Maya Angelou is simply my girl crush. Her writings encourage her fans, including me, to be confident and fierce. This is my Psychology on Literature Post-test Assignment. This also inspires me to continue my next education in Psychology major. Please enjoy! :D
Abstract
Phenomenal Woman describes a woman with high self-confidence who makes other people jealous. This paper will discuss and unveil this woman’s secret of self-confidence which leads into mature-self according to the interpretation of the writer. The discussion will be using Carl Rogers’s Learning Process and Phenomenology theory and the writer will use contextual and close-reading method to interpret the poem. Based on the discussion, this woman has reached the ideal-self of herself and she has finally found her inner beauty. This woman also a mature person because she can love herself and also radiate positive energy to her surroundings.
Keywords: congruence, ideal-self, maturity, self-confidence.
1. Introduction
Nowadays, beauty standard is a thing. Some people might torment themselves just to be recognized by other people. However, there is an idiomatic expression manners maketh man that shows people with decent manner will be more looked up to by other people (Macrae, 2018). This idiom motivates people to achieve a good version of themselves rather than to achieve their body goals, or it is often called as their ideal-self. People will find their ideal-self in a way they will seek for development based on their life experiences. Some people might seek their ideal-self based on one inspiring figure or their closest circle which influences them to do good things.
If people keep developing their capacity, they will start to understand and agree with one renowned quote, happiness comes from within which explains that happiness might come from ourselves (Klepp, 2009: 39). People will stop seek for recognition from society and start focusing on themselves. They will stop soliciting their ideal-self from other people and start focusing to develop proficient traits such as empathy, loving personality, or other positive regards. They will admit that they are enough and they will be proud of themselves and disseminate their inner and outer beauty. This condition might be considered as a condition where a person has achieved their mature self.
In this poem, the well-known poet Maya Angelou portrays a woman’s charm that radiates positive energy to herself and her surroundings. It is implicitly written that the woman has secret tips to be confident even though she may not achieve the beauty standard. There are several articles on the internet mooting about this poem. Al Asis, a State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga applies new criticism to discuss this poem in his undergraduate thesis entitled The Ideal Woman as Portrayed in Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” Poem. Therefore, the writer will discuss and reveal the secret of this woman’s self-confidence that leads into mature-self based on the writer’s interpretation.
2. Theory and Methods
2.1 Theory
In general, humans have their own sense of reality which leads them to exist in society. In addition, humans will adapt to a new environment and face new challenges as they grow up. As quoted in Milhollan’s book, Rogers stated that every individual has their own exclusive experiences and they will perceive them diversely, depending on their reaction and perception towards those experiences. Humans involve emotions in every reaction they generate (Milhollan, 1972: 57). This condition may be resulting in humans’ development in self-awareness and self-conception (Milhollan, 1972: 58).
As quoted by Glassman (2004: 260), humans have their tendency to enhance and upgrade their capacities and skill. They create the ideal-self of themselves who becomes their personal aspiration. The ideal-self is the best and imaginative brand of themselves. However, during the process, humans sometimes can not achieve their ideal-self, so there will be incongruence and contradiction which leads to anxiety or any mental health problems (Glassman, 2004: 261-262). If humans could accomplish their goal as the ideal-self, then they will experience a congruence situation. If they keep developing and aware of themselves (Milhollan, 1972: 61), they will achieve other progressive traits such as empathy, respect, creativity, freedom, positive feelings, and openness to others. These aspects will mark them into a fully-functioning person (Glassman, 2004: 268).
The peak level of humans’ phenomenology is maturity. The mature person is a fully-functioning person who tends to be a reliable and honest person to themselves (Glassman, 2004: 270). Individuals with maturity will only behave positive behavior for themselves. They will also value other people especially their closest ones. Mature person will be proud and confident in themselves and also gets charmed easily (Glassman, 2004: 270).
2.2 Methods
The writer utilizes a descriptive qualitative study that requires constructed examination and analysis to distinguish the acquired data (Creswell, 1994: 21) in this paper. To get an intelligent discussion outcome, the writer uses contextual method which according to Behrendt (2008), this method assists investigating the information as per the present background.
The data will be gathered by utilizing close-reading method or a thorough data-fetching strategy after profoundly perusing the entire poem. Moreover, the writer will locate several secondary sources and supporting hypotheses from such books, journals and articles.
3. Findings and Discussion
3.1 Self-Acceptance Develops Self-Confidence
It is found that Angelou’s implication about this poem’s title is not describing this woman’s appearance, but her self-confidence which attracts people around her. In the first stanza, it is implied that this woman has imperfect physical appearance as she said I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size (stanza 1). She mentions her physical appearance in all stanzas of this poem, however, she explains her physical appearance in a positive manner. She tries to show off her enchantment does not come from her physical appearance.
This woman describes herself as an ordinary woman with large waist size, chapped lips, crooked and wizzle teeth, bouncy walk, hanging breasts, and messy hair. She describes her imperfections in detail from up to toe. It takes a lot of courage to admit that she has lots of imperfections. However, she does not show her insecurity or anxiety. Instead, this woman encourages herself and thinks positively.
Based on her explanation, it can be implied that she already accepts herself. She has reached self-acceptance stage and she stays clear of insecurity and anxiety of her imperfect body shape and size. Instead, she boasts about her physical appearance. She builds self-confidence instead of hiding her imperfections. There is also a metaphor in the fire in my eyes (stanza 2). The word fire is describing her self-confidence that burns like fire.
In the second stanza, this woman claims that she walks firmly when she is about to meet other people. It contradicts her statement in the next line that she says that she has swing in my waist and joy in my feet (stanza 2). This might be concluded as she may behave differently according to the situation. This woman also influences the reader by impersonating herself to the reader as an example of woman full of self-confidence who makes all people love her. She says that the reader should not bow her head, talk loud, or being exaggerated (stanza 4). These lines have hidden messages that all women should maintain their manners in the outside and they should be the ideal-self of themselves.
3.2 Phenomenal Woman’s Inner Beauty and Maturity
Based on the explanation in the previous section, it can be concluded that this woman is not only rejoicing about herself, but she also shares her secret to pretty girls (stanza 1). This implies that she can attract people around her because she has finally found her worth. This woman may probably find the meaning of beauty comes from within so that she develops self-love to herself.
This phenomenon leads her to a fully-functioning person. This statement is based on the requisite of fully-functioning person which includes self-love, self-confidence, and self-acceptance.
Furthermore, after she achieves fully-functioning person status, she finally discovers her enchantment. Even though she has many imperfections, she finds an alternate way to radiate her beauty, which comes from her inner self or it can be said as inner beauty. Her inner beauty is her secret which all those pretty girls could not believe that her inner beauty radiates positive vibes from her and it has a great impact on her personality.
It can be implied that this woman has useful energy that attracts both pretty girls and men. In the second stanza, she metaphorizes herself as beehive that attracts a lot of bees. Men, as portrayed in this poem, could not believe that her inner beauty affects attraction to them. She impersonates herself as beehive because maybe she thinks that she is as sweet and appetizing as honey.
Her way to communicate and show her surroundings that they should be proud of herself denotes maturity on herself. She finally achieves the peak level of phenomenon. Not only because she loves herself and tries to build her personality well, but also her manner to other people signifies that she regards that this is not about the beauty competition.
This woman also emphasizes in every stanza that she is a phenomenal woman that denotes she is fully aware that she can be a role model of her society because of her maturity and her inner beauty. This suppression also implies that she is confident about being herself with many imperfections.
4. Conclusion
Angelou tries to stop the beauty standard mindset to women by writing this poem. Based on the discussion, the writer found that the secret of this woman’s beauty is her self-confidence. She can accept and love herself which may develops her inner beauty. A deep analysis on the connection between Angelou’s background and this poem is suggested by the writer.
References
Al Asis, Muh. Takbir. (2017). The Ideal Woman as Portrayed in Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman” Poem. Yogyakarta: State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga.
Angelou, Maya. (1994). The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. Penguin Random House Inc.
Behrendt, Stephen C. (2008). Using Contextual Analysis to Evaluate Texts. (http://english.unl.edu/sbehrendt/StudyQuestions/ContextualAnalysis.html Retrieved on June 10th 2020).
Creswell, John W. (1994). Research Design Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. California: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Glassman, William E. & Haddad, Marilyn. (2004). Approaches to Psychology. Pennsylvania: Open University Press.
Klepp, Ingun G. (2009). Does Beauty Come From Within?: Beauty and Well-Being in Norwegian Spas. Norwegia: Medische Antropologie Journal 21st (1) ed.
Macrae, Christe. (2018). What does “Manners Maketh Man” Means?. Quora. (https://www.quora.com/What-does-Manners-maketh-man-means Retrieved June 12th 2020).
Milhollan, Frank & Forisha, Bill E. (1972). From Skinner to Rogers;: Contrasting Approaches to Education (The Professional Education Series) Ch. 7. England: Professional Educators Publications.