The Impact of Maya Angelou in American Literature - Research Paper

Introduction

Maya Angelou was among the civil activists subjected to life issues such as racism and many forms of physical and emotional abuse. Her experience was similar to other African American females during the historical times. She was committed to raising the moral standards of the US through poetry, autobiography, and stories. The author was widely known for her pieces of writing which greatly influenced the American literature. She has notably affected the people who have read the stories of her background and struggles in life (Parker). Through her poetry work, she managed to reach millions of people not only in the US but also other parts of the world. Angelou's literary works such as her short story "Sister Flowers" have impacted the American literature by inspiring authors in the country to expose injustice and discuss their challenges in public.

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Sister Flower's Summary

Since the historical time, literature has played a vital role in shaping the culture of America (Tefiani & Mouri 3). Maya Angelou's literary works just like other historical authors informed her audience about her personal life through her stories notably "Sister Flowers." The short story is part of the author's autobiography known as "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (Angelou). In the story, Angelou has expressed how Mrs. Flowers influenced her life. She admired Mrs. Flowers, an aristocrat woman who inspired her to read more books. Through the story, the audience learns that Angelou had difficulties expressing herself because the author felt unwanted and ugly due to her past struggles. However, after interacting with Mrs. Flowers, she read many books which made her gain confidence and courage to express herself (Angelou).

Analysis of Maya Angelou's Contributions

The short story "Sister Flowers" influenced the American literature by inspiring people in the society to write stories about their life experiences to encourage others the same way Mrs. Flowers inspired Angelou. Mrs. Flowers played a significant part in influencing American authors to embrace an autobiographical style. An example of a poet who was affected by Angelou's literary works is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah has a magazine through which she talks about her life experiences. She writes about her life and inspirational stories which are inspired by Maya Angelou (World Author Website). In many occasions, Oprah has claimed that Angelou was a mentor who greatly influenced her life. She identifies with the struggles of Angelou in her stories which motivate her to write about her own. Through Maya Angelou, she got the confidence to write her autobiography where she informs her audience about her difficult childhood just like Angelou's. Another author that was influenced by Maya Angelou to embrace the autobiographical style is Bill Clinton. Even though Clinton was not an established writer, he was influenced by Angelou's short story to write about his life (World Author Website).

Through, Maya Angelou's autobiographical fiction style used in "Sister Flowers," the author was also able to change the American literature by introducing deep inspirational and motivational aspects (Kotteeswari & Anbarasi 553). In the short story, the author has given an account of the challenges she experienced in her childhood. The challenges were similar to those experienced by the African American females in the American society. Through her literary skills, the author managed to inspire some authors to campaign for gender equality through writing. After reading her story, the audience can view the author's life from the perspective of an African American. She has explored the challenges of being an African American woman and the strategies for addressing the challenges. By telling the story of how she overcame her obstacles in life, she inspired a sense of motivation to not only other authors but also everyone in the society. She motivated other authors to also write about their own experiences to give other people solutions to the problems they face in their lives. Among the motivational aspects noticed in her short story "Sisters Flowers" includes the elements of pessimism. Through this short story, the author influenced the American literature by introducing the strategy of expressing a pessimistic situation positively. The story was set at a time when African American females were facing hardships due to inequality in the society. However, through Angelou's story, they learned to view their issues positively (Kotteeswari & Anbarasi 553). The author expressed how she overcame the hardships in the patriarchal society. For instance, in Sister Flowers, she has described her dark past which made it difficult for her to talk to people. Later, she explained how she overcame her challenges after being inspired by Mrs. Flowers. Consequently, other authors like Oprah began to embrace optimistic tones in their literary work (World Author Website).

Maya Angelou also influenced the American literature by continuing the theme of freedom and survival. The author was an activist who fought for the rights of African American females. The story of Angelou is a reflection of the hardships and losses of the African American females during the historical times. In the American society during her time, African Americans were fighting for their freedom. Women especially were struggling to overcome the challenges related to inequality in the society. As a victim of oppression at that time, the author wrote Sister Flowers for women. One of the major themes of the story is survival. In the story, Angelou survived the impacts of oppression after interacting with Mrs. Flower who gave her hope and skills to overcome her problems. Angelou got the power and strength to escape from her problems through her interactions with Mrs. Flower. Through the story, the author gave women the strength to survive their situation (Janouskova 9). The author's support for freedom in her literary work is also revealed in Sister Flowers. For instance, after imprisoning herself in her dark past, Mrs. Flowers helped her gain her freedom by learning to express herself just like feminists and Harlem Writers during her time (Tefiani & Mouri 22). As an activist who wanted to protect the rights of African Americans, the author used her pieces of writing to support the central societal themes of freedom and survival at that time (Tefiani & Mouri 22).

Moreover, Maya Angelou influenced the American literature by promoting the black feminist writings. Her literary work made the author to gain recognition for being the first African American to write about her personal life. Her achievements motivated many African American females to fight for their rights through literature. Before opening herself up to the public, many black female writers were excluded from the literature world. Only the white feminist writers participated in the fight against the abuse of females in the society. However, through her autobiographical work such as Sister Flowers, the author was able to promote the black female writings. Since it was evident that literature contributed towards Angelou's healing process, she also influenced psychologists to embrace literature. For instance, in the short story Sister Flowers, Angelou was able to heal from the impacts of her past abuses by gaining self-esteem and confidence after learning to express herself through literature. Through Angelou's story, Psychologist such as Christ Boyatzis concluded that writing plays a significant part in the Development of Psychology (Tefiani & Mouri 31).

Conclusion

Conclusively, Maya Angelou is still recognized as a phenomenal woman due to her literary skills even after her death. Her literary work such as "Sister Flowers" greatly influenced the American literature. Through her work, the author was able to promote the theme of feminism. In her autobiography, it is clear that she grew up in a patriarchal society where females did not enjoy equal rights as their male counterparts. Many women including her experienced sexual abused. To fight for their rights, the author expressed her pain through writing. In her work Sister Flowers, she gives the oppressed African Americans hope and teaches them ways of overcoming their challenges as women. Apart from supporting feminism theme, the author influenced many writers especially the African American females to adopt her unique writing skills such as the autobiographical skills. Among the writers who embraced this style included Oprah Winfrey. His writing not only influenced writers, but it also influenced psychologists in America. After learning from Angelou that by expressing one's pain through writing one can overcome emotional distress, many psychologists started incorporating her style of writing in the Development of Psychology.

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya. Mrs. Flowers (From I know Why the Caged bird Sings). Genius Media Group. 2018,

https://genius.com/Maya-angelou-mrs-flowers-from-i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-annotated. Accessed 7th July 2018.

Janouskova, Petra. Theme of survival in Maya Angelou's Poetry. Masaryk University in Brno. 2005,

https://is.muni.cz/th/bnl5k/bakalarka.final.pdf. Accessed 7th July 2018.

Kotteeswari, Roy & Anbarasi, Premila. "Maya Angelou's life and works as an inspirational sources to the Woman". International Journal of Advance Research, Ideas and Innovations in Technology. Vol 3, no. 4, 2017, PP. 552-555.

https://www.ijariit.com/manuscripts/v3i4/V3I4-1286.pdf. Accessed 7th July 2018.

Parker, Stephen. Maya Angelou. Poetry Foundation. 2018,

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou. Accessed 7th July 2018.

Tefiani, Souheyla. The Social and the political influence of Literature in Maya Angelou's I know why the Caged Bird Sings. University of Tlemcen. 2015.

http://dspace.univ-tlemcen.dz/bitstream/112/7863/1/souheyla-tefiani.pdf. Accessed 7th July 2018.

World Author Website. Other writers influenced by Maya Angelou, 2018,

http://mayaangelou.tripod.com/id10.html. Accessed 7th July 2018.