I Know Why The Caged Bird

The Caged Bird
Children endeavor clashes when finding their personal place in society. When a child is grinded down by their family, or the dominant culture, the road to achieving self-identity is accompanied with enormous obstacles to overcome. Maya Angelou’s amazing and enthralling experiences in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” show her hard life growing up as a black girl from the South during the 1930s. Among the hardships are things known as "cages". "Cages" are things that keep people from succeeding in life and doing things they want to do. Maya Angelou has been through tough times all throughout her life.
Maya’s cages deal with rape, prejudice, and abandonment. Maya’s rape affected her and made her not talk for about 5 years, she
didn’t trust or talk to anyone but her brother Bailey. People judge and preconceive opinions that are not based on actual experience. Maya couldn’t get treated at a white people’s dentist and her Momma had to take her to a black people’s dentist. The issues of abandonment that Maya has had because of her parents also affected Maya. Maya needed tenderness and warmth from her parents, but never got it. All these events contributed to Maya not being able to enjoy her childhood.
The first cage from Mayas youth was when she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr.
Freeman. Mr. Freeman takes advantage of Maya because she has never experienced affection from her family or anyone, she confuses his corruptive behavior with the physical attention she doesn’t receive. Mr. Freeman tells Maya that he will kill Bailey if she says anything, his threat confuses Maya to indicate that she has done something wrong, but she doesn’t know what. Mr. Freeman is only sentenced to a year and a day in jail. He is even released early, but soon after, he is found beat to death. Maya then feels guilty for his death, she believed her words killed him, she decides to not speak. Her depression lasted about five
years.
A major cage was later in the story when Maya develops an excruciating toothache. Momma takes Maya to see Dr. Lincoln, a white dentist in town. When they arrive, Dr. Lincoln tells them that he does not treat black people, and that he would rather stick his hands in a dog’s mouth than in Maya’s black mouth. Momma then reminds him that that he owes her the loan that she gave him during the great depression. Dr. Lincoln gave her the 10 dollars and Momma took Maya to the black dentist.
Throughout the story Maya and his brother Bailey struggle with the pain of having been rejected and abandoned by their parents.
They have moved between their grandparents and mother. In the story Maya and Bailey get Christmas presents from their parents, but they thought they were dead. They didn’t want gifts from them, but just to see them. The children cry and wonder what they did wrong to be sent away. A year later, their dad shows up. Then he takes Maya and Bailey when he departs. Not for long though, he drops them off with their mother. Living at her mothers, she doesn’t adjust well, the family she meets practices criminal behavior, which affects her
personally.
Maya has been through many unfortunate incidents in her life. Her brother Bailey has been the only one who has been with her. He has been the only masculine protection and the only person who gave her affection. This ended with Maya being raped because she doesn’t have affection from her family or friends. Throughout the story Maya has struggled with prejudice and racism. People judge Maya and her family just because they are black, not knowing that they are just normal people like them. Maya’s issues of abandonment by her parents has affected her greatly throughout her life. She never got compassion from both of them. This affected her personally and forever wondered why she got abandoned. These events help state that Maya was a caged bird during her childhood.