The Autobiographical Subject: Agency and Autonomy in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Abstract

Autobiographical writings, in case of marginalized people, provide a means of coming to terms with their identity and thereby claiming agency. The writer reconstructs her life in writing and comes to a better understanding of it. The autobiography, then, is an appeal for acceptance, a possibility to relive significant relations in her life and also to connect to a wider, empathic readership. This establishment of relations fosters confidence; entering a discourse of identity with a larger community equips the subject to disrupt the discursive dominance upon her and attain selfhood. This paper concerns itself with how the subject in Angelou's first volume of autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, asserts autonomy via the autobiographical act.