Analysis Of Maya Angelou 's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, author, and poet. She wrote many books and poems that conveyed the vivid experiences in her life. Maya Angelou’s works are well known and she is an eminent writer. One poem in particular that is well known is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” written in 1969. In this work she described racial inequality, and the lack of freedom African Americans experienced in the 1930’s and 40’s. Maya Angelou uses many Rhetorical strategies and literary devices to describe the lack of racial freedom in the world at this time.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Specifically it will discuss the themes of racism and segregation, and how these strong themes are woven throughout this moving autobiography. Maya Angelou recounts the story of her early life, including the racism and segregation she experiences throughout her formative years. With wit, sincerity, and remarkable talent, Angelou portrays racism as a product of ignorance and prejudice. However, she finds the strength to rise above this crippling condition.

Maya Angelou is a phenomenal woman. She rises through all things that come her way and she refuses to back down. Angelou chose at a very young age to be a writer and a role model for many people. She believes that everyone should be treated equally and that the world should come together as a unity. Angelou had many careers but is known mostly for her poetic creations. She has come a long way from where she started and I think anyone can agree with me when I say, she has made us all proud with her accomplishments. Angelou writes poetry to inform and encourage others to carry on through the worst of times. She is a strong, confident, inspirational woman and I am more than honored to be doing my senior paper on her.

Maya Angelou is a leading literary voice of the African-American community. She writes of the triumph of the human spirit over hardship and adversity. “Her style captures the ca-dences and aspirations of African American women whose strength she celebrates.” (Library of Chattanooga State, n. d.) Maya has paved the way for children who has had a damaged

Maya Angelou, the current poet laureate of the United States, has become for many people an exemplary role model. She read an original poem at the inauguration of President Clinton; she has also appeared on the television show "Touched by an Angel," and there read another poem of her own composition; she lectures widely, inspiring young people to aim high in life. Yet this is an unlikely beginning for a woman who, by the age of thirty, had been San Francisco's first black streetcar conductor; an unmarried mother; the madam of a San Diego brothel; a prostitute, a showgirl, and an actress (Lichtler, 861927397.html). Her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings argues persuasively

In Graduation, a chapter in her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya Angelou talks vividly about her middle school graduation in the segregated South. Graduation is an important milestone in most people’s life, as they get a degree and move on to their next level, something better and more important, with the hope that they can use their new knowledge to achieve their life goals and ambitions. This is what the all black children of the graduating class of 1940 in the grammar school in Stamps, Arkansas, believed as well, including Maya Angelou. In this passage, the author persuasively uses ethos to expose, as an African American girl, how her graduation ceremony was another episode of the unfinished struggle for freedom and against racial segregation.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston Churchill. What is the limit? Is it those spiteful words that make the choice of jumping off the bottomless cliff seem easier? Hurdling off into the darkness is the only way out. Or is it ourselves that put us at the breaking point? Failure is all around. Maybe that’s the only way that success can arise. In Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird,” we see two people and how much they limit themselves. Langston Hughes’s poem, “Mother to Son,” a mother is limiting herself to her past and telling her son not to do the same. Robert Frost wrote about a person that is limiting their view to two choices and, consequently, is not seeing the other possibilities in “The Road Not Taken”. Everyone has their limits, but the ones who don’t let those limits block the other possibilities will conquer their existence. The cliff is open to anyone. Will you take the fall?

In Maya Angelou’s I Know the Caged Bird Sings (1969), the reader is absorbed into a personal account of her life starting from her childhood to young adulthood during the 1930s and 1940s. From a young age, Maya witnessed the first-hand effects of racism in the South for blacks growing up alongside her brother, Bailey. In the novel, Angelou faces racial discrimination and displacement inside and outside her own community that act as metaphorical cages barring her from the freedom to be her true self.

Maya Angelou has inspired me in more ways than one, and I had to write about her. When Maya speaks people listen. She has this wisdom that only few have, especially when life wasn’t always great. She turned tragedy into triumph, and helped others in doing so. So, Maya has proven too many women, especially black women that you succeed, even if you have had a child in your teen years. She’s proof that with determination nothing is unattainable.

Maya Angelou utilises her passionate style to send a clear message and to create an empowering response within her audience. Through her use of imagery, figurative language, diction and repetition, she creates an uplifting tone of proud defiance

Society today has an upheaving amount of problems that span from racism, poverty, persecution, and war, etc. Banners of books are attempting to eradicate any written piece that touches on the mere obstacles of society. The people who hold the vandalism tools in this situation are parents, who have children in the public school system. One book at a time, they annihilate authors and classic novels, themes, and genres in order to get their agenda across. The First Amendment to The United States Constitution prevents congress from making any law that abides from the freedom of speech. Equally, authors like Maya Angelou have the freedom of speech in our country to write, and in Angelou's case, the freedom to write about her life. Maya Angelou,

Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya shields herself against the confusion of St. Louis by reading fairy-tales and telling herself that she does not intend on staying there anyway. Vivian works in a gambling parlor at night. Maya pities Mr. Freeman because he spends his days at home waiting for Vivian to return. Maya begins sleeping at night with Vivian and Mr. Freeman because she suffers from nightmares. One morning after Vivian has left the bed and the house,

The poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou tells the story of two birds: one bird has the luxury of freedom and the second bird lives its life caged and maltreated by an unknown tyrant. Maya Angelou wrote this poem during the Civil Rights Era, the period when black activists in the 1950’s and 1960’s fought for desegregation of African Americans. This poem parallels the oppression that African Americans were fighting during this time period. In “Caged Bird”, Angelou builds a strong contrast that shows the historical context of discrimination and segregation through the use of mood, symbolism, and theme.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a novel by Maya Angelou, where she writes about her childhood and her experiences while growing up. This non-fiction novel illustrates Maya Angelou’s childhood, being tossed around by her parents, and having to experience different cultures. Maya struggles particularly in finding friends, she is reserved, and will only open up to Bailey, her brother. Maya moves a couple of times to different places, which may contribute to her not having friends. The novel revolves around Maya Angelou, Bailey, and her grandmother, evolving through life from being a child to a teenager. This novel is set in the “South”, in America.

The feeling of displacement leaves a painful hole in one's heart. Whether a person is a male or female, white or black, lives in the North or South, or young or old, displacement takes a toll on their character and personality. Maya Angelou creates a theme of displacement in her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou's novel has been critiqued by many notable scholars for being a classic autobiography. The critics note the importance of the setting to show universal displacement and the use of characterization to display the influences in Angelou's life. The critics also note that Angelou's diction and tone allow her pain and suffering to be evident throughout her novel and into her life. Angelou's use of setting shows how she was personally affected by displacement. She also uses characterization and tone to personalize her childhood experiences. Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is critiqued to have a theme of displacement based on the setting, characterization, and tone.