Freedom beyond Cage: Ecofeminist Reading of Maya Angelou’s “Women Work” and “Caged Bird”

Abstract

Background: Maya Angelou’s two poems, “Women Work” and “Caged Bird,” portray nature as a potential habitat for humans in general and women in particular. This study reasons that the natural world has multiple possibilities for fostering creativity healing psychological trauma imposed by the patriarchal social engineering.

Method: To validate the logic that nature means freedom and lends a new space for life, the research primarily uses the theoretical concept of Val Plumwood’s and Karen J Warren’s ecofeminism. Both of them theorize ecofeminism, linking the exploitation of females by patriarchy and nature by humans.  This study deduces that when people feel caged within social constraints, they long to embrace nature for freedom. So, nature is the ultimate retreat escape from mechanized life and its hardships.

Results: Based on the analysis of two poems, this study infers that social restrictions impair natural growth and progress because the mechanized physical situation inhibits novelty. The infringement upon women’s autonomy does not favor the flourishing of the potentials of the individuals. Neither a house nor a cage allows open space for beings in the world. The denial of subjectivity develops a controlling apparatus that hampers creativity. The study infers that the ideology of domination is extremely wrong for creativity. The natural world provides the natural flow of living due to which energy flourishes. Therefore, this study advocates for ecological openness.

Conclusion: Maya Angelou’s two poems reflect the creative power of nature and the cruelty of the mechanized society. Social constraints have made humans, specifically females, traumatized due to oppression and lack of freedom. However, they wish to be released from the social barrier and be in nature due to its power of healing them.

Novelty: Patriarchal society is programmed to exploit women since it moves in a mechanized way. The two metaphors in the poem: Home and cage are not just physical barrier but a deeply rooted social barricade.  However, people find consolation in nature because they are physically free and psychologically happy to be in an open space that, in turn, supports creation and regeneration. This is the eco-wisdom that supports ecological openness.