The poem Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou contains the element of feminism as it presents the ability of a woman to be extraordinary and remarkable among others. It talks about a woman who is so proud to be woman, who is confidence and has faith in herself. She also believes in her inner strength that makes her able to achieve success in her life as man could be.
This poem represents the evidence of capability or power of a woman over anything which is directly denying the stereotypes of gender that people have on women. It proves that women are not like what has been claimed by post-structuralist feminist who inspired by psychoanalysis idea that the position of woman is founded on the notion of lack. Thus, it is believed that they are not eligible for the independent as men could be. Although they are founded of the notion of lack, which is referring to the lack of “the male equipment”, women are actually able to have place in society and have the rights as men could have. That perception is not true seems this poem has proved that a woman in this poem presented as someone who could work and survive for her life by the strength she has.
The poet also tells the readers by denying the fact that women could be success only just by using their beauty they have as it only lies much beyond the outer appearance and does not have much power to change the life except by our own will. The most important thing is the effort of the women itself toward achieving victory in their life. A woman in this poem is able to tackle the attention of the men even she does not have that much beauty of a woman supposedly has. What makes those men fancy her is the phenomenal appearance that she has which leads her to be successful in her life. While other women also interested to know the secret of her success which is actually lies on her confident and the towering personality she has. This shows that how a woman can be dominant and influential to everybody either to men and other women too when men are fancy her while the women envy her.
Through this poem I can discover that the poet somehow tries to say that women should have the right to engage with society and not to believe and follow the gender stereotypes blindly without an observation and experiment of how women can work and manage their life. Chance should be given to them and people need to trust their ability. What is important to be successful in life is not by choosing which gender are able to do well but the individual itself no matter it is a man or a woman as long as they have confidence and faith in themselves and they can work better in their life.
THE CRITICS OF LITERATURE 