behavioral traits and tendencies. However, it calls for a deliberate attempt to define own personality. This is evident from the numerous times that the protagonist sought to be different from the rest of the members of her community. She kept away from crime and the stereotypical thinking that defined most of her people. In conclusion, this paper has tried to use Angelou’s involvement, environment, and resolve to explain how a purposeful search for identity and need to rise above adversity strengthens character and builds pride. It was obviously not easy for Angelou to pave way in a society that was characterized by racism and insubordination. Amidst this adversity, she was able to yield a strong character and lead a dignified life. Most importantly, she was able to rise above the stratified society and live a life where she still held onto the morals and strong character, which as Peterson and Seligman say, came from doing one good thing continually (86). Most importantly, she was able to fill up the identity of the letter sent To Whom It May Concern. She identified that it concerned her life and the plight of the African Americans who had been humiliated for a very long time. This is best marked by her words, “They don’t really hate us. They don’t know us. How can they hate us? They are mostly scared” (Chapter 25 Page 192 Angelou 192). This epitomizes her strong identity as an African American. She believes the whites are only scared of the potential of her race. Her long search culminated in her strong character and dignified life, and this is seen in her words: “…you don’t have to think about doing the right thing. If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking” (Chapter 36 page Angelou 281). NB: The last quote on doing the right thing follows shortly after Maya gives birth to a baby boy. The words are counsel from mother, hope you find it. Works Cited Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Reissue edition. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. Print. Arciero, Giampiero, and Guido Bondolfi. Selfhood, Identity and Personality Styles. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print. Flanagan, Owen J., and Ame?lie Rorty. Identity, Character, and Morality: Essays in Moral Psychology. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 1997. Print. Peterson, Christopher, and Martin E. P. Seligman. Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print. Read More