Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Strong Black Women
Though Maya struggles with insecurity and displacement
throughout her childhood, she has a remarkable number of strong
female role models in her family and community. Momma, Vivian, Grandmother
Baxter, and Bertha Flowers have very different personalities and
views on life, but they all chart their own paths and manage to maintain
their dignity and self-respect. None of them ever capitulates to
racist indignities.
Maya also charts her own path, fighting to become the
first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco, and she does so
with the support and encouragement of her female predecessors. Maya
notes at the end of Chapter 34 that the towering
character of the black American woman should be seen as the predictable
outcome of a hard-fought struggle. Many black women fall along the
way. The ones who can weather the storm of sexism and racism obviously
will shine with greatness. They have survived, and therefore by
definition they are survivors.
Literature
Maya’s first love is William Shakespeare. Throughout her
life, literature plays a significant role in bolstering her confidence
and providing a world of fantasy and escape. When feeling isolated
in St. Louis, she takes refuge in the library. She describes Mrs.
Bertha Flowers as being like women in English novels. Mrs. Flowers
helps Maya rediscover her voice after her rape by encouraging her
to use the words of other writers and poets. Maya continually
quotes and refers to the literature she read throughout her childhood.
For instance, at one point she simply gives San Francisco the title
“Pride and Prejudice” without referring specifically to Jane Austen’s
novel of the same name. Bailey appreciates Maya’s love of literature.
He often presents her with gifts, such as the book of Edgar Allen
Poe’s work that he and Maya read aloud while walking in their backyard
in Stamps.
Naming
Maya’s real name is Marguerite, and most of her family
members call her Ritie. The fact that she chooses to go by Maya
as an adult, a name given to her by her brother, Bailey, indicates
the depth of love and admiration she holds for him. When Maya reunites
with her mother and her mother’s family in St. Louis at age eight,
one of her uncles tells her the story of how she got this name.
Thus, finding her family is connected with finding her name and
her identity. Indeed, for African Americans in general, Maya notes,
naming is a sensitive issue because it provides a sense of identity
in a hostile world that aims to stereotype blacks and erase their
individuality and identity. Consequently, given the predominance
of pejoratives like nigger so often used to cut
down blacks, Maya notes the danger associated with calling a black
person anything that could be loosely interpreted as insulting.
Besides the obvious fact that Mrs. Cullinan does not take the time
to get Maya’s name right in the first place, Mrs. Cullinan wishes
to manipulate Maya’s name for her own convenience, shortening it
to Mary, illustrating that she cares very little about Maya’s wishes
or identity. Maya becomes enraged, and the incident inspires her
to commit her first act of resistance.
