The power of writing: resistance in Maya Angelou’s Visit to the Dentist
The power of writing: resistance in Maya Angelou’s Visit to the Dentist

Summary/Abstract: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (1970) is the first of Maya Angelou’s autobiographical volumes. A recount of her personal life, the book is a testimony of racism in southern society and a statement of both the possibilities and the limits of resisting and fighting it. “Visit to the Dentist” is one of its chapters that have been published autonomously as a short story. The narrative cohesion of “Visit to the Dentist”, together with its structure and language, make it representative of Angelou’s writing pattern in terms of autobiography. This article sets out to examine how autobiographical writing is exploited both for political and for aesthetic purposes, and how this short story in particular illustrates Angelou’s canonical characteristics – thematically, artistically and as protest.

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