Comparing Sympathy And Caged Bird

“The free bird thinks of another breeze….a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams…” The two literary works “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be seen as mockingbirds that have flown over fields of prejudice and repeat what they have seen for all to hear. Jem Finch, a young boy and lawyer’s son from “To Kill a Mockingbird” clearly symbolizes a mockingbird because of his youth and innocence, and because of his innocence he cannot fully understand the racism in the story. Jem also has many similarities to the caged and free birds in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, whether it be Jem’s

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.

In an excerpt from her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings called “Graduation,” Maya Angelou narrates the anticipation surrounding graduation in her small town of Stamps, Alabama. Angelou effectively contrives noteworthy differences between paragraphs 1 through 5 and 6 through 10 through the use of emotional and descriptive diction, powerfully bold comparisons, and a shift in perspective in order to instill pride and dignity in Angelou and her race despite the era’s highlighted social injustices which she endures.

Deep in the forest of Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the caged bird sings on. The singing slaves in Douglass’s narrative are the caged birds of Maya Angelou’s famous poem, filling the air around them with desire: desire for a freedom so far out of reach—for “things unknown but longed for still.”

Because she stands up for what she believes is right even though people try stopping her. The men go against her just because she is a White American trying to help African Americans win their Civil Rights. Another reason why Miriam is the Free Bird is because she goes ahead and does what she pleases her. Her husband Norman, tries stopping her decision but she still goes ahead and ignores his words and does whatever she wanted to do. She is very comparable to the Free Bird in Maya Angelou’s poem, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” because in the poem the Free Bird has a free spirit and has a lot of opportunities. In the story, “The Long Walk Home” Miriam has many opportunities in life because she studied and got her diploma, so she can go and find a job and take care of her child on her own. The Free Bird also has a good diet compared to the Caged Bird. In the story I would say that Miriam did have plenty of food to eat, there would also be left overs. This is why Miriam can be compared to the Free

At a point in time in the life of every person, a feeling of being trapped or stuck occurs. The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar represents the speaker’s vast knowledge of the feeling of being enclosed in a place where they are tremendously uncomfortable. The speaker explains the actions of a bird trapped in a small cage and explains the motives behind the actions. The speaker reveals that the song the caged bird sings is not a melody exuberating joy, but a cry begging for freedom.

Angelou was born in Missouri in 1928. She spent most of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, pre Civil Rights Movement with her grandmother and her older brother. Angelou is most known for writing the poem Caged Bird. In the first stanza about the caged bird, Angelou declares that the bird, “can seldom see through/ his bars of rage/ his wings are clipped and/ his feet are tied/ so he opens his throat to sing”(Caged Bird). Angelou uses the bird as a metaphor for oppressed African Americans during this time period; the bird is held back by a barrier, just like African Americans were held back by unjust laws, a corrupt legal system, and their white peers who saw them as inferior. Similar to the bird, Angelou felt held back by others, but she did not let the “bars of rage” hold her back from her potential so, like the bird, she “opened her throat to sing” and used her voice to protest for herself and those who could not advocate for themselves.

its joys of being able to do what it wants, but this is short lived

The poems that are similar are “Sympathy” and “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” because they are both talking about cage bird sings. I think sympathy inspired Maya Angelou's to write the poem because he and his parents were slaves. One of his poems is longer than the other poem. I think his poems are good to read they inspire you to read more. Maya Angelou is writing about him being in a cell and not having freedom. He is saying in his poem that he bleeds trying to get out of the cell he is locked up in. Some examples are that the two poems are talking about that the birds are singing. That the two bids in the poems are trying to get out of a cage. One of the poems is written from Maya Angelou and the other poem is written from John Dunbar.

History in the past provided us with many historical events, such as the March on Washington, Montgomery Bus Boycott, and Martin Luther King´s ¨I Have a Dream¨ speech, which led to Civil Rights Movement. As a famed Civil Rights activist, Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a public bus where the conflict came along. As Poets, Maya Angelou and Paul Lawrence Dunbar both utilized characters of a caged bird to symbolize African-Americans. Being one of those African Americans, Rosa Parks encountered many obstacles in her efforts to realize a kind of social freedom that every American citizen should have, which compares her to a caged bird due to not having equal rights

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.

‘’Sympathy” and “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings¨ they are similar because they are both about a bird that is free doing what it wants without having to be scared to fly. They also relate to each other because they are about a bird that is free and then later the bird gets caged and is not able to be free and fly and do whatever it wants. They also relate to each other because they are both about a bird that is struggling and wondering what he can do to get out of that cage. Another thing is that they are both about a bird that is a believer. By believer I mean that he knows that some day or later he will do something that will have set him free. So I am trying to say that no matter what happens or what he has to do in order to get out. He

Dunbar utilizes the analogy of caged bird in his poem “Sympathy” to expose the emotions and struggles of enslaved African Americans to achieve freedom. He begins his poem by describing the free bird singing when “sun is bright and first bud opens” to portray the beauty of landscape. However, the beauty turns into sadness when the poet states "I know what the caged bird feels, alas" which depicts a tone of sadness. This contrast between a free bird and caged bird initiates the losses of caged bird. It cannot go out and experience the freedom under the open sky. It struggles with physical constrain “till its blood is red on the cruel bars” helps visualize the intensity of struggle the bird is experiencing to gain his freedom to go where he desires, and to be with those who give him happiness. This struggle is similar of African American who tried to rebel in hopes of gaining their freedoms, but all resulted in vain. Their wounds, just like the caged bird, are “old, old scars” emphasizes that African Americans

The poems ‘’Sympathy’’ and ‘’I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings’’ are similar because they are both talking about being set free and escaping. There is also no happiness in either of them and they are not giving up hope to be free.They are also talking about being able to go up to the sky and fly and claiming the sky as their own. They are not afraid to do anything because they are trying to be free and they won’t stop till they are free but they are both struggling to accomplish to set themselves free. They are also similar because they are both singing they sing as if they were free they are also similar because they are hurt and they are angry of not being able to be free. Another reason they are similar is because they both talk about the

Angelou’s poem “I Know Why the Cages Bird Sings” expresses the idea that freedom is a natural state and knowledge of this fact cannot be rid of by any amount of oppression, limitation or confinement from different opportunities. The poem contrasts a