Female Oppression in ‘Phenomenal Woman’ and ‘Woman Work’: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This paper is a comparative study between two selected poems by Maya Angelou, and aims to explore the female oppression as portrayed in her those selected poems. The researcher’s objective is to explore the hegemonic culture through subordination, marginalization, and oppression of women. The study is qualitative descriptive with textual analysis by conducting comparative criticism between mentioned poems. Data analysis would be conducted by using the particular ideas of feminist such as Simone de Beauvoir in her book “The Second Sex”. Angelou showed oppressed female but in the end Angelou shows how the women not only survive but also triumph. Researcher suggests that there are still so many complexities in the poems of Angelou that other researchers can explore. Scholars can compare more poems of Angelou or other feminist writers with above mentioned poems, and researchers can also conduct their study by taking more than two poems of Angelou for comparative analysis, they can investigate any view point other than female oppression.