moved up a grade because our teachers thought that we country children would make our classmates feel inferior-and we did 52.
To know more deeply about her life, this section is divided into two
parts. The first is Marguerite’s childhood and the second is Marguerite’s adolescence.
1. Marguerite’s childhood
This part consists of Marguerite’s life during her stay with her paternal grandmother up to her stay in her mother’s house in St. Louis and then back to
her grandmother’s store.
a Living with her grandmother
Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a story of a growing up black girl in South America. The setting of the story takes place in
the 1930s in a rural, segregated town called Stamps, Arkansas. Based on the Black Protest 289 at that time southern America was facing the great
depression. Around 1930s the southern American social condition was dominated by great depression, racial discriminations, terror against the minority group.
Arkansas where Marguerite lives is a part of the South America. Historically, the Whites and the Blacks were fallen apart, they had
significant differences in that condition. However, the depression in the best position of horrible race relations made the suffering of African Americans much
worse. Because of the disasters caused by the great depression, many blacks people were poor and dependent upon the help of family, White people or
government officials. The Whites had better life than the blacks. The social status
of the Whites was higher than the Blacks. That position was seen in their job
position Issues of Race in the 1930s.
It is described in the novel that Marguerite also experiences some of those conditions. The problem between the Blacks and the Whites appears in
Marguerite’s life. It is shown when she starts reading and enjoying literature Shakespeare. Her grandmother does not like her reading Shakespeare’s because
he is a White. Bailey and I decided to memorize a scene from The Merchant of Venice,
but we realized that Momma would question us about the author and that we’d have to tell her that Shakespeare was white, and it wouldn’t
matter to her whether he was dead or not. So we chose “The Creation” by James Weldon Johnson instead 11.
According to David Miller 5, prejudicial attitudes have almost certainly existed if groups of people first distinguished themselves from another.
Essentially, they are irrational, unjust or tolerant dispositions towards other group. For example, in the novel when Marguerite goes into the White part of the
town to buy fresh meat with her Momma, she feels that she does not like the town, as the White people are unfriendly and strange for her.
But I couldn’t force myself to think of them as people. People were Mrs. LaGrone, Mrs. Hendricks and Rex. Whitefolks couldn’t be people
because their feet were too small, their skin too white and see-throughy, and they didn’t walk on the balls of their feet the way people did-they
walked on their heels like horses 21.
Marguerite and most of the people she knows do not regard White people as people. Marguerite and other Black people think that white people are
not real. The white people are called whitefolks, alien beings. Marguerite dislikes and distrusts White people because of their hostility toward her race 21.
According to Donnelan 1, racism threats one group of people less favorable than another because of color, religious belief or ethnic origin. It is
shown when Marguerite witnesses White girls mock Momma. “They came finally to send on the ground in front of Momma. At first
they pretended seriousness. Then one of them wrapped her right arm crook of her left, pushed out her mouth and started to hum. I realize that
she was aping my grandmother. Another said, “Naw, Helen, you ain’t standing like her. This here’s it.” Then she lifted her chest and folded
her arms and mocked that was Annie Anderson. Another laughed, “Naw, you can’t do it. Your mouth ain’t pooched out enough. It’s like
this.” 24
In Marguerite’s mind, she starts thinking and questioning her grandmother’s attitude toward the white girls who have mocked her. Here the
theme of racial differences becomes very apparent. Even though Momma owns the land they live on, she cannot warn the white girls for their rudeness or
disorder. Marguerite feels that being a black girl is only inferior. When Christmas comes, Marguerite and Bailey get presents from their
parents, who they have not heard of since they are sent off to Stamps. Neither Marguerite nor Bailey feels happy. They are very sad because their parents have
suddenly reappeared in their life. Nevertheless, the following year, Marguerite’s father comes to Stamps to see his children and take them to their mother’s house
in St. Louis.
b Living with her mother Vivian Baxter in St. Louis
Marguerite and her brother Bailey finally meet their mother. Their mother, Vivian Baxter, is a beautiful woman, and she is also a nurse. Their
mother lives in St. Louise the city that is full of gamblers, and generally with debauched characters. Their mother also lives with Grandmother Baxter and three
brothers. Although she is a nurse, she just earns extra money. She is very beautiful and charming. It makes Marguerite think that her mother is too pretty to
be her mother because her mother is nearly white. We were both fearful of Mother’s coming and impatient at her delay. It
is remarkable how much truth there is in the two expressions: “struck dumb” and “love at the first sight.” My mother’s beauty literally
assailed me. Her red lips Momma said it was a sin to wear lipstick split to show even white teeth and her fresh-butter color looked see-
through clean. Her smile widened her mouth beyond her cheeks beyond her ears and seemingly through the walls to street outside. I was struck
dumb. I knew immediately why she had sent away. She was too beautiful to have children. I had never seen a woman as pretty as she
who was called “mother.”49-50
Marguerite seems to admire her mother afar. Marguerite falls in love with her mother at the first sight. In St. Louis Marguerite finds different ways of
living. That place is full of people who like gambling and people who do not know each other. Not so much social relation happens.
Marguerite and her brother enroll in Toussaint L’Ouverture Grammar school. On the first day of their school, she and her brother feel not confident, but
after few days they enjoy their school well. Even though they are black, in the school Marguerite and Bailey are clever students. This makes their friends and
their teachers shocked. The students, however, were shockingly backward. Bailey and I did
arithmetic at a mature level because of our work in the store, and we read well because in stamps there wasn’t anything else to do. We were
moved up a grade because our teachers’ thought that we country children would make our classmates feel inferior-and we did 52.
Day by day they begin to enjoy and love the city. Marguerite begins to love the city and her mother because her mother loves her too. Marguerite and
her brother Bailey finally have the luxury of an extended family. They are
supported and protected by their uncles and grandparents and feel safe in their home in the close circle. This prevents her from racism and prejudice of being a
black. Unfortunately, her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, rapes her.
According to Briggs, Black environment was also familiar with a lot of social
problems such as rape, child abuse, and some other criminal behavior Briggs.
This event makes Marguerite disconnected to her understanding of a child and the world that she faces.
After that accident Mr. Freeman is violently murdered. Marguerite’s family underground criminal associates kill him. Crimes indeed exist in the Black
society. ‘The police said, “Seems like he was dropped there. Some say he was kicked to death”’72. However, Marguerite thinks it is her fault. Since that
tragedy Marguerite stops talking to everyone but Bailey. When she refuses to speak after a few months, she is punished and then
she and Bailey are sent back to her grandmother’s house again. Marguerite is happy to be back though her brother is not. Life becomes muted and pale to
Marguerite, and she cannot remember a lot of people from the town. People think that her silence is just sadness at being taken away from the city.
It is described in the novel that most of the weeks in stamps is a matter of repetition. In Stamps, on Saturday people come into town, dress up, give their
children some money to spend. However, Marguerite and her brother have to do a lot of chores on Saturday.
2. Marguerite’s adolescence
