Character Analysis 2

Character Analysis & # 8211 ; I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Essay, Research Paper

In Maya Angelou & # 8217 ; s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya & # 8217 ; s beautiful, vibrant biological female parent, Vivian Baxter, emerges as an of import character in her girl & # 8217 ; s life. Vivian endures as a black adult female in a white adult male & # 8217 ; s universe by exposing strength, honestness, and stamina, which lead to self- saving. Vivian lives within the St. Louis wind society where inkinesss are faced with & # 8220 ; ? the ill will of the powerless against the powerful, the hapless against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well- dressed. & # 8221 ; Ms. Angelou provides her readers with a graphic description of an unwilling female parent push in and out of maternal state of affairss during a thirteen-year span in which she survives as an entertainer in bars from St. Louis to San Francisco. Despite exposing character traits that may be interpreted as unmotherly, Vivian Baxter is, however, a positive function theoretical account for her girl, Maya.

Vivian is a really self- centered human being who considers herself her figure one precedence. Even so, she ne’er doubts her love for her kids, and female parents them in the lone manner she knows. Vivian wantonnesss her kids, Bailey and Maya, when they are really immature. Write from the writer & # 8217 ; s point of position, the narrative does non uncover the particulars taking up to this forsaking. The reader, nevertheless, can see the fortunes environing a failed matrimony of a Black twosome during the Depression, and understand Vivian & # 8217 ; s interior struggle refering directing her kids off. The audience concludes with the female parent that the kids will have a more proper upbringing elsewhere. Consequently, Vivian allows her mother-in-law to supply Maya and Bailey with a stable place life and a female parent figure. The kids grow and develop with & # 8220 ; Momma & # 8221 ; , and are shocked to detect, when Maya is six, that their biological female parent is still alive. Maya can non understand how her female parent could hold deserted her. She says that no existent female parent would & # 8221 ; laugh and eat oranges in the sunlight without her children. & # 8221 ;

A twelvemonth subsequently, when the kids arrive in St. Louis to populate with their female parent, Vivian is non truly prepared to be a parent, but efforts to do their life with her gratifying. For case, early one forenoon, Vivian awakens Maya and Bailey and tells them to travel to the kitchen. The kids are delighted to detect that she has thrown a surprise party for them, for no other ground than they are her kids. They eat biscuits and watch their female parent sing and dance. Even though Vivian is non certain how to raise her kids, she still tries to link with them and be a good female parent. Vivian besides gives the kids opportunities they ne’er would hold experienced had they stayed in Stamps. She takes them to Chinese and Italian eating houses, and introduces them to Magyar gulyas. In this manner, they experience many different types of people and civilizations outside of their ain little universe.

Another illustration of Vivian & # 8217 ; s selfishness occurs when Maya becomes pregnant. Vivian does non even recognize that Maya is anticipating a babe. She is so involved in her ain affairs that every bit long as her girl looks happy and healthy, Vivian figures she must be. However, it would hold been highly helpful to Maya if her female parent had been at that place to offer advice and aid. When she eventually finds out, Maya is due to present the babe in merely two hebdomads. Vivian attempts to do up for the lost clip by

doing the remainder of Maya’s gestation particular. They buy baby apparels, get vitamins, and visit legion physicians. Although Vivian missed much of the gestation, she is determined to move the portion of a lovingness female parent for the last twosome of hebdomads. This motherly devotedness gives Maya a spot of reassurance during this terrorizing experience.

An extra character trait the reader discovers about Vivian is that she is really blunt and straight- forward when covering with affairs. When she discovers that Maya has been jumping school, she does non detonate into a fury like many grownups would. Alternatively, she merely tells her girl that if there were no trials in school one twenty-four hours, and she was caught up in her school assignment, she could state her female parent and non go to. This manner of managing the state of affairs makes it about impossible for Maya to go on to be awol, and the affair is solved rapidly and easy. Another clip, Maya is afraid she is turning into a sapphic. Vivian trades with the state of affairs coolly, and Tells Maya that she is absolutely normal. & # 8220 ; ? The Man upstairs, he don & # 8217 ; Ts make errors. He gave you to me to be my miss and that & # 8217 ; s merely what you are. & # 8221 ; Vivian knows how to chasten Maya & # 8217 ; s frights without abashing her.

Finally, Vivian is obstinate and tough from turning up black in a white universe. She has succeeded, makes a life for herself, and is good known and respected in a clip when most adult females are non. Possibly the route has been easier for her because of her physical beauty and being really light skinned. She is so attractive, Maya and her brother can even feign a white film star is their female parent. They comment, & # 8220 ; She was excessively beautiful to hold children. & # 8221 ; Vivian dances and sings at a saloon, and, harmonizing to Maya, & # 8220 ; talked with her whole organic structure and snapped her fingers louder than anyone in the whole world. & # 8221 ; Her female parent & # 8217 ; s universe is so different from anything Maya had of all time known that she seemed about unreal. & # 8220 ; To depict my female parent would be to compose about a hurricane in its perfect power. & # 8221 ;

Vivian, although intelligent, lives a fast-paced life, and is unconcerned with the particulars of her kids & # 8217 ; s lives. & # 8220 ; Vivian Baxter could and would cover with expansive strategies and big secret plans, but please, pray God, spare her the details. & # 8221 ; Maya & # 8217 ; s female parent & # 8220 ; goes with the flow & # 8221 ; , much like the wind music she sings. Interestingly, the name Vivian is derived from the Latin root, vivo, which means & # 8220 ; I live & # 8221 ; . Vivian, does, so, unrecorded life to its fullest.

Vivian & # 8217 ; s obstinacy and doggedness are instilled in her girl. When Maya wants to acquire a occupation as a tram driver, she is told that inkinesss are non allowed to keep that place. Vivian, nevertheless, does non accept this. She tells Maya, & # 8220 ; That & # 8217 ; s what you want to make? Then nil beats a test but a failure. Give it everything you & # 8217 ; ve got. & # 8221 ; This remark gives Maya the assurance she needs to go on to prosecute the occupation and finally to obtain the place.

Although Vivian does non basically change throughout the class of the narrative, she does assist alter and model her girl, Maya. Ms. Angelou refers to hanker ago state of affairss with such dramatic item that it is apparent her female parent played an indispensable function in her life. The writer calls her parent & # 8220 ; Mother Dear & # 8221 ; in a respectful, non condescending, tone. Additionally, Angelou capitalizes & # 8220 ; Mother & # 8221 ; in this autobiography, while & # 8220 ; father & # 8221 ; remains in small letter. The reader concludes that, purposefully or non, the character Vivian Baxter played an of import function in Maya Angelou & # 8217 ; s life.