الفهرس 
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Abstract
The thesis discusses Maya Angelou’s autobiography to shed light on the problems that she faced all her life long. These problems reflect what happens to every woman especially the black in the American society. The thesis follows the events of the author’s life highlight the unfair treatment of women. Maya Angelou is an author who had a powerful word in the American society as she is a multi-talented writer and strong feminist and activist. The study investigates three books of the American writer and poet, Maya Angelou who shows her life in seven autobiographical volumes. The thesis discusses Angelou’s life events in: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in My Name and Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry like christmas. The first book shows her childhood as a black child and problems like the quest for identity, racism, rape and divorce. The second book speaks about two years only of her life but records a lot of experiences. It exhibits some problems such as scamming, bullying, drug addicting and children kidnapping. The third book explains Angelou’s life as an adult after traveling around the world and the side effects on her personality and her son. The thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter One deals with the first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It follows the events when Maya was three till her baby birth at sixteen. The first book narrates thirteen years of Angelou’s life. They are full of troublesome issues and problems such as racism towards blacks in America. This is shown obviously when she and her grandmother went to the dentist who told them that he preferred to put his hand in a dog’s mouth than a nigger’s. The answer was a great shock to young Maya, especially that she was a child and in pain. The chapter also investigates the search for identity and how blacks in America dream to know their roots in Africa because they do not know their real families or names as some slaves were sold in their childhood. Angelou thought that she was a beautiful white princess but a weird witch used a black magic to make her black; however, she accepted her reality and identity when she grew up. Maya suffered from racism and segregation because she lived in one of the racist states and her grandmother taught her to be obedient and not to make problems with the Whites. Chapter Two investigates some problems in the American society like bullying, scamming, drug addicting and child kidnapping. Young Maya faced bullying when she was dressed and talked like southern people when she moved to San Francisco. She was also scammed and tricked by deceitful men who lied and cheated on her with other women. Maya knew many deceitful men who took advantage of her and the result was that her son was kidnapped by the babysitter. Maya also examined the problem of drug addicting that is common in all classes in America especially poor classes. Another problem shown in this chapter is child kidnapping. Maya left her son with a babysitter and went to see her mother, Vivian, in the hospital and because Maya took much time to return, the babysitter thought that Maya would never return and kidnapped Maya’s son. Fortunately, Maya finally found her son. Maya was so young woman at that time and wanted to be desirable so she admired a drug-addicted man and was ready to take drugs if he would like her for that. She was shocked to know how miserable addicted people were. She finally found it better, for her and her son, to return to her mother’s house to be safe. Chapter Three examines other problems such as unequal marriage, divorce and woman’s work. It analyses the relationship between Maya and her Greek husband and how it ended. It explains how Maya suffered to make her marriage successful but in vain. After the divorce, she became independent and had a job to spend on her son and pay their bills. She had dignity enough to prevent her from asking for help. After some time of work in night clubs, she had the chance to travel around the world with the Opera band, Porgy and Bess. She met with different reactions such as admiration and racism from people but she was strong. Maya returned to America after receiving a letter from her mother that told her she would travel to work and leave Maya’s son alone if she would not return. Maya returned after paying one thousand dollars as a fine because she wanted to leave suddenly. After returning, she suffered from self-guilt because she left her son alone for a long time. Maya’s mother did the same years before when she left Maya and her brother, Bailey, on the southern train at the age of three and four. Maya tried to improve her relationship with her son after a talk with her uncle Wailey. Maya had a lot of offers of work but she gave priority to her son and promised to take him with her everywhere. To conclude, Maya is one of the most important contemporary writers and autobiographers in America. She is one of the most powerful poets and famous characters in the American who lived her life with courage and self- dignity. She tried to be an independent woman to provide for her needs and those of her son’s. Maya tried to keep her dignity and did not try to ask anyone for help.