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Sympathy And Caged Bird Comparison

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Freedom has been an essence to the American people for many decades. Indeed, because of freedom, America was viewed as an ideal “Land of the free” by the foreign immigrants, who experienced harsh voyages through sea to reach America. Furthermore, following the call for freedom, the colonists rose in defiance to Great Britain in the War of Independence. In the United States, the image of liberty, of self-independence is reflected by many artworks and literary works. Notably, among these artworks, “Caged by Maya Angelou and Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar are the typical examples which most obviously express the hope of self-independence. Although “Caged Bird” and “Sympathy” use the similar literary device—caged bird—to convey the same message, …show more content…

The caged bird described in both poems was indeed a literary symbol to depict the fate of the poor Black people. The Black people are the people who have suffered constant discrimination and heinous malice throughout the history—“a pain still throbs in the old, old scar.” (12) The African Americans are those who have always been unceasingly yearning and striving for the true “Land of the free” where all people could choose their own pathways of life—“but longed for still”… “sings of freedom.” (18-22) To a further extent, the image of caged bird not only applies to the Black people but also all people on Earth who suffered or are suffering the cruelty of social segregation and tyranny. For instance, the citizens of North Korea are those to whom this “caged bird” refers, for the choices of their lives—what they should become, where they should go—completely depend on their dictatorial, corrupt government. Additionally, the 18th-century colonists, who had to pay taxes to the British and be subject to the command of George III, were also the individuals to whom the poem’s “caged bird” refers as they were obliged to the order of a powerful government. Also, the 20th-century women, who did not have the privilege of forming a government democratically, are whom the poem’s “caged bird” …show more content…

Reading the poem, one shall firstly say that the tones of both works are obviously the same, for “Sympathy” and “Caged Bird" show an alternative order of the tone of melancholy and the tone of delight. For example, in Sympathy, the first stanza from line 1 to 7 gives the readers a feeling of joy because of the serene scene—“sun is bright,” “springing grass,” “river flow,” yet the next seven lines conveys the picture of an extreme situation wherein “blood is red on the cruel bars,” giving the reader a sense of desperation. In the same way, Angelou also repeated the same pattern in her poem, that the readers can find tranquility in “orange sun rays” where “free bird leaps” from line 1-6 of the first stanza, but sadness in “his narrow cage” in the second stanza. Nevertheless, the nuance in both works’ tones can be inferred in the last stanzas of “Sympathy” and “Caged Bird.” Whereas “Sympathy” is solemn, but hopeful, “Caged Bird” seems to reflect a relinquishment to the circumstance. Specifically, Dunbar expressed his hope that the bird would be emancipated of his chain and the Black people would live in harmony with the White people to God on Heaven; thus, a spirit of undefeated desire for freedom and a religious voice can be found in “Sympathy.”(15-21) In contrast, in “Caged Bird,” the bird’s spirit is now defeated by its bar as the African

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