A research paper presented at VURD – Vidyodaya Undergraduate Research Conference – 2021
Maya Angelou and Monica Ruwanpathirana are two modern women writers from different ethnic, geographical, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. As a Black American, Angelou is a representative of the ethnic minority whilst Ruwanpathirana belongs to the ethnic majority being a Sri Lankan Sinhala Buddhist. The research aimed to find out the compatibility and points of contestation between the poetry of both writers. Thus, the research problem was ‘What are the similarities and differences between Maya Angelou and Monica Ruwanpathirana in voicing the position of women and social injustice?’ The objective of the research was to identify the universality of social injustice based on gender, race, and class. Under Methodology, a textual analysis was conducted on eight poems from each poetess. Dialectic Antagonism and Marx's theoretical stance on racial discrimination were taken into consideration under Marxist theory whilst Kimberly Crenshaw's theory of Intersectionality and Elaine Showalter's theory on Gynocritricism were utilized as sub-theories under feminism. Both Angelou's and Ruwanpathirana's poems were identified as politically charged works as the former had referred to the Black civil rights movement while the latter had been influenced by socialist realism. Their focus on the predicament of women was recognized with sexual exploitation, domestication, and intersectionality while social injustice was identified with racial discrimination and class struggle. The solidarity of Angelou and Ruwanpathirana under Gynocriticism was explored in the backdrop of patriarchy and female autonomy. Their defiant mode of expression was utilized to manifest how poetry can be instrumentalized to unravel exploitation. Thus, the suggestion of the research was to identify the commonalties between gynocentric writers from various contexts.
Keywords:
Intersectionality,
Gynocriticism, Social Injustice.
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