Ministry of Higher Education and

Scientific Research
University of Anbar
College of Education for Humanities
Department of English

Schizophrenic identity in Maya Angelou’s "I know

why the Caged Bird Sings"

BY

Ahmed Emad Qassim

Samar Ahmed Jassam Lara Rashid Hamid

Supervised by
Dr. Marwan Kadhim Mohammed

2020
 The outline of the study
Abstract
1. Introduction
1.2 Background of study
1.2 Maya Angelou's life and works
1.3 Maya Angelou's I know why the Caged Bird
Sings
1.4 Literature review
2. Body
2.1 Schizophrenia
2.2 Schizophrenic identity
2.3 Schizophrenic in Maya Angelou's I know why
the Caged Bird Sings
4. Conclusion
5. References
 ABSTRACT

Questing for the Schizophrenic identity in Maya Angelou’s I know why

The Caged Bird Sings is undoubtedly regarded as one of the exclusive
matters which have not been addressed before. The aim of this study
lies in carrying out a psychological analysis for Maya Angelou’s
personality with a view to determine whether Maya Angelou is
schizophrenic or not. Thus, the study is fully subject to the psychological
approach. In addition to this, the paper provides a sufficient study about
Schizophrenia and explains the misunderstanding between the
schizophrenic identity and dissociative identity. After explaining the
confusion between the two and carrying out a deep study about the
novel, we concluded that The African-American writer Maya Angelou in
her first autobiography I know why the Caged Bird Sings is schizophrenic.
 INTRODUCTION
"If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her
displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is the
unnecessary insult."

- Maya Angelou

Why should bird sing in joy while they are in the cage? It’s a mysterious
question, right? Another question, why does the heart insist in making
us guilty, while our minds admit that fact that we are not? This leads us
to an inner conflict, right? Why do we feel such a struggle? Are we
divided internally? We don’t know if such a feeling is natural or there is a
reason behind. All these questions will be interpreted in the paper
through analyzing Maya Angelou’s personality psychologically.

Maya Angelou is one of the most celebrated and influential African

American women, an autobiographer, activist, poet, dancer, film
producer, television producer, playwright, actress, civil rights activist and
film director. She was born Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4th, 1928,
in St. Louis, Missouri. The name Maya was given to her by her older
brother, Bailey Jr., who referred to her in his youth as "my-a-sister," a
moniker which was later shortened to "Maya." The hardships endured
by her during her childhood have been a driving force in reaching the
zenith and enjoying success. Angelou turned to literature at an early age,
studying a wide range of books which inspired her to begin writing works
of her own. In addition to the composition of many volumes of poetry,
Angelou chronicled her life in a series of six autobiographical works,
which included her most lauded and controversial work, I Know why
Caged Bird Sings.
Maya Angelou’s works, especially autobiographies, reflect her own
subjective experiences in describing the personal, social, cultural, and
historical influences which shaped her life and personality. She explores
herself and individual identity and her relationship with the family and
the community. Of course, the divergent experiences which she
confronts in her life represent the stages of her spiritual growth and
awareness. Studying her autobiography is significant, since it offers her
deep insights into personal and group experience in America. In
addition, her works echoes the survival strategies available to a black
woman in America.

I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings is the first of Six Volumes of Maya
Angelou’s autobiography which cover the years from the early 1930’s up
until about 1970. This volume begins with Maya’s childhood and ends
with her giving birth to a son Guy.

I know why the caged bird sings is a story about Marguerite Johnson
who overcomes social obstacles, child hood brutality and oppressive
hardships in a quest to find self-identity and emotional fulfillment. The
title of this book is taken from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem
"Sympathy". She is calling her young self a caged bird. So what’s her
cage? What keeps her from freedom? The answers to these questions
are Racism, Sexism, Insecurity, Poverty and Abuse. Anything else come
to mind? But no matter how many times these forces push against her,
she continues to fight back. So if Maya is the bird and these things are
the cages.

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya paints a vivid picture of a poor
black girl who with her brother Bailey was sent to live with their
grandmother in Arkansas while her mother, an entertainer, pursued a
much faster life in California. The little girl called Maya had the peculiar
experience of growing up in a black community whose rules were laid
down by white people Maya hardly ever saw. Angelou’s life and work
observes "White people were more than strangers." They were from
another planet. And yet even unseen, they ruled". Consequently she
experienced racism in no uncertain terms.
I know why the Caged Bird Sings opened the doors to the readers to
enter in her private world and gave them an insight into the failures and
triumphs of her life. In her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya
lined up the images of despair, pain, loneliness and the perpetual
sufferings of her life in particular and her race in general as the members
of the black community. In this novel she vividly narrates her
experiences in various situations and a wide variety of people. She used
the name of her novel in a symbolic manner to take her identified as a
bird in the cage singing in joy irrespective of her caged status. In the
latter part of the novel it was understood that even though she was
restricted by circumstances as a bird is in the cage, she took things for
granted and found joy in her setting or situations by changing her
perception and attitudes towards various situations. In her narration it
was clear that she was victimized by one and all because of her
unprivileged birth and upbringing as a black woman. She learnt to
forgive her exploiters and tried to live a normal life. Her story spoke
volumes about her unflinching faith in her identity and beauty of her
race taking pride in being a colored woman.

In this Thought-provoking autobiography, Angelou portrays the

different incidents in her life that affected her and helped her to
understand and liberate herself from the shackles of the society. Maya’s
rape, subsequent muteness, her interaction with Mrs. Flowers,
mocking pro-white trash girls, her visit to the dentist, Maya’s month
living in a Junkyard, her struggle to become a San Francisco street-car
conductor, doubt about her sex, her graduation, and accepting
motherhood were the incidents that shaped her personality and paved
the path to understand life. Throughout her book, she admits her true
self.
In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes her coming
of age as a precocious but insecure black girl in the American South
during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s.
Maya's parents' divorce when she is only three years old and ship Maya
and her older brother, Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother,
Annie Henderson, in rural Stamps, Arkansas. Annie, whom they call
Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes
the central moral figure in Maya's childhood.

Growing up in Stamps, Maya faces a deep-seated southern racism

manifested in wearying daily indignities and terrifying lynch mobs. She
spends time at Momma's store, observing the cotton-pickers as they
journey to and from work in the fields. When Maya is eight, her father,
of whom she has no memory, arrives in Stamps unexpectedly and takes
her and Bailey to live with their mother, Vivian, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Beautiful and alluring, Vivian lives a wild life working in gambling parlors.
One morning Vivian's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, sexually molests Maya,
and he later rapes her. They go to court and afterward Mr. Freeman is
violently murdered, probably by some the underground criminal
associates of Maya's family.

In the aftermath of these events, Maya endures the guilt and shame of
having been sexually abused. She also believes that she bears
responsibility for Mr. Freeman€™s death because she denied in court
that he had molested her prior to the rape. Believing that she has
become a mouthpiece for the devil, Maya stops speaking to everyone
except Bailey. Her mother's family accepts her silence at first as
temporary post-rape trauma, but they later become frustrated and
angry at what they perceive to be disrespectful behavior.

To Maya's relief, but Bailey's regret, Maya and Bailey return to Stamps to
live with Momma. Momma manages to break through Maya's silence by
introducing her to Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a kind, educated woman who
tells Maya to read works of literature out loud, giving her books of
poetry that help her to regain her voice.
During these years in Stamps, Maya becomes aware of both the fragility
and the strength of her community. She attends a church revival during
which a priest preaches implicitly against white hypocrisy through his
sermon on charity. The spiritual strength gained during the sermon soon
dissipates as the revival crowd walks home past the honky-tonk party.
Maya also observes the entire community listening to the Joe Louis
heavyweight championship boxing match, desperately longing for him to
defend his title against his white opponent.

Maya endures several appalling incidents that teach her about the
insidious nature of racism. At age ten, Maya takes a job for a white
woman who calls Maya as Maria for her own convenience. Maya
becomes enraged and retaliates by breaking the woman's fine china. At
Maya's eighth grade graduation, a white speaker devastates the proud
community by explaining that black students are expected to become
only athletes or servants. The last straw comes when Bailey encounters
a dead, rotting black man and witnesses a white man's satisfaction at
seeing the body. Momma the novel created using Notebooks by Droid-
Veda being and saves money to bring them to Vivian, who now lives in
California.

When Maya is thirteen, the family moves to live with Vivian in Los
Angeles and then in Oakland, California. When Vivian marries Daddy
Clidell, a positive father figure, they move with him to San Francisco, the
first city where Maya feels at home. She spends one summer with her
father, Big Bailey, in Los Angeles and has to put up with his cruel
indifference and his hostile girlfriend, Dolores. After Dolores cuts her in a
fight, Maya runs away and lives for a month with a group of homeless
teenagers in a junkyard. She returns to San Francisco strong and self-
assured. She defies racist hiring policies in wartime San Francisco to
become the first black streetcar conductor at age fifteen. At sixteen, she
hides her pregnancy from her mother and stepfather for eight months
and graduates from high school. The account ends as Maya begins to
feel confident as a mother to her newborn son.
Because of being one of the most celebrated and influential figures,
unlimited number of studies were carried out about Maya Angelou and
her life. In her study Search for identity in Maya Angelou’s I know why
the caged bird sings (2016), N. Banumathi said that a study of Maya
Angelou’s autobiographical works reveals that Maya’s main objective is
not only to narrate her story of triumph at the personal level but also to
voice the trail and tribulations of African American women in the
backdrop of racial and gender discrimination even in the advanced west.

In his study Quest for Identify-Maya Angelou’s I know why the caged bird
sings (2016), Dr. Bindu explained that Maya compares herself, her black
female role models, and even her entire race to the bird who is locked in
a cage but nevertheless sings. Maya implies that by reading her
autobiography, the reader will come to understand why the bird sings
despite being locked up in a cage. At the same time, the title implies the
possibility that the reason why the caged bird sings could be a secret,
one that Maya holds close inside her, away from the tampering,
meddling forces of the prison master. We can guess why the bird sings-
perhaps to break free, perhaps to provide solace to itself, perhaps
because its voice is its only means of action or communication, or
perhaps because the bird feels joy knowing something others do not.
Maya’s widely varied and insightful depiction of the African- American
struggle affords many possible reasons.

In their study Maya Angelou's Life and Works as an Inspirational Sources

to the Women (2017), Kotteeswari and Anbarasi explained that Angelou
was the one who recognized and expressed that she as a child of God
and it was her duty to recognize that everyone else in the world was also
a child of God. Angelou, from her experiments on life she realized the
universal fact that it is not fair to blame others for what she endured but
to accept it in positive manner that teaches a lesson of life.
The present study is concerned with examining the subject of
Schizophrenic identity in Maya Angelou’s I know why the Caged Bird
Sings. Such a study had not been addressed before.

As we mentioned before that our aim is to examine whether Maya

Angelou, in her first autobiography, is schizophrenic or not. This aim
cannot be achieved without explaining what Schizophrenia generally
means.

Schizophrenia has been referred to as an "I am" illness", meaning that

this disorder affects an individual’s core identity, the qualities, and
characteristics. Identity, however, is never static and, particularly in the
context of schizophrenia, it has been associated with fluidity and
characterized by inconsistent autobiographical recall and changes in self-
representation over time. (Mary V Seeman 2017) The prevailing, clinical
view of schizophrenia, as reflected in the psychiatric literature, suggests
both that people with schizophrenia have lost their sense of self and
that they have a diminished capacity to create coherent narratives about
their own lives.

There are some myths associated with schizophrenia. These myths

heavily influence how many people view schizophrenia. Here are only a
few of the commonly believed myths, and why they’re wrong:

1. People with schizophrenia have multiple personalities.

According to a 2008 survey by the National Alliance on Mental Illness

(NAMI), 64 percent of the population´ is unable to recognize the
symptoms associated with schizophrenia and instead simply believe that
people with the disorder have a split or multiple personalities. This is
false. Schizophrenia often involves a variety of symptoms, but not one
involves multiple personalities. This myth likely originated because the
word "schizo" means split- however, in this case, it refers to´ gaps´ (or a
splitting) in a person's ability to think and express emotions. (People
with split personalities are living with´ Dissociative Identity Disorder.)
2. Schizophrenia makes people dangerous.

In popular culture, individuals with schizophrenia are often depicted as

unpredictable, and violent. Although it's true that some individuals with
schizophrenia do commit crimes, the vast majority of patients are
nonviolent. In fact, of past violent offenders who did have schizophrenia,
only 23 percent of their crimes were directly related to their symptoms.
Unfortunately, the notion that all individuals with schizophrenia are
dangerous contributes heavily to the stigma surrounding the disorder.
People with schizophrenia often have reduced housing and employment
opportunities, greater stress, lower self-esteem, and diminished quality
of life.

3. Schizophrenia only involves delusions and hallucinations.

Many people incorrectly believe that individuals with schizophrenia only

suffer from hallucinations and delusions. This is not surprising:
Psychotic´ symptoms are unusual and often frightening, and so popular
culture focuses on these more than other symptoms associated with
schizophrenia. Along with delusions and hallucinations, though,
individuals with schizophrenia may experience blunted emotions,
low motivation, disorganized speech, and a lack of desire to form social
relationships. They also can have difficulty maintaining attention and
performing certain cognitive tasks.

Briefly, a Person with schizophrenia is one who suffers from internal

disturbances between his/her mind and his/her feelings. And this is what
is the so-called as internal conflict. Now, we have to clarify the Maya
Angelou’s internal conflict.
According to our psychological study of Maya Angelou's I know why the
Caged Bird Sings, we found that almost all of the indications of
schizophrenia are found in Maya Angelou’s personality. Angelou’s
reactions toward the difficult circumstances faced by her through bitter
childhood reveal her inner conflict. Maya’s rape, subsequent muteness,
her interaction with Mrs. Flowers, mocking pro-white trash girls, her visit
to the dentist, Maya’s month living in a Junkyard, her struggle to become
a San Francisco street-car conductor, doubt about her sex, her
graduation, and accepting motherhood played an important role in
forming her psychological struggle. Maya’s feeling of guilty towards Mr.
Freeman’s death is completely unreasonable. Her belief that she is the
reason behind killing Mr. Freeman is wrong. She is only a victim of the
desires of a man. Although her words suggest her innocence, but her
feeling of guilty is still chasing her.

At the same time, Maya's attention to her own guilt concerning matters
related to Mr. Freeman does not mean that she feels particularly guilty
for the rape itself. Rather, she continues to refer to Mr. Freeman as a
"dirty man" and she begins to strengthen her opinion of herself as an
experienced woman. When she enters the courtroom filled with
unsavory characters and "smirking mouths", Maya remembers that the
nurses have told her that she has seen the worst life has to offer her,
and she uses their words to bolster her confidence. She says, "I was
eight, and grown," showing how the incident ultimately sharpens her
precocious sense of self. Undoubtedly, she has lost some of the
innocence that led to her accept Mr. Freeman's advances. Now, she puts
the rape behind her to a certain extent and pays even more attention to
her own character. Throughout the rest of the book, however, Maya
must continue to struggle with growing pains, particularly those
associated with sex. While she may grow wiser in some ways in St. Louis,
she nevertheless remains a confused child.
 CONCLUSION
According to the psychological perspective that is concerning with
schizophrenia and after carrying out a deep study for the novel, we
concluded that the African American writer Maya Angelou is
schizophrenic. The fragmented way of thinking, mental anarchy, and the
unreasonable feeling of guilty toward Mr. Freeman's death are the main
reasons that shaped Maya Angelou’s schizophrenic identity.

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didn't come to stay": Displacement, Disruption and Black Female
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