Marguerite`s perception about life as a black woman in Angelou`s I know why the caged bird sings - USD Repository
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MARGUERITE’S PERCEPTION ABOUT LIFE AS A BLACK WOMAN
IN ANGELOU’S “I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS”
A Thesis Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree in English Language Education
By:
Ila Cipulanti
Student Number: 021214094
ENGLISH EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2009
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Page of Dedication
“…One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter…”Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
This thesis is dedicated to: My beloved parents, Ibu and Bapak, And my dearest siblings, Mbak Wik, Mbak Bin, Mas Yus, and Dik Dedi
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank God Almighty, Allah SWT, for the grace that has empowered me to finish this thesis. I thank God for accompanying me when I felt down and was hopeless, so that I could still smile and be stronger than before.
I would like to thank Drs. Bambang HendartoY., M. Hum., my major sponsor. I really owe a huge dept to him for his understanding of my difficulties and for giving me guidance and, encouragement from beginning until the completion of the thesis. He has also guided me to write this thesis with care and effectiveness. Without his deep concerns, I am sure that this thesis would never be completed.
My special thanks go to all lecturers who have shared their knowledge and encouragement during my study in the English Education study program of Sanata Dharma University. Special thank also goes to all PBI staffs for their help and friendliness during my study in Sanata Dharma University.
I give deep appreciation to my beloved parents, Bapak Suprapto and Ibu Sarisih, who always become the shelter and take care of me with their endless love. I thank them for the prayers and for everything. I also thank my sisters, mbak Dewi and mbak Bin, my brothers, mas Yus, and Dedi Panca who always support me, my brothers in law Mas Bams and Mas Yud. To my cute nieces,
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Shifa, Brina, Vira and nephews Ling2 and Wildan, I thank them for being angels in our family.
This thesis is also dedicated to my Thunder “Akang” Guntur C, who has supported me in every single thing and who has always been my diary. I thank him for motivating, loving me, and giving “colors” in my life. He has encouraged me to stand for the hard life. To my Bos in Bumble bee course, Miss Sweet Suziong I would like to thank her for her support and the monitor without it, this thesis could not be accomplished.
Finally, I would like to thank all friends at the English Language Education Study Program ’02, such as Ary-Ifan, Simbahe”Ruri”, Nicken, Su-Galih, Regi, Arai for the support they have given me. To friends at KB 4, Nina-nino, Lilot, Ndari, Gita-gito, Ria-rio, mas Dicky, Yama and Shanty, I thank them for being my nice neighbors. To my teaching friends in Bumble Bee course: Ikas, Lita, Reni, Wuri, Bunga, Imel and Nina I thank them for supporting, helping and sharing with me many things.
Last but not least, I would like to thank all my friends in Cepu, my X-man, Adi Cilix, Wix’s, Didin, Ayik, and Ferro “Uviel” for giving me new “spirit”, for making my dream comes true. They always remind me to do my best in my life and their mocking is my power. I love them all.
Ila Cipulanti
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE ................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES ....................................................................................... ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................ iv DEDICATION PAGE ...................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. viii ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... xii
ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Study ......................................................................
1 B. Problem Formulation ...........................................................................
5 C. Objectives of the Study ........................................................................
5 D. Benefits of the Study ............................................................................
5 E. Definition of Terms ..............................................................................
6 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Review of Related Theories .................................................................
8 1. Critical approach ..............................................................................
8 2. Characters and Characterization ......................................................
9 3. Perception .........................................................................................
12 4. Racism ..............................................................................................
14 a) Definition of Racism ..................................................................
14 b) Racial Discrimination and Prejudice .........................................
15 B. The American society in 1930’s ..........................................................
16 C. The Criticism on Maya Angelou and Her Work ..................................
19 D. Theoretical framework .........................................................................
21
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CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY A. Subject matter.......................................................................................
23 B. Approach ..............................................................................................
24 C. Method of the Study .............................................................................
24 CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS A. Marguerite’s life as a black woman as portrayed in the novel .............
26 1. Marguerite’s childhood ....................................................................
28 a) Living with her grandmother .......................................................
28 b) Living with her mother Vivian Baxter in St. Louis .....................
30 2. Marguerite’s adolescence .................................................................
32 a) Living with her grandmother .......................................................
33 b) Living with her mother ................................................................
34 B. Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman as portrayed in the novel .....................................................................................................
36 1. In Her Childhood...............................................................................
37 a) Living with her grandmother ......................................................
37 1) Marguerite’s perception of her appearance as a black woman. 37 2) Marguerite’s perception of parents’ love ................................
40
b) Living with her mother ................................................................. 41 1) Marguerite’s perception of her appearance as a black woman 41 2) Marguerite’s perception of parents’ love ................................
42 2. In Her Adolescence ...........................................................................
43 a) Living with her grandmother ........................................................
43 1) Racism is part of her life .........................................................
43 2) Sex is a bad thing ....................................................................
45 b) Living with her parents .................................................................
46 1) Life is hard ..............................................................................
46 2) Life is full of conflict and problem .........................................
47 3) Sex is confusing ......................................................................
49 4) Life is a struggle .....................................................................
52
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CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS A. Conclusions ...................................................................................
57 B. Suggestions ....................................................................................
58 1) The Suggestion for the Future Researchers .............................
58 2) Suggestion for Teaching and Learning Activities ...................
59 3) The implementation of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in teaching Speaking IV ...............................................................
60 REFERENCES ...............................................................................................
65 APPENDICES ................................................................................................
67
TABLE OF APPENDICES
Page Appendix 1 The Biography of Maya Angelou .............................................
68 Appendix 2 The Summary ..........................................................................
73 Appendix 3 Picture of Maya Angelou ........................................................
76 Appendix 4 Novel’s Cover .........................................................................
77 Appendix 5 Lesson Plan for Teaching Speaking .........................................
78 Appendix 6 The Material for Speaking .......................................................
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ABSTRACT
Cipulanti,Ila. 2009. Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman in
Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” . Yogyakarta: English Education
Study Program, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata Dharma University.
This thesis analyzes Maya Angelou’s novel, entitled I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The story is about a black girl’s life. Her name is Marguerite Johnson. It is interesting to discuss this novel since it portrays a struggle of a young black girl as a major character. As a major character, Marguerite experiences many problems in her life and these experiences cause her to have her own perception about life as a black girl appears.
As this study focuses on Marguerite’s perception about life based on her experiences, the aim of the study is to answer two questions stated in the problem formulation. There are: (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?
In order to reach the aim, both psychological and sociocultural-historical approaches are applied. There are two sources to gather the data. The first is, Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and the second is gathered from some books and the Internet sources.
Based on the analysis, there are two findings found. The findings show that Marguerite has two different life experiences while living with her grandmother and with her mother, especially in her childhood until adolescence. The first finding reveals that in her childhood Marguerite as a black girl experiences many problems in her life such as racism, being abandoned by her parents, self-unconfidence and also sexual abuses. In her adolescence, racism is getting stronger in her life. The second finding reveals some factors influencing Marguerite’s perceptions of life as a black woman. Those factors are her childhood and her adolescence. In her childhood she perceives that as a black woman her appearance as a black girl is bad and her parents do not really love her. In her adolescence, Marguerite perceives that racism is part of her life, life is hard, life is full of conflict and problem, sex is bad, sex is confusing, and life is a struggle and also being a woman is not bad. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that during her growth Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman has changed.
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ABSTRAK
Cipulanti, Ila. 2009. Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman in
Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. Yogyakarta: Program Studi
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Skripsi ini menganalisa novel Angelou yang berjudul I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Novel tersebut menceritakan tentang kehidupan seorang gadis berkulit hitam. Dia bernama Marguerite Johnson. Hal tersebut menarik untuk diulas karena novel tersebut menggambarkan sebuah perjuangan seorang gadis muda sebagai tokoh utamanya. Sebagai seorang tokoh utama Marguerite mengalami banyak masalah dalam hidupnya, dan pengalamannya tersebut memunculkan persepsi Marguerite tentang kehidupan sebagai seorang gadis berkulit hitam.
Studi ini memfokuskan persepsi Marguerite tentang kehidupan berdasarkan pengalamannya., tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk menjawab dua pertanyaan yang terdapat dalam rumusan masalah. Yaitu: (1) Bagaimanakah kehidupan Marguerite sebagai seorang gadis berkulit hitam yang tergambar di novel? (2) Apa persepsi Marguerite tentang kehidupan sebagai seorang wanita berkulit hitam?
Supaya mencapai tujuan, pendekatan psikologi dan pendekatan Sociocultural-historical diterapkan. Ada dua sumber untuk mengumpulkan data. Yang pertama adalah I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings-nya Angelou dan yang kedua dikumpulkan dari beberapa buku and sumber internet.
Berdasarkan analisis, ditemukan dua jawaban. Jawaban tersebut memperlihatkan bahwa Marguerite mempunyai dua pengalaman hidup yang berbeda, disaat tinggal bersama neneknya dan ibunya, khususnya pada masa kecil dan masa remajanya. Jawaban pertama menyatakan bahwa pada masa kecilnya Marguerite sebagai seorang gadis berkulit hitam mengalami banyak pengalaman di dalam hidupnya seperti rasisme, ditinggalkan orang tuanya, tidak percaya diri dan juga pelecehan seksual. Pada masa remajanya rasisme semakin kuat dalam hidupnya. Jawaban kedua menyatakan persepsi Marguerite tentang kehidupan sebagai wanita kulit hitam. Pada masa kecilnya Marguerite merasa bahwa sebagai wanita kulit hitam penampilannya itu buruk dan orang tuanya tidak begitu mencintainya. Pada masa remajanya Marguerite merasa rasisme adalah bagian hidupnya, kehidupan itu berat, kehidupan itu penuh dengan konflik dan masalah, seks itu buruk, seks itu membingungkan, hidup itu perjuangan dan juga sebagai wanita kulit hitam itu tidaklah buruk.
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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
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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
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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 children's 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
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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 man's 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
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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
The objectives of the study are to understand and realize that someone’s experiences in facing reality can build some perception about life. Thus perception that is built depends on the events or experience from someone’s life. Some perception may be different with the other.
To find out the answer to the questions put forward in the problem formulation, the first is dealing with how Marguerite’s life as a black woman portrayed in the novel and the second is dealing with Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman.
D. Benefits of the Study
There are at least two groups of people who will gain benefits from this study. There are the readers in general and the students. Hopefully, by reading this
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especially American literature and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
For the students of English language Education study program, this study hopefully may give them knowledge about American Literature and give them understanding of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. For the teachers of English Education study program, this study could be used as one of teaching references. The novel can be used as teaching material for teaching literature classes.
This study is also beneficial, especially for me because I have had experiences of how to analyze a novel and have had an understanding about perception of life from books of references for the study.
E. Definition of Terms There are terms that need clarifying before I discuss the topic further.
Some misunderstanding and ambiguities of terms will be avoided by giving a definition.
1. Perception According to Borger and Seaborne perception is an awareness of the environment, through which a person processes incoming sensory data in some way in order to arrive at useful impressions of his surroundings (105). So there are processes happening in the mind before someone can get an image of something in his/her surroundings.
So in this study perception is defined as a result and an idea that appear during the processing of someone’s life after they face and get an image of their surrounding.
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According to Arnold M. Rose racism is defined as the unfair treatment of people who belong to a difference race: violence behavior toward them and also the belief that some races of people are better than the other (962).
So in this study racism is defined as an unfair treatment of people to people of a certain race that is considered lower than their.
3. Character Abrams says that character is the person in a dramatic or narrative work, endowed with moral and disposition qualities that are expressed in what they say the dialogue and what they do the action (20). It means the person presented a dramatic or narrative work who is interpreted by the readers as being endowed with moral and dispositional quality that are expressed in what they do the action.
Holman says that a character is defined as “a brief descriptive sketch of personage who typifies some definite qualities” (163). It refers to the types of person; therefore, one person is different from the others. It is the author model that processes certain characteristics so we can recognize a personification of real characters in the real world.
Based on those definitions, in this study characters are defined as people who exist in the story with their dialogue and act. The existence of the characters make the story alive and we can imagine that the characters exist in the real world.
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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE This chapter is divided into three parts. The first is a review of related
theories, the second describes the criticisms and sources and the third is theoretical framework. Review of related theories, gives a brief explanation of the theories as the basis of the analysis such as theory of the critical approach, theory of character and characterization, theory of perception and racism, and the briefly American society in the 1930’s. The criticisms include the sources from which the criticisms are taken.
A. Review of Related Theories 1. Critical Approach
Rohrberger and Woods Jr. (6-17) in Reading and Writing Literature divide theory of the critical approach into five approaches, and they are explained as follows:
a. The formalist approach This approach is concerned with demonstrating the harmonious involvement of all the parts to the whole and with pointing out how meaning is derived from structure and how matters of technique determine structure.
b. The Biographical Approach
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This approach asserts the necessity for an appreciation of the ideas and personality of the author to an understanding of the literary object. They attempt to learn as much as they can about the life and development of the author and to apply this knowledge in their attempt to understand.
c. The Sociocultural-Historical Approach Two factors are present here. First, accuracy in the presentation of historical facts is of value to the historian, but not necessarily to the author. Second, a work of literature might have historical significance, but not necessarily literary significance.
d. The Mythopoeic Approach Critics who make use of the meopoeic frame of reference seek to discover certain universally recurrent if human thought, which they believe find expressive in significant works of arts.
e. The Psychological Approach This approach involves the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns. In applying this theory, we must be careful not to take the part for the whole and reduce a piece of literature to a mere statement of behavior pattern.
2. Characters and Characterization
According to Abrams (20), characters are “the persons presented in a dramatic or narrative work who are interrupted by the readers are being endowed with moral and disposition qualities that are expressed in when they say (the dialogues) and by the do (the actions)”. It implies that there is a relation between the presentation of character as well as his personality traits and what the readers
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get from his presentation. That is why a character should be credible or a character is believable. In other words, the reader will accept them as believable people.
Based on Henkle’s theory (88-97), character can be categorized into two. They are major characters and secondary characters. A major character is the most important and complex in the literary work, such as a novel. He/She can be identified from the complexity of his/her characterization and more attention is given to him/her either by the other character or by the reader. Therefore, the reader gives the great attention to the major character for the sake of understanding of the experiences of the novel.
Secondary characters are who have limited function in the novel. The function of the secondary characters is to occupy the world in the novel, which looks like real life condition. Besides, they can be functioned as a point of reference if they are to see the major character’s greater intensity when the secondary character has the same emotional state as the major one or take apart in a situation which is the same with the major one’s, which is called as an “analogue”. At any rate he/she maybe less sophisticated, so his/her responses to the experience will be less complex and interesting.
Another element to help us build a complete description on the character, either psychologically or physically is characterization. According to Rohrberger and Woods Jr. (20) characterization is defined as the process by which an author creates character.
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Based on Murphy’s theory in his book Understanding Unseen (161-173) there are some ways in which an author attempts to make his character understandable to and come alive for his readers. Those are:
a. Personal description The way in which the author describes a person through his appearance and clothes.
b. Characters as seen by other The way in which the author describes a person through the eyes and opinions of others.
c. Speech The author can give readers an insight into the character of one of the persons in the novel through what the person said.
d. Past life Knowing something about a person’s past life also can help the reader shaping a man’s characteristic.
e. Conversation of others People’s opinion about a person can be a clue to the reader in characterizing a man.
f. Reactions The way a person reacts to various situations and events shows the characteristic of a man.
g. Direct comment The author can give the reader direct description or comment on a person’s character.
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h. Thoughts The author gives the reader a clue by direct knowledge of what a person. i. Mannerism
The author describes a person’s mannerisms habits or idiosyncrasies, which may also tell reader something about the man’s character.
3. Perception
The purpose of this thesis is to find out Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman. Therefore, the theory of perception is important to support the analysis.
a. Definition
Reymert, Carlson, and Miller (4) state that emotion and value system are factors that influence someone to perceive something. According to them, emotion is someone’s reaction and nothing else but reaction. It will effect our behaviors, attitudes, and of course our perception toward something. When we experience a bad emotion or negative emotion, such as anger, jealousy, and another bad emotion toward something, we will perceive anger, jealousy as bad and negative. Meanwhile, when we have a good or positive emotion, such as gladness, happiness, we will perceive those as positive and good. Value system is a behavior standard that takes place in a certain environment.
Perception according to Mozkowitz and Orgel (158) is a global wide-range response to a stimulus or set of stimuli, a response that utilizes and integrates information beyond that contains in the stimulus itself. According to Borger and
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Seaborne perception is an awareness of the environment, through which a person processes incoming sensory data in some way in order to arrive at useful impressions of his surroundings (105). So there are processes happening in the mind before someone can get an image of something in his/her surroundings.
Meanwhile, Stone and Nielsen (193-194) divide perception into two parts. First part is the type I perception. It is the stage when the sensations are structured into a figure-ground relationship. Second is the type II perception. It is when the sensations that are structured and are called concepts, eventually become organized into “schemata” and will be structured into “ideas”. It means, when the sensations are structured they will be organized into elements that are arranged well and they will be continued by arranging them into ideas.
b. Factor Causing Someone’s Perception
Some factors may cause someone to have a certain perception. According to Gibson, Donnelly, and Ivancevich (138-141) there are three factors that influence someone to have a perception of something. They are stereotype, characteristics, and needs.
1. Stereotype Stereotype is a subjective statement. When people tend to have this stereotype on particular thing, they tend to have attention to the thing that suits to their stereotype and neglect others that do not match with their perception. They make classification based in their expectation. This stereotype often reflects the wrong perception.
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The characteristic of the people will effect their perception on an object. It is also a mental process having perceptions that happen in our mind when we perceive an object. We will perceive based on our characteristic.
3. Need Need and expectations influence perception. It seems suitable with the reality in which we often do something based on our need.
In addition, according to Bootzin, Loftus, and Zajonc (122), culture and motivation are other aspects that influence someone’s perception. They state that experiences of a culture may lead its members to develop perceptual biases, a phenomenon called cultural relativism. Motivation is affected by fulfillment of people’s need. The more important the need is, the more people are motivated to do something. It is a psychological process, which reflects the interaction among attitude, need, perception, and decision of the person.
4. Racism
The purpose of this study is to find Marguerite’s perception about life as a black woman. Racism is one of the problems in Marguerite’s life, because she is born as a black woman. Therefore, the theory of racism is important to support the analysis.
a. Definition of Racism
Based on The New Encyclopedia Britannica, racism is the idea that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and certain traits of personality, intellect, or culture and combined with them, the notion that some races are
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physical characteristics. Such physical characteristics have no inherent significance, but only such significance as is socially attributed to them in a given society (360).
Comas, in his book Racial Myths states that racism is quite different from a mere acceptance or scientific and objective study of the fact of race and the fact that of the present inequality of human groups (52-53). Donnelan writes that racism threats one group of people less favorable than another because of color, religious belief, or ethnic origin. It was once widely held that human beings belonged to different ‘races’ of people, which were defined according to physical characteristics. Racism is rooted in the belief that some ‘race’ is superior to others. Feeling of racial superiority led Europeans to colonize countries in Asia, Africa, America, and the Caribbean, and exploited their economies (1). So colors of skin, religious belief, or ethnic origin in society cause racism problems that are significant for the minority groups of race. And those problems cannot be avoided because there are so many groups of races in the world.
b. Racial Discrimination and Prejudice
According to Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamiston in Black power (1967), discrimination is a deep from of unequal treatment based on race that is prepared in social (that is, social intuitions). Discrimination may include segregated housing pattern, redlining by financial institutions, and the practice of minority groups being forced continually into low paying jobs (157).
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When discrimination appears, prejudice, an aspect of racism will appear. Prejudice is defined as an attitude, usually emotional, acquired without, or prior to educate against socially defined races (The New Encyclopedia Britannica360).
So, it means that prejudice is a part of discrimination. Prejudice is also an aspect of racism so it will appear when discrimination appears in society.
David Milner states that, if prejudicial attitudes have almost certainly existed since groups of people first distinguished themselves from one another.
Essentially, they are irrational, unjust or intolerant dispositions towards other groups (5). So prejudice is naturally appears in society if there are different groups of people that have differentiate.
According to Beteille prejudice and discrimination based on race seem to be a common feature of many societies of both the past and present. The importance of race in race stratification has been tightened by some factors. One of them was slavery (295). Thus in the past or in the present, prejudice and discrimination known as slavery are a common trait in society.
B. The American Society in the 1930s
In the 1930’s the southern American social situation was dominated with the feeling of great depression, racial discrimination, and terror against the minority groups. During the 1930’s the Agricultural sector was busy with over production, declining price for farm products increasing debts, bankruptcies, and small bank failures. What all these weak point meant by the 1930 was that major sectors of economy were not increasing, business people were not investing
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finances to make new plans, rent more workers and produce better. Indeed, the opposite was true. Unsold inventories were stacking up in warehouses, investments were lessening, laborers were being sent home, and consumer purchases were reducing off. At that time, both black and white people experienced many hardships (Ku Klux Klan).
During the time period preceding the American Civil three groups of white people appeared with three very different views on the social placement of African Americans in the 1930’s society. Some called for never-ending discrimination against a lesser race, others wished for equal legal rights but no political rights, and an even smaller group hoped for total equality for all races and colors. Black people also had three extremely different views on the role they should play in the social order. A large group of “low class” blacks just wanted to get by, the older generation was content with the current societal arrangement, while the majority desired equality but went after it in a peaceful manner (Jennifer Briggs).
During the depression of the 1930’s, in the southern part of America, the Whites and the Blacks were fallen apart. They had significant differences. They had their own groups. The South saw the majority of the problems because of its extremely low economic status. Since there were no factory jobs that can be gotten except in the larger cities of Charleston and Birmingham, finding a job was next to impossible. However the depression in the best position of horrible race relations made the suffering of African Americans much worse. Because of the economic disasters were created by the Great Depression, most of the ex-slaves
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were poor and dependent upon the help of family, white people, or government officials. At that time the Whites had better life than the Blacks. Social status of the Whites was higher than the Blacks; it was seen in their job position. The Whites could get a job easier than the Blacks; they had more opportunities to work as employees. Besides, a large majority of the white men in the South believe blacks needed to learn their place and remain there. Though whites never said just what this place was, they showed it to them by limiting education, by discrimination on the streets and railroads, and barring them from public parks, public libraries, and public amusements of all kinds (Jennifer Briggs).
Besides, during the great depression, Black Americans almost fell apart. Business tightened their belts and fired the Black employees. The depressions hit the Black hardest of all Americans since they had always been on the lowest rank of the economy. One problem seemed to show itself quite often among African- Americans and that was a complaint of extreme hunger. Many ex-slaves commented on how much better and more they had to eat previous to the liberation. Because many of black population were suffering from malnutrition and starvation, it was very hard for them to enjoy this newfound freedom. Another common complaint was the lack of housing. Some of the older blacks who worked inside the houses of their masters were able to stay there as hired workers, but those who were strictly farm hands, the vast majority of the slaves, had no place to go except in inhumane and unhealthy huts.
According to a political cartoonist and author, Charles Johnson, in 1932 the economic status of Black employment in Philadelphia rate was higher than
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Whites. For example in 1935, in Detroit, St. Louis, New York, and Birmingham the amount of Blacks on liberation was much higher than Whites, in Detroit four times as many, and in St. Louis, New York and Birmingham three times as many. Every one was hit by this condition. This condition was very hard for them, especially for men. Because they had to responsible to provide for their families, it was embarrassing to keep on ask for assistance. In that situation the percentage of women working increased slightly during the depression. Traditionally female fields of teaching and social services grew. Blacks, women and unskilled lost their job first; Whites and managerial personnel were next (Issues of Race in the 1930's).
Discriminatory practices based on race and gender was forced. In the South, signs went up “No Niggers, Mexicans or Dogs allowed”. Blacks and other racial minorities suffered more than the Whites. In 1930’s, fifty percent of Blacks was jobless. Nevertheless, Elanor Rooselvelt championed black rights, and New Deal programs prohibited discrimination. It continued in the South. However, as a result a large number of black voters switched from the Republican to the Democrat party during the depression. The great depression and the New Deal changed forever the relationship between Americans and their government.
Government participation and responsibility in caring for the poor and regulating the economy came to be expected (Black Protest 289).
C. The Criticisms on Maya Angelou and Her Work
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the first autobiography of Maya Angelou among five volumes of her epic life story. As the first autobiography, it has received much critical attention. The story tells about Angelou’s childhood raped by her mother’s lover and subsequent struggles to survive an impoverished youth in the racist, sexist Southern America in 1930’s.