Maya Angelou - Heart of a Woman - She Doesn't Much Like Whites
The Heart of a Woman by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou must have really been ticked off with someone white when she wrote The Heart of a Woman. The book is full of digs against white people — some fair and some not so fair. For example, she decided to marry an African man after he made the following comment:
"I shall finish at the U.N. tomorrow. On the next day, I shall fly to Amsterdam, an open city, where I am told whiskey is cheap and a variety of entertainment is available to a lonely man."
Now, I would think twice about accepting a marriage proposal from a man who suggested that if I didn't agree to marry him, he would find his loving somewhere else. That ranks right up there with men who threaten to commit suicide if you leave them.
Maya, though, thought the comment over, and here is what she said about that in Heart of a Woman...
"I saw those delicate hands sliding over white women's bodies and in their long, lank hair. But, I couldn't imagine him kissing the white lips."
Frankly, this seems an odd way of thinking from a woman who did marry a white man. Her first marriage and her last name come from a white man-Angelou. That was a short marriage and obviously not a great match, but it seems odd that a woman who could love (even for a short time) someone with a different skin color could sound so appalled by the idea. The use of "lank" for "white" hair was uncalled for.
Angelou also made light of a teacher bringing white kids into the city to help at the headquarters for a Civil Rights organization that she worked for. She chuckled to see white kids carrying out trash and cleaning when she thought that it was generally black people who do that sort of thing for white people. She did not provide background on the white kids, and whether they were high income or low income. They did come out and try to make a difference in a world that is often very unfair (and often with a race bias). Those kids could have been just as disadvantaged as any other kids of any color. Then again, they might have been kids from high socioeconomic backgrounds (all the more reason it was good for them to learn about other styles of living). It didn't seem that Angelou cared much about where they had come from or why they were trying to help. They were just something to chuckle about and not worth any serious consideration as far as Angelou was concerned.
I've always admired Angelou, and I was not looking for reasons to be irritated by her book. She is a strong woman who has made great contributions. It really saddened me to hear her thoughts at this period of her life. To my way of thinking, it is important that people of all colors commit to living lives that cherish all people with no special differences for shades of skin pigmentation. I would not overlook Angelou, because she is black. I would not find humor in children coming to help with something I considered important no matter what color the children came packaged in. They learn by getting involved with people of all backgrounds. I learn from getting to work with different kids with different ideas. It seemed to me that Angelou would not give me (or other people or even children) the same chance to learn and grow and appreciate other cultures (based on skin color). She seemed to be doing the same thing that she accused whites of doing. She judged on skin color without giving folks a chance.
Another thing that concerned me was Angelou's drive to succeed and her need to find a man taking center stage over and above her son. I'm a single mom, and I do understand her desires both professionally and in terms of finding love. I want to have it all and do it all, but my boys come first. I honestly felt that Angelou did not consider her son when making major life decisions. Since kids are kids only for a short time, I think that other things can wait on the back burner. When the kid is 16 and only has 2 more years of school, she could wait to marry. But, she didn't. And, that was not the only way she shortchanged her son.
Angelou moved constantly, and that is hard on a kid. My oldest really suffered during the time that his life was in transition. Though I would not pick the place I live given more options, it is stable and with family close (and we've been here 8 years and will be here until both boys finish high school). It has made a real difference for both boys. Angelou mentioned that her son complained when they moved yet again and yet again. Though she acknowledged that it was not good for him, she did not make any effort to provide him stability. If she saw a new opportunity (or even if she didn't), she packed up and moved him over and over again. It's fine to chase rainbows, but think about the kid and the impact.
When Angelou decided to marry again, she found a local New York bail bondsman who was very old fashioned. Her son warmed up (sort of) to this guy. Then, in one week, Angelou decided to marry the guy from Africa mentioned at the first of my review. She wondered if he was too fat to make love (strange), but she had an epiphany in the bathroom, and she told him she would be his wife. Instead of telling her kid, she had this new man tell him. That stinks no matter how she presents it, and she did try to make that sound like a good thing-a male bonding sort of experience. If I ever decide to marry again and especially on such short notice, I will share that with my boys.
I wonder about this marriage decision. It's not like I make great decisions all the time. But, who decides to marry a man and one from a distant land and different culture after one week? Angelou seemed to think that skin color was the magic ingredient. She didn't appear to consider that someone with an African background might look at the world in different ways from someone with an African-American background. That marriage didn't work out. No surprise there.
Then Angelou's son had a car accident and he did become the focus (for a little while). Sometimes, it takes a big wake-up call I suppose. Angelou seems to thrive on crises, so "being there" for an injured son did bring out her best.
One thing I can appreciate is that Angelou told it the way she saw it. This is an autobiography, so it would be dirty pool to gloss everything over and tell the story in ways that might be more appealing. Even though I did not warm up to Angelou and the decisions she made, she was honest about them. I can respect that.
If I look at this book purely from a writing standpoint and overlook the problems I had with Angelou personally and the decisions she made, I still would not rank this book high. The focus on her love interests was rather middle-schoolish, and she spent a lot of time describing things like shades of black with all being absolutely mushy like romance novels. Everyone is beautiful in different ways, but this is very over-the-top. I would not want to be described by my shine myself.
I did enjoy I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which is one of the multi-project autobiography of the life of Maya Angelou. She divides her life up for various books covering different periods. Many people rave about this collection of chapters, but if Angelou was not so well known and had not put out Caged Bird to glowing reviews, I think most people would find Heart of a Woman to be tedious, biased, and dull.
I really hate to read books about the lives of people I admire and then walk away feeling much less impressed. I don't expect my heroes to be perfect, but I do hope that they take the high roads in most cases. I was disappointed in Angelou. She was not the person I thought she was. I really can't say that I would care to meet her after reading this book. I doubt she would care about meeting me either. I'm white (which is major in her eyes), and I could not further her career (in any obvious way), so I would not be worth her notice. Perhaps she won't notice when I skip over any other books about her life.
