Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay

Namely, losing her confidence when her experiment begins to fall apart. It starts to fall apart when her crush doesn’t accept her invitation to her farewell party and then when she finds out everyone’s going to Allison’s birthday party, a girl in her choir, instead. It gets worse when she messes up her solo at the choir concert and everyone makes fun of her. Maya stops talking to others and goes back to her old self. As proof of this, “Why did I believe I was anything but an inside joke?...I’m not special, I’m just a crazy girl in Grandma shoes. I don’t have balls at all...All my confidence and inner strength-how do I find it again?” (227-228).This reflects how Maya feels about herself. Maya brings herself down by letting everyone else get to her. She cancels her party and decides to give up on her experiment because she feels so bad about herself. Maya’s popularity disapears and even her friends have abondened her. Furthermore, Maya realizes that she was closest to popularity when “I was talking to people. It was when I opened up my introverted circle and allowed everyone I met in. It was when I included everyone” (230). As a result of this realization, Maya understands the true meaning of popularity. It was more then looks . It’s more than the right clothes, hair or what you owned, it was who you are and how you treat others. After determining this, Maya decides to invite anyone who doesn’t have a date to prom to go with her. Instead of excluding people like she did for her farewell party, she includes everyone. Maya beomces confident and positive again. By putting the past behind her, Maya can move forward and continue her experiment. In the end, Maya learns that to be confident, she has to let go, find that light inside of her and show it to the

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

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

This chapter marks a turning point because Maya is now a mother. She now has to genuinely care for someone other than herself; she needs to provide it with the love she never received. At first she viewed the pregnancy as a “nightmare,” that the air “had been sucked away in a monstrous inhalation.” She eventually takes responsibility, carrying the weight “on [her] own shoulders where they belonged.” The newfound motherhood finally gives Maya a title: mother. She no longer is displaced, lost among an Earth that rotates without her. Maya’s mother helps her come to this new understanding when she points out that the baby had fallen soundlessly asleep in the crook of her arm. She explains that if she is “for the right thing, then [she will] do

came to Stamps unexpectedly. Having no choice, Maya and Bailey went with Bailey Sr. to go live with the mother, Vivian Baxter whom we know as Mother Dear. While Maya and Bailey were living with their mother and her family in Saint Louis, Missouri, Maya meets her mom’s fiance, Mr. Freeman. Being naive Maya initiated sexual acts with Mr. Freeman, however, Mr. Freeman took it too far when he sexually assaulted Maya. After going to court and hearing that Mr. Freeman died Maya isolated herself and didn't talk because she feared someone else will be put in danger. As Maya and Bailey were sent back to Stamps, Maya begins to admire an older woman, Mrs. Flowers who influences her. Mrs. Flowers tells her that "language is man's way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which separates him from the lower animals," (p82). Mrs. Flowers is the one who shows Maya how to truly appreciate books and says, "Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning. This is very important to Maya because this is where she gets the inspiration to start using her voice for something good. This influences her throughout her whole life, and this is how we see and know Maya Angelou now. Books have been an important part of Maya's

Immediately, Maya was instructed to go inside, and although she felt terribly about the kids, she also felt as though she needed to follow adults’ instructions. The white kids made their way to her grandmother and started to disrespect, mock, and laughing at her. It was then that she became torn between personal feelings and family

Afterwards Maya writes, “I wanted to throw a handful of black pepper in their faces, to throw lye on them, to scream that they were dirty, scummy peckerwoods, but I knew I was as clearly imprisoned behind the scene as the actors outside were confined to their roles (5.22).” It is in this moment that Maya realizes that she cannot stick up for herself or her loved ones and her worst fear comes true: she is just another black person in the South. The loss of identity is a prime example of dehumanization. Angelou is making a clear statement about the human condition, the oppressed are not the bad people and that a person is a person no matter the color of their skin. Now, the audience can see the frustration of the oppressed and understand how unfair it really is for the black population. Maya Angelou’s style of writing is comparable to a storyteller, details are rarely omitted and at times the writing is very unbiased. If she is trying to prove a point, she makes a statement like the one above. Later on in the novel, Maya needs to see a dentist for a severe tooth problem; however, the white

Maya loves her brother immensely with full admiration and gratitude. She goes as far as to saying she wanted to “live a Christian life just to show God that I was grateful [for having Bailey].” She loves him not only because he was actually attractive, being “small, graceful, and smooth” with “velvet-black skin,” the opposite of her, but he provided the affection she had been lacking form other family members; he was the closest thing she had to a parental figure. Being the “pride of the Henderson/Johnson family,” Bailey received scarce punishments for his rambunctious antics, a factor that came in handy when aiding Maya. Dismayed at her appearance, the elders in Maya’s family would ridicule and undermine her. Seeing the hurt emanate from Maya,

All of this moving brings me back to the first page of the book where Maya is reciting a poem on Easter. “I didn’t come to stay…” becomes her shield against the world. She identifies herself with being a lonely displaced girl and feels that her and Baileys’ lifestyle is supposed to be different from others since they do move around so much unlike other kids. This is why she has a hard time letting her guard down and actually letting people other than her brother Bailey and letting her guard down. Which explains why she had such a hard time letting her self-admit that Daddy Clidell is the only father that she really knew and had in her life.

From the first portion of the novel, Maya seems to be a very carefree child. She had many obstacles to overcome in her youth (Mr. Freeman), but she did have many joyus moments, always talking in great detail about her adventures with Bailey, and their little inside jokes, which no one else could understand, but them. Be that as it may, as the reader approaches the remaining chapters, they begin to realize that she has been alone for most of her life. The only person she really had to depend on was Bailey. Her grandmother and uncle were there, but they were not people that she could open up too and really express her feelings with. As the novel continues however, Maya develops into a young girl once again, who is truly carefree and exuberant.

While working at gambling parlors, Vivian’s lifestyle also includes a live-in boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. During her time in St. Louis, Maya is sexually molested and later raped by Mr. Freeman. When the case goes to court, Maya lies and denies that Mr. Freeman molested her before raping her. Mr.

At the age of ten she takes a job for a white woman who calls her “Mary” because she cannot be bothered to learn or say her full real name. In anger, Maya breaks the woman’s fine china. At her grade eight graduation, a white speaker from the prestigious white school informs the black students that they are expected to become only athletes or servants. When Maya gets a tooth ache, Momma drags her across town to the only dentist in Stamps (who happens to be white), and he proceeds to insult her, saying he would rather place his hands in a dogs mouth than in hers. An example of indirect racism would be when Bailey encounters the body of a dead, rotting black man and witnesses a white man’s satisfaction at seeing the body. Momma soon becomes concerned and fears for her children’s safety. She saves up money to take them to Vivian, who now lives in

Maya first started questioning her identity after Mr. Freeman raped her, changing her entire world. Mr. Freeman triggered something in Maya that made her question her identity because he made her feel vulnerable for the first time. He also made her feel frightened for her and her brothers’ life. Maya could not do the right thing because of her fear that if she did, something horrible might happen to someone she loves. She writes, ““We was just playing before.” He released me enough to snatch down my blommers, and then he dragged me closer to him. Turning the radio up loud, too loud, he said, “If you scream, I’m gonna kill you. And if you tell, I’m gonna kill Bailey.” I could tell he meant what he said. I couldn’t understand why he wanted to kill my brother. Neither of us had done anything to him” (Angelou 78). She was made to think that if she told anyone what he did to her he would harm her and her brother or, even worse, kill them both. Mr. Freeman made Maya

Maya Angelou’s poem, “Caged Bird”, begins by describing a free bird sailing effortlessly among the clouds. In her second stanza, she contrasts this bird by introducing the caged bird. This bird is confined to a narrow cage and, “his wings are clipped and / his feet are tied.” (“Caged Bird” 12-13) When Maya Angelou describes the birds desolate conditions, the reader can immediately fell sympathetic if not empathetic for the poor bird. However, despite his bound feet and useless wings, the bird sings out. The bird sings for various reasons:

Maya’s reflection that her mother “was competent in providing for us. Even if that meant getting someone else to furnish the provisions”(Chapter 11) that reveals how desire her mother was to afford food and clothes for both of them. By being with Mr. Freeman, the man that lives in the same house with their mother. After the first incident of physical touching with him, she is reassured by his embrace and convinced that he is her “real father”, she is confused that’s when Mr. Freeman takes advantage of this touchingness and rapes her, even though Maya thought the whole thing was “real father’s love”. When Maya’s mother discovers what has happened to her she gets him killed, the traumatic incident that happened to Mr. Freeman made Maya feel guilty for him being dead and her feelings put her in a place of loneliness and in a quiet place. She refuses to speak to anyone but Bailey, and when she feels them growing apart, she goes back to reading books, reflecting that “the long lost children mistaken for waifs, became more real to me than our house, our mother, our school or Mr. Freeman.”(Chapter 11 page 76). A sense of loneliness, came to her mind, this is really bad for a child that is only eight years