Maya Angelou Oppression

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Maya Angelou, an honorary poet and civil rights activist most known for being a prominent voice of African American culture, expresses the views of the oppressed in two different ways as society, her life, and culture changes. Growing up she had a troubled life, her parents’ divorce, being raped, dropping out of school, having a child, racism, and “losing” her voice ( CITATION ). All of these factors played a huge role in Angelou’s writing throughout her career. The variance in her views of the oppressed in correlation with her life with are best expressed in two of her very famous poems “Caged Bird” and “Still I Rise”. Although, these poems both are a voice for the oppressed, one serves as the voice of the oppressed verses those of the free and the other discusses overcoming the oppression. …show more content…

Not only did she want to voice the voices of the oppressed but for women as well. Her outlook on freedom is deeper than just slavery, it denotes a personal meaning for her. When she was raped as a child by her mother’s boyfriend at the time, and decided to tell someone about it, the person she confided in killed her mother’s boyfriend. This essentially made her feel like she killed a man and she forced herself to become mute for 5 years of her life. She did this because she felt as though because she spoke she killed someone (CITATION). She became essentially the caged bird trapped within the horrible actions done to

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