In the novel “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” Maya Angelou describes her life as a young awkward black girl in the American South during the 1930s and subsequently in California during the 1940s. when Maya is only three her parents divorce and ship Maya and her older brother, Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in rural Stamps, Arkansas. Annie, who Maya and Bailey call Momma, runs the only store in the black section of Stamps and becomes the central moral figure in Maya’s childhood. It is actually interesting how much clout she has in the town for a black woman.…
Maya Angelou, the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was a young influential black girl in Stamps, Arkansas. The three most remarkable people in Maya’s life were Bailey, Vivian Baxter, and Grandmother Henderson. Bailey, her brother, was there for her when she needed someone, and Vivian Baxter taught her how to express herself. Grandmother Henderson was the person who always supported Maya Angelou and taught her almost everything she knows.…
''When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time'' says marguerite Annie Johnson also known as Maya Angelou. Known for her inspiring appearances as an author, screen writer, dancer, actress and of course a poet. There were many ways Maya was born in St. Louis Missouri in 1928. She experienced racial prejudices and discrimination after moving with her grandmother when her parents split. She experienced harsh events in her life that made her the strong woman she is that led her on till her death in 2014. The spirit in her work still lives on today by those who admire her work. Using her biography as a resource, Her parents split when Maya was just a very young girl. Not only did she get raped as a child by her mother's boyfriend, She also got pregnant at the early age of 16 in a short high school relationship that left her with a handsome boy named Guy Johnson. Maya's importance was based on her 1969 memoir ''I know why the caged birds sing.'' Maya's life experiences are revealed in her work continuously. Throughout her poems of ''Phenomenal woman'', ''Touched by an Angel'', and ''Harlem Hopscotch'' her poetic language is shaped by her experiences.…
In “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings” Maya Angelou writes about her life from the ages 3 to 16 years old. Angelou writes about her experiences with her mom in part of her autobiography. Vivian Baxter, Angelou’s mother, despite not being there for most of her childhood, she is a major influence to Angelou. Vivian is a young woman who works hard and learns from her life experiences. Vivian Baxter is a strong resilient individual because she has insight, that prevents her from making brash decisions, independence, which allows her to do what is best for her, initiative, that makes her strong and confident, and morality, that lets her know right from wrong.…
In the book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, she shows rather than tells. She allows the reader to develop a mental picture of everything she explains. The descriptions of the characters are vivid and captivate the reader's imagination. Certain situations are explained perfectly by Maya Angelou, such as Momma's discussion with Mrs. Flowers. Because of such articulate descriptions, the reader is pulled into the story as if they were actually there. This makes reading Caged Bird more interesting.…
One of her famous books was “I know why the caged bird sings”. Maya Angelou wrote “I know why the caged bird sings” because she wanted plenty of people to know what she had went through. She wrote this for man of reasons; one was as a reminder to not to give up during the trials of growing up. This book was one of the first of her five volumes of her life. I know why the caged bird sing was recreating a child's voice and what some children go through because growing up with young parents. Many say that young black woman…
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the autobiography of Maya Angelou’s life. She tells the story of her life in Stamps, Arkansas as well as her life moving from place to place. She deals with many problems including prejudice in many forms. Because of this prejudice, Maya must deal with the extremely influential actions of segregation, racism, and sexism.…
1. In the text "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" a young black girl is growing up with racism surrounding her. It is very interesting how the author Maya Angelou was there and the way she described every detail with great passion. In the book Maya and Bailey move to a lot of places, which are, Stamps, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and San Francisco, California. Maya comes threw these places with many thing happening to her and people she knows. She tries to hold onto all the good memories and get rid of the bad but new ones just keep coming. That is why this book is very interesting. It keeps readers on the edge of their seats.…
Prose exposes numerous straw man arguments with To Kill a Mockingbird. Prose critiques the novel in a confident, yet slightly harsh manner. She believes that the novel could’ve been different if there was just a bit more detail. Prose interprets To Kill a Mockingbird in a way that focuses on prejudice and racism.…
Maya Angelou's turbulent experiences through late childhood and adolescence transformed into an almost positive force in her adult life as they helped enlighten, inspire, motivate and shape her very being. They provided her with the vehement fuel that drives her achingly powerful words and allowed her the knowledge and wisdom that led to self-discovery (finding one's inner self) and eventually knowledge of self (understanding one's inner self), two endeavors that most of humanity is never able or perhaps willing to acquire. In Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Marguerite Johnson experiences a particularly difficult childhood where she is often displaced geographically, socially and racially, and is even raped at a young age,…
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.…
Her autobiography starts in the small town of Stamps Arkansas. Maya recalls her youthful escapades with her brother Bailey in their Grandmother’s store. Their Grandmother was a harsh woman, who scrubbed them clean every Sunday (much to the children’s dismay). She recounts her first fearful encounters with racism and sex. Later, Maya moves to California with her beautiful mother. Her mother is a graceful dancer who likes to say that she, “Hopes for the best, prepares for the worst, and is unsurprised by anything in between.” It is by her Mother’s boyfriend that Maya is sexually abused and raped. Although she tells the story in an unattached fashion, it is clear that the incident affected her entire life. She returns to her Grandmother’s home for a few years and begins to develop into an avid reader. For a summer, Maya lives with her father and his spiteful girlfriend. She moves out into a junkyard and becomes a free-dancing, confident girl. From the Junkyard on, Maya is sure of herself in a way that she never was before. The book ends in Maya’s pregnancy. She gives birth at just sixteen years of age. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is primarily a coming of age story. Through the book, Maya finds herself and develops into the poetic thinker and writer we know of…
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is the first in a series of autobiographical works by Maya Angelou, an African American author and poet. Published in 1969 the novel captures and amplifies the socio-political zeitgeist in Black America. It is a bildungsroman that follows a young African American girl with an inferiority complex on her psychological and characteristic development to become a more socially aware and proactive individual. An individual beginning to adopt or preparing to adopt the attitudes that Bo Bennett discusses in the above quotation. This essay will explore the extent to which Angelou achieves self-actualisation in the novel.…
The article relates to Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” because it explains what happened with the civil rights movement during the memoir and shortly after. Angelou describes her life as a minority, specifically in the 1930s. As the memoir progresses and the 1940s approach, Maya Angelou discusses her experience with the civil rights campaign, as it becomes more popular. Similarly, the article explains segregation in world war two, when Maya was growing up. People can see how racial minorities were affected by new policies, and how they chose to react to the unjust treatment. Maya Angelou does the same, as she reveals her experience with discrimination. Both the article and memoir give an understanding of racial segregation…
“I was really white and because a cruel fairy stepmother, who was understandably jealous of my beauty, had turned me into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil” (Angelou 2-3). This quote from Maya Angelou’s memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings acts as an example of how racism had already made its way into Maya Angelou’s life, despite her being such a young age. Maya Angelou portrays this theme of racism throughout her book. Within her memoir, she explains the racism she faced throughout her life and illustrates how, in a way, this racism made her self aware and led her towards being the person who she is today. The theme of racism contributed to Maya’s journey to self-awareness, as the racism she faced motivated her to accomplish unheard of tasks, revealed to her the difficulties of being a black person, and eventually gave her the pride of being black.…