The subjects of motherhood and marriage in the autobiographies of Maya Angelou

Abstract

The autobiography is the medium Angelou chooses to recount the defining phases of her experience as an African-American. In fact, she uses it to define her identity – who she is, her culture, and her past, present and future. Maya Angelou has a collection of autobiographical texts, which chronicle her life from infancy to adulthood. In these collections, she recounts the hard and good times of her life. This essay discusses how Angelou uses the subjects of motherhood and marriage to define her identity, and the merits of the literary techniques she uses in doing this. The merit of her literary techniques is explained in how Angelou uses both marriage and motherhood role-plays to establish an identity for herself within the African-American tradition where the role of the woman takes centre-stage in the upbringing of children, especially in the single family setting as was the case of Angelou. The study looks at how Angelou uses language artistically by making references to some characteristics of the genre, such as first-person narration, chronological order, flashback, and an emphasis on the self, among other figurative levels of meaning like similes, metaphors, rhetorical questions, and personification to display her mastery and craftsmanship over her narrative. The study concludes that Angelou’s use of art enables her to successfully illustrate autobiography as an art form that is meant to teach and entertain her reading audience.