Maya Angelou Caged Bird

Maya Angelou’s use of symbolism in the book is used to describe her displacement in society and how difficult it is to find self-identity, revealing the form of being a “Caged bird.” Maya is a caged bird because she is aware of the displacement of blacks in America and the entitlement and freedom of whites. “if growing up is as painful for the southern girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat” (Angelou 4). Angelou is aware because of the color of her skin, she is living in a society that does not want her or anyone who looks like her. With her awareness Angelou, “...escapes stasis to become a subject in the perpetual process of forming and emerging. It is a dynamic subjectivity that emerges out

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 authors message in this poem is that never ever give up in whatever situation we are in and to express ourselves even though the stronger wants to suppress the weaker. This poem can be considered as the poet’s personal expression. Maya Angelou can be symbolised as the caged bird in the poem. The poet feels like a caged bird because she had no freedom when the African Americans were fighting for equality during the civil rights movement. Maya Angelou is said to have a strong personality as she overcame many adversities and became the famous figure she is

Maya Angelou talks about a caged bird and a free bird in her poem “Caged Bird.” When Maya Angelou talks about a caged bird and a free bird I think she is describing people, like the caged bird is a person who is stuck by others opinions about him/her and

In Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird”, She explains how a bird is trapped inside of a cage and can not escape from thick metal bars that hold it back. It imagines and signs of having freedom. People believe this is about a bird, but what if it isn’t. I believe that this is talking about a person who can’t make the decision if they want to keep fighting to do free.The bird can’t decide if it wants to fight to soon wear the bars of the cage down so it can finally fly away aswell or to give up and use its voice and

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.

In the book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya is faced with situations where she is being degraded by the white people around her. The ignorance that Maya faced while being so young forced her to become mature early in life. She faced the struggles of an adult, having to stand up for herself for being disrespected as a young girl. The derogatory language that is used is dehumanizing towards Maya and her community but shapes them to be strong.

In Maya Angelou’s I know why the caged Bird Sings Maya goes from being a very young and sporadic girl to a loving and nurturing mother. Throughout Maya’s life she goes through many trials and tribulations. By finding refuge and strength in her family she surpasses racism, rape, and displacement issues.

Because they are trapped, both sing for help. Dunbar shows in Sympathy, “ I know why the caged bird sings...” and in Angelou’s poem Caged Bird, “ The caged bird sings with fearful trill…” These quotations show both birds want help and their freedom so they project their voice as a cry for help hoping for someone to hear.

To be caged represents to be isolated mentally or even physically by which someone or something is held back against something else. In both poems, sympathy and caged bird, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou portray a bird in a cage which both hope for freedom. These two poems both have a similar purpose of proving that there can still be hope in the harshest times. While both poem’s sympathy and caged bird, both contained hope Caged bird was more meaningful because it showed more hope even though the bird was more blighted and isolated than the bird in sympathy.

The reader does not imagine this bird as a happy and cheerful bird that might sing on an early spring morning. Similarly, Dunbar uses imagery to show the contrast between what “ the caged bird feels… when the sun is bright” and why the “bird beats his wing Till its blood is red”. This word choice does not only allow the reader to imagine the scene, but also sets the difference between what the bird might want, and what the harsh reality is. In addition, Angelou ends the chorus of “Caged Bird” with the bird “[singing] of freedom” which show the reader that despite all of the horrible experiences that this bird has, it still holds on to hope. Also, both of these poems do not say that they are about slavery and racism, but it is incredibly clear that the bird (in both poems) are an

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.

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.

However, in the poem “Caged Bird” Maya Angelou characterizes the free and caged bird as, one bird symbolizing imprisonment and limitations while the other symbolizes freedom, which further develops the theme of inequality. The line “And dares to claim the sky” shows how unaware the free bird is and further develops the idea of its freedom. This piece of evidence shows how unaware the free bird is by exaggerating the extent of its freedom compared to the caged bird. In

Near the end of the poem it is revealed that the bird “opens his throat to sing” Maya Angelou felt this way in her own life. She wrote, sang and danced because it was her way of expressing her longing for freedom despite being oppressed for most of her life. Although freedom, to the caged bird, is “fearful” because it is “unknown”, he still sings “a fearful trill”. The cries of help are heard but the overarching parents only hear it as background noise.