Searching for Her Identity as a Normal Female
directly to have sexual intercourse with her. She is a brave girl who can show that she is the first Negro who works as a conductor on the San Francisco streetcars.
Being a sensitive girl, she shows her emotion when the powhitetrash kids mock Momma. She also decides to stop talking to anyone after the death of Mr.
Freeman. Furthermore, she shows her protest against Mrs. Cullinan’s way of treating her by intentionally breaking the casserole and two of the green glass
cups on the floor.
The second concerns Marguerite’s struggles and motivation to face her unpleasant life. I can conclude that Marguerite’s struggles to face her unpleasant
life are struggling to face her loneliness, racial discrimination and her status. She struggles to accept her difficult condition when her parents divorced. Being a
lonely girl, she cannot the parents’ warmth. Moreover, she has to face sexual abuse. Her mother’s boy friend named Mr. Freeman rapes her. She thinks that Mr.
Freeman just wants to show the expression of fatherly love toward his own daughter. She is motivated not to reject Mr. Freeman’s action of sexual abuse
based on her love and belongingness needs. In her father’s house, she struggles to get her father’s love. She dislikes her father’s girl friend named Dolores after
living there for some weeks. She quarrels with Dolores. She gets hurt and runs way from her father house. Her motivation to find a secure place is based on her
safety needs. In the junkyard, although alone, she can fulfill her days with leaning about friendship and learning to drive. She becomes a more mature girl. After
some weeks, she goes back to San Francisco. Her motivation to go back to San
Francisco is based on her safety needs because she is uncomfortable with her friends’ questions which make her to feel insecure.
Marguerite has to face racial discrimination. In her childhood, she has to be a witness of racial discrimination. She should struggle to fight her fear when
she sees the powhitetrash kids mocking Momma. She throws away her fear by hiding behind the screen door. Her motivation to hide is based on her safety
needs. In her school life, Marguerite feels disappointed when a white guest speaker named Mr. Donleavy states that the Blacks are only good at sport not
school. She strongly disagrees with Mr. Donleavy’s statement. She has proven that although she is a black girl, she can get a top place in the graduation
ceremony and can get a scholarship to continue her study to the California Labor School. She is successful in fulfilling her self-esteem needs. In the Mrs.
Cullinan’s kitchen, she faces another rudeness of racial discrimination. Being a black girl, Mrs. Cullinan treats her badly. She breaks the casserole and two the
green cups and quits her job as a servant. Her motivation to quit the job is based on her safety needs. Furthermore, in Dentist Lincoln’s house a white dentist, she
faces racial discrimination. Dentist Lincoln refuses to treat Marguerite because she is a Negro. He says rude and racist things to Marguerite and Momma.
Marguerite hides downstairs to fulfill her safety needs. To struggle her status as a carrier woman to break the stereotypes of black
woman, Marguerite decides to find a job on the streetcars in San Francisco. She struggles to get a job on the streetcars. She realizes that the Negroes are not
allowed to get jobs on the streetcars but she tries her best to do all the tests to get
a job as a conductor. Finally, she is successful in doing the tests and being hired as the first Negro to work as a conductor on the Francisco streetcars. Her
motivation to get a job as a conductor is based on her self-esteem needs. At the age of sixteen, Marguerite has a problem with her physical appearance. She
decides to clarify her status as a woman by having sexual intercourse with a boy. Afterwards, she is pregnant. She promises to take care of her baby very well. Her
motivation to answer her status as a woman is based on her self-esteem needs.
5.2 Suggestions 5.2.1 Suggestions for Future Researchers
To know about the content of the novel well, it is important for the readers to have some information first about the sociocultural-historical background of
the novel. By knowing the sociocultural-historical background of the novel, the readers will have a deep understanding about the content and the condition which
influences the author to write herhis novel at that time. For the next researchers, this study can be used as a reference for further
study in
U
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
U
. This study will give them a better understanding of that novel from the psychological and the sociocultural-historical
points of view so that they will analyze it better.