The Comparative Analysis of Feminism Thought In Poems of Maya Angelou and Audre Lordre

DOI

10.2991/conaplin-16.2017.33How to use a DOI?

Keywords

feminist thought; powerless; hegemonic culture; black African American women; and silence and passivity.

Abstract

This paper explores the construction of feminist thought as portrayed in selected poems of black female writers, Maya Angelou and Audre Lordre. Both writers reveal themes of powerless female protagonists (black African American Women) who undergo mental conflicts as a result of the hegemonic culture in their poetry such as "Phenomenal Woman," "Still I Rise," "On the Pulse of Morning," "Equality," "Woman Work," "Cage Bird," "Remembrence," "A Woman Speaks," "For Each of You," "Love Poem," "Power," "Inheritence," and "Sisters in Arms." By using the concept of feminist criticism, this study showed the forms of hegemonic culture through marginalization, stereotypes, subordination, and oppression. The silence and passivity of female protagonists are seen as active when viewed using this paradigm of female silence (a feminist criticism) because the silence and passivity are strategies used by female protagonists to resist the oppressive social roles, survive, and eulogize the self-accepted of female protagonists from dominant culture. In conclusion, Maya and Audre's seem to exalt the suffering, sacrificing, submissive wife, since it is through these qualities that they will not only survive, but finally triumph. These ways encourage the female protagonists (black African American Women) to construct the self-counsciousness, black women culture, and identity. In short, these reflect concern over the author's minds and explicity represent feminist thought.

Copyright

© 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Agung Suhadi
AU  - Kiagus Baluqiah
AU  - Yupika Mariansyah
PY  - 2016/11
DA  - 2016/11
TI  - The Comparative Analysis of Feminism Thought In Poems of Maya Angelou and Audre Lordre
BT  - Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Applied Linguistics (CONAPLIN 9)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 154
EP  - 157
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/conaplin-16.2017.33
DO  - 10.2991/conaplin-16.2017.33
ID  - Suhadi2016/11
ER  -