family as a maid, the family decided they’d rather call her Mary. Angelou explained that Mary wasn’t her name, but they didn’t care. Such a situation had a long history under slavery, when it was common to change a slave’s African name -- or even the name he was called by his previous owners -- without any consent on the part of the slave himself. Pierre Walker notes that “Since slavery relied on a belief that those enslaved were not really human beings, slave narrators . . . emphasized the fact that they themselves were humans who deserved to be treated as such. Since emancipation, African American authors have used the same strategy to fight the belief in racial hierarchies that relegated them to second-class citizen status” (Walker, 91). Angelou decided that she at least needed the dignity of being called her own name, and consequently she quit her job.But the development of Maya’s proudly actualized self was not a smooth process by any means. An critical incident in her life occurred when, at the age of eight, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend -- an event she relates in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. As Sarah Nichols notes, “The language used in the scene is hardly explicit, yet it does deal with a sensitive issue and evokes a strong emotional response. As [Angelou] describes the pain and the confusion of the situation, one cannot help but feel sorry for the naive and hurt child” (Nichols, 861927397.html).At that time one wouldn’t have expected anyone to be interested in the welfare of a young black girl. Yet Maya is actually called to testify to what Mr. Freeman has done to her, and she is bitterly disappointed in herself that she cannot tell the full truth; whereas he actually abused her twice, she only admits to one instance. The trauma following this unreasonable demand on such a young child causes her to fall psychologically mute for five years. While suc...
