I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou is a leader by example, she sets the standard by her actions and the stories she tells teaches the audience a lesson. Majority of her work is to inform us of the past and she wants us to learn from her experiences in life; she is a life teacher. The purpose of this poem was to inform us of the history of our country. The poem is titled “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and her purpose of writing this is to teach the reader why the caged bird sings. Maya Angelou wants to put the reader in her shoes to get the ultimate experience of racial inequality but instead by taking the role of a caged bird or a free bird.

The novel is described as a coming of age story starring a young, insecure black girl. Living in the south and in California during the 1930’s and 1940’s, Maya was exposed to the harsh and limiting effects of racism. As young kids, Maya and Bailey struggle with being abandoned by their biological parents. For some time, their grandmother is the only influential figure in their lives. Their grandma, who is eventually called “Momma” runs a general store in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya spends time at her Momma’s store, watching the cotton-pickers travel to and from the working fields.

She raises Bailey and Maya as if they are he own kids. Through the novel Maya never had a father figure, but she had Momma. An independent black woman. Momma owned her own store, took care of her crippled son and took care of her two grandchildren. She is a religious and a strong woman. Growing up Maya always questioned why Momma did some of the things the way she did, for instance one time some white children called Momma names and mistreated her, but she did not budge. Maya thought, “Who owned the land they lived on?... If there was any justice in the world, God should strike them dumb at once!” (23), Maya is thinking about retaliation, but does not realize that there can be serious consequences. Kinsolver exemplifies with this quote that society separates black and white and gives power to only the whites. Maya thinks otherwise, in that they should be equal and this is her first step of breaking societal expectations. As Maya matures she learns how to be more womanly and independent from

Maya’s upbringing as a child is very parallel to Taylor’s because she is raised by her grandma, whom she calls Momma, without an affective paternal figure in her life. As a child, Maya sees that her grandma successfully raised her and her brother on her own. Momma owns a shop in their town called, The Store and she runs it generally by herself. She makes an effort to protect Maya and Bailey from being mistreated in society because when the dentist refuses to attend to Maya’s needs, Momma tells the dentist, “I wouldn’t go press on you like this for myself but I can’t take No. Not for my grandbaby” (Caged Bird 189). Momma asserts her power in demanding service for her granddaughter and shows Maya that she is strong and possesses the power to be successful in society and overpower a male in some circumstances. Maya watches her grandma in this situation and instantly categorizes her as a powerful woman and looks up to her even more now. Maya visualizes her Momma as a form of a hero because, “Momma had obliterated the evil white man” (Caged Bird 191), because she stood up to the white dentist that is seen as evil in her family’s eyes. Maya then realizes that Momma is one of the more powerful black women in society that is able to stand up to the white race when the blacks are mistreated. Maya can then exert her

Communication and expression of emotions is imperative when overcoming a hardship such as rape. However, upon being informed that Mr. Freeman had been murdered, Grandma Baxter immediately makes it clear that she “never wants to hear this situation nor that evil man’s name … again” (87). Maya quickly comprehends that she must never speak of her adversity, even with her trusted family. Oppressing emotions and discussion of the topic can only worsen the suffering, particularly for a young girl like Maya. It is evident that Maya is severely depressed and confused, her extended period of silence indicates this in her memoir. Once back in Stamps, Maya was uncertain whether her family “had been told about the incident in St. Louis”(91). Maya and those around her, including Bailey, simply cut out the part of her life in which she had been raped. Her adversity was “swept under the carpet” by her family and her most trusted individuals. This neglection results in Maya beginning to feel a new impression of loneliness, and a further deterioration of her

“You are a piece of the puzzle of someone else life. You may never know where you fit, but others will fill the holes in their lives with pieces of you” (Bonnie Arbon). In the novel, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou, the protagonist, Maya Johnson, started off as a young African American girl who was diffident and self hating, and who later transforms into a confident, grown young women. There are various reasons that cause characters change however the most common are due to the additional characters/ people they choose to surround themselves around throughout life. Maya Johnson goes through this grand transformation based on the values that her “Mama” (Annie Henderson), brother (Bailey Johnson Jr.) and her mother (Vivian

Maya adores her older brother Bailey Jr. Bailey is one of the most important people in young Maya’s life. They both share many common interests, such as reading and playing games. Bailey is smart and very mature beyond his age. Though Bailey is bold, confident, and well-liked, he also shows deep sympathy for Marguerite. Maya feels comfortable asking Bailey for advice, and therefore she trusts him with all of her deepest emotions. During the time following her rape she went completely

“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.” In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Maya writes about how she is affected by cultural and contextual issues in that time period , in this book Angelou familiarizes her self as a caged bird because to Maya Being caged in society means to be trapped and unable to find your voice. “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill, of things unknown, but longed for still, and his tune is heard on the distant hill, for the caged bird sings of freedom.” Angelou wrote this book as closure for her life experiences. She wrote this book to have a voice that she once did not have. This book exposes the issues that African-Americans faced . Society viewed African- Americans differently then we do today. The 1930s was all about being prejudice against the black community even today that is less of

It had soon fostered in Maya the idea of not being wanted due to being shy or not pretty, and when comparing herself to Bailey, she knew that between the two of them Bailey was the favorite of their family and friends. Growing up with Momma, their grandmother, Maya, and Bailey had begun to form their ideas as to why neither of their parents had wanted a relationship with them, and for Maya, it had strengthened her inner thought of not being good enough for her mother, father, or anyone she comes across. When their parents had sent gifts one year, not only did it confirm their existence but also how little they had known about her considering her egotistical father sent a picture of himself and her mother a tea set, which would not get much use in the white-dominated South. Bailey had the same reaction to his gifts and instead feel excited about what they had gotten, it left the sibling more confused, and Maya recalled how"the gifts opened the door to questions that neither of us wanted to ask. Why did they send us away?

In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou recounts her life from age three to seventeen. When she is three, Maya moves to Stamps, Arkansas with her brother, Bailey, to live with her grandmother and crippled uncle. Growing up in the South during the 1930s, Maya and her family encounter many instances of racism. Maya feels she is an ugly child and will never amount to the beautiful white girls. When she is eight years old, Maya’s father brings the two children to St. Louis to live with their mother, Vivian.

(54) Vivian makes Maya’s life with enjoyable, let her contact more with her own culture, and offers her opportunities she would never have experienced in Stamps, which broadens her horizon. When Maya was afraid of touching her baby and always worried about if she did something wrong, her mother said, “See, you don’t have to think about doing the right thing. If you’re for the right thing, then you do it without thinking.” (246). These simple words comfort Maya immediately, providing confidence and reassurance to her to take care of her own child.

When it comes to confidence and learning that what’s on the inside that counts, Maya seems to lack a whole lot of that. As she grows up in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas; Maya starts to develop a hate relationship with her appearance and how she conceives herself. She always compared herself to the people around her. “When I was described by our playmates as being

Her mother marries and they are relocated to San Francisco. This is the first place Maya finally feels at home. Unfortunately, this is short lived when she goes to live with her father and ultimately ends up running away from home and living with a group of homeless teenagers. Fortunately, she returns to San Francisco, where she becomes the first black streetcar conductor at age 15. This isn’t the end of her struggles though; she actually ends up pregnant at the young age of sixteen. However, through such trials she becomes a confident mother to her newborn son and this is how her narrative ends.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is a wonderfully glimpse into the life of a young African American girl in the 1920s. There are times of grief, abuse, and prejudice as well as celebrations of life and the joy of childhood. Maya is able to find courage and pride within herself and rise above many negative factors beginning at a very young age. She is able to seek solace and comfort with her strong yet untraditional family structure, especially her brother Bailey. Maya shows inner strength that is not always so easily attainable and carries it with her into her teenage and adult years, and by doing so she continues to build her own self-worth.

Maya Angelou describes what her life with her grandmother is like while constantly being discriminated against her race. She then found her father, and he leaves Maya and Bailey off to their mother’s house. There, the mother’s boyfriend rapes Maya. After suffering from psychological shock, Maya then moves back to her grandmother’s. As a teenager Maya gets nervous about her sexual identity and tries to discover it. Through these harsh times, the naïve and softhearted Maya grows to become a strong, independent woman.