Sexual Abuses Review of Related Theories

Whites also stereotyped themselves as being strong, powerful, superior, and have high intelligence. Additionally, the Whites stereotyped the Blacks, such as their brains were smaller, not smart on arithmetic, had lower intelligence, could not govern their self, emotional, and uncreative. These stereotypes created inferiority mental upon the Blacks and systematically decreased their roles in politic, economy, and social aspects. Furthermore, there were some bad stereotypes that were labeled to the black women: the black women were labeled as evil, treacherous, bitchy, stubborn, and hateful. In addition, these bad stereotypes were supported by Christian mythology, which placed the black women as object to be exploited, in which they would have great risk of sexual harassment where ever they went Hooks 85. Darlene and Kathleen 242 also assert that by January of 1931, more than a quarter of all Black women who lived in some cities had lost their jobs. The jobless rate for African-American women was 68.9 percent in Detroit, far higher than the white women and the same as or higher than the black men. It meant that whenever the black and the white women were in competition for getting and keeping jobs, black women were the first to be laid off because of racial discrimination e.g. a white waitress with no experience of cleaning house could take a cleaning job away from a black woman who had been doing that job for years. In the American political area, the economic depression gave negative effects to the Republican Party. The Republicans were blamed for the economic depression. The Democrat Party which proposed Franklin Roosevelt as a candidate for president in 1932 had defeated the Republican Party in the presidential election 1932. Finally, Franklin Roosevelt won the 1932 presidential election without the support of the Black Americans because they still supported the Republican Party. The Blacks did not vote for a Democrat because they had placed their faith for so long in the Republican Party. It was the party of Abraham Lincoln Darlene and Kathleen 249. At first, the Blacks did not recognize Franklin Roosevelt. However, after they knew that Roosevelt tried to erase racial discrimination. They began to see him as a far better option than any of those who aspired to run against him, most of the Black Americans switched their votes to the Democrat party. Therefore, in the next election in 1936, 76 percent of African-Americans voted for the Democratic Party’s president candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Of course, Franklin Roosevelt won the presidential election for the second time. Franklin Roosevelt continued his job to recover The Great Depression. In 1938, the economic condition began to get better. Meanwhile, his wife named Eleanor Roosevelt really helped her husband. She was the first lady who gave a better hope to the Blacks. She championed the Black rights, and New Deal program prohibited discrimination Clayton and Darke 289.

2.3 Theoretical Framework

My study is to find out Marguerite’s struggles and motivation to face her unpleasant life as seen in Angelou’s U I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings U . In order to achieve that objective, there are two problems formulated. The first problem is