The women in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple have been raped and forced to live life harshly as African Americans during the time when civil rights for many people of the United States of America was still very much a dream. The novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, is an autobiography of Maya Angelou's life. In the novel, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of eight and had to move constantly from her grandmother's place in the rural part of Stamps, Arkansas to her mother's place in the city of St. Louis. Not only was it awful for Maya Angelou to not have a permanent place to stay, but it was more horrible in that she was alienated from her own black community. The novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, is about the life of an African American woman named Celie. She was raped by her stepfather at the age of fourteen and was forced to marry a violent husband who treated her terribly. Although she was uneducated in the beginning of the book, with the help of her sister, Nettie, she becomes informed about the world and learns to appreciate and love herself. The two novels, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and

Even though the two novels, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Color Purple are from two different authors, they are very similar. Both novels tell the life of African American women and how they have to overcome racism, negative things people thought about them, and their traumatic childhood. The stories of Maya and Celie are something that cannot be forgotten. The two novels are outstanding and should be recommended to everyone.

The negative view of men is not only shown in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, but also in The Color Purple. Celie also gets raped by her "fatherly figure", her step-father, Alfonso. "He never had a kine word to say to me. Just say You gonna do what your mammy wouldn't. First he put his thing up gainst by hip and sort of wiggle it around. Then he grab hold my titties. Then he push his thing inside my pussy." was what Alfonso had done to Celie (Walker, 1). "Harpo ast his daddy why he beat me. Mr. _____ say, 'Cause she my wife. Plus, she stubborn. All women good for- he don't finish" (Walker, 23). Mr._____'s reason for beating Celie was because Celie is his wife, his property. This kind of treatment will certainly lead Celie to think of men in a negative way. "He beat me like he beat the children...I make myself wood. I say to myself, Celie you a tree. That's how come I know trees fear men" (Walker 23). Events such as these throughout Celie's life lead her to feel that all men are bad.

The theme of racism is also extremely important in The Color Purple. The victim of the racist act was surprisingly Sofia. No one would ever guess she would be succumbed to the white people. When the readers first met Sofia, she is described as a solid strong woman, a quality that has often been unseen in the other women in the novel. Sofia is an excellent example of women who refuse to be dominated by anyone, whether it be of men, other women, or the white society. But very unlikely, she becomes the victim of racism. "All your children so clean, would you like to work for me, be my maid?" (Walker, Alice. The Color Purple, 90) was what Miss Millie ordered Sofia. Sofia refuses to be Miss Millie's maid and was "dragged to the ground and beaten" (Walker, 91). It is clear from this situation that strong women such as Sofia were perceived primarily as workers, particularly suited to be white women's maids. Sofia's experience clearly indicates that black women, as well as black men, who resist racism are physically attacked by white society.

Another really

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Approximate Word count = 1679
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)