CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
Chapter one consists of background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study and definition of terms. Background
of the study describes the reasons for the need of analyzing the topic and my personal reason for choosing the topic. Problem formulation gives the general
description of the problems that will be analyzed in the study. Objectives of the study explain the goals of this study. The last part is the definition of terms. In this
section, some terms that are related to the study will be defined.
A. Background of the Study
The USA in 1930’s had faced the great depression. It was one of the most tragic periods in American history. Americans suffered from economic hardship,
and African Americans were particularly hit hard. Thousands of black men and women in search for the better future for themselves and their families at that time
found themselves confused in a brutal struggle for jobs, housing, and education. Since their economic status was worse, they also increasingly faced brutal
violence, race riots, and transparent racial discrimination and segregation. According to Black Protest Documents and Analyses, around 1930’s
American society had bad condition. In the southern America, the social condition was dominated by the impacts of great depression, racial discrimination, and
terror against the minority groups. The major sectors of economy were not 1
expanding; business people were not investing funds to build new plants, or to hire more workers to produce more goods. Therefore, unsold inventories were
stacking up in warehouses, investments were shrinking, laborers were being sent home, and customer purchases were dropping off 289.
The depression hit the Blacks hardest of all Americans since they had always been at the lowest level of the economy. They were fired from their jobs as
employees and were replaced by the Whites. Discrimination practices based on race and gender was forced. Even in the south, there were many places with a
sign” No Niggers, Mexicans or Dog allowed”. The Blacks and other racial minorities suffered more that the Whites.
Hughes states “Black roots in American history were planted in institutionalized slavery” 143. It means that even though slavery was banned and
ended the Blacks still had a low status. The fact was that the blacks were still paid cheaply as human labors. The Blacks already faced their hard time, which was
fighting against slavery. After the end of slavery, they had to keep fighting for their own self respect and better status and the same role in society.
Based on those conditions some authors have written novels that portray the black people’s life. Since we know that the work of literature is the reflection
of human life, they often wrote their novels that reflect black people’s life. Through the work of literature we can feel the beauty and the bitterness of the
black’s life. If we want to see literature further and deeper we will realize that reading literature can give us so many things as the work literature can enrich our
life. Literary work can be in the form of novels, poems, prose and dramas. Most of literary works come from the writer’s inspiration or perception about life.
There are some novels that tell the stories about the Blacks’ life. The authors portray the blacks’ life, their struggle, their suffering, and their problems
in society in their novels. One of the novels that portray the Black’s life is Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya Angelou is one of the black
writers. In this novel she tells a story based on her family background and her surrounding. Angelou reflects her childhood life by writing the story about a black
young girl named Marguerite Johnson. Marguerite has to suffer from racial discrimination because she is Black.
This story begins with Marguerite’s childhood. She is born as Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, from Bailey and Vivian Baxter
Johnson. When she is three years old, because of her parents’ divorce, and Marguerite and her brother, Bailey Jr., are sent to live with their grandmother Mrs.
Annie Henderson in Stamps, Arkansas. Mrs. Henderson operates a general store, and the childrens life revolves around the members of the all-black community
who gather at the store to shop and talk. Marguerite already dreams of becoming a movie star. Connected with the idea of beauty, Marguerite describes images of
blond hair and blue eyes as the ideal of beauty, and says her appearance is merely a black ugly dream that she will wake out of. When she is a child, Marguerite
ever dreamt of being born as a white girl with blonde hair, because she thinks the life would be easier if she is a white girl.
When Marguerite is seven, she and Bailey return to live with their mother in St. Louis, where Marguerite is raped by her mothers boyfriend. This traumatic
event and the court proceedings that follow cause Marguerite to stay away from everyone except Bailey, and leads her mother to return the children to Stamps.
Marguerite starts to grow, and during that process she starts to recognize that being a black is not as bad as she has always imagined.
After graduating from the eighth grade, Marguerite, along with Bailey, rejoin her mother in San Francisco and stay there for the rest of her teenage years.
She drops out of school, works as a conductor on the streetcar system. When she asks for the personnel manager, she gets a run-around because she is black
woman. Then she gets the mans name, and is still determined to get the job, and finally, she fills out an application, takes some tests, and is hired as the first black
streetcar conductor in San Francisco. She experiences some role confusion in this period such as questioning her
sex roles. She thinks that she is different from the normal girl at her age because of that perception she ever feels that she is a lesbian. She decides to get a
boyfriend, to prove to herself that she is a woman; so, she asks a good-looking neighbor boy to have sex with her, and they do. There is no pleasure or mystery in
the experience, and it does not settle her mind either. However, a few weeks later, she finds out that she is pregnant. Then she returns to school, and graduates just
before the birth of her son, Guy Bailey Johnson. Her son shows that she is not a lesbian. Marguerite has the baby and continues to live with her family. Marguerite
loves the baby, and is proud that it is hers alone. I am interested in analyzing this novel because it teaches me many things.
I find some important points from some character in I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings. Besides, there are many other interesting points that can be the matter of discussion but I only focus on the perception of Marguerite as a black woman.
B . Problem Formulation
After reading the novel, I found some interesting problems to discuss in this study. This study focuses on the perception of Marguerite about life as a black
woman in the novel. The problems of the study are formulated as follows: 1.
How is Marguerite’s life as a black woman portrayed in the novel? 2.
What is Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman?
C. Objectives of the Study
Kategori