Maya Angelou: biography and social chronicle in I know why the bird sings in the cage

Abstract

In this article we intend to analyze the autobiography I know why the bird sings in the cage, by African-American writer Maya Angelou, from the perspective of the philosophy of language by Mikhail Bakhtin and his Circle, using us, above all, of key concepts such as exotopia and dialogism. In addition, we intend to highlight the social character of the discursive genre in question which, in this case, allows the author to narrate about the lived subjectively while telling the story of the African-American subject and his struggles and resistance, intertwining the discourse personal from biography to social. Emphasizing female voices in the novel and their protagonism is also a relevant point of our study, since the writer tells her story with the clear objective of demonstrating that, although there is subjective specificity, there is also a kind of common destiny for African-American women . Through positive and optimistic prose, it can be seen that the vicissitudes of life do not weaken black resistance in the USA.