Maya Angelou Metaphors

Why You Wanna Fly, Blackbird?
When people go through such a traumatic experience life becomes so difficult for them to express themselves and be understood by society. Maya Angelou, for instance, is a “caged bird” who has been unable to express herself to others. Maya is adjusting to her surroundings that can be interpreted by her use of metaphors and symbolism. Her use of metaphors and symbols has allowed for her to gain confidence and change her ability to no longer be a caged bird, but a free bird. Maya Angelou transforms from a silent child into a strong independent black woman throughout her autobiography. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou uses metaphors and symbolism to highlight the difficulties she went through during the 1940s and to show how precious freedom is.
Angelou uses an extended metaphor to help prove her theme and say that freedom is such a precious gift that some people would love to have. Angelou uses metaphors in her work to help the reader interpret that a bird’s dreams
may never come true. The speaker of “Caged Bird” says, “But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams/ his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream/ his wings are clipped and his feet are tied/ so he opens his throat to sing (27-30).” “Because Johnson’s words, like Angelou’s story, are gathered ‘from the stuff of the black experience, with its suffering and its survival,’ to use Keneth Kinnamon’s words, the singing of ‘Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing’ at the end of the graduation episode “is paradigm of Angelou’s own artistic endeavor in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Walker 24 par 21).” Angelou describes the inequality between the whites and blacks through a “cage” as well. No matter how much she tried to succeed, someone different always tried to hold her back from being that strong blackbird who wants to soar and be free. Angelou felt isolated and she wanted to have the freedom others had. She is this angry bird who is not only caged but her wings are clipped and her feet are tied down to where she can not move. While she is free she gets to fly around and enjoy all the amazing things the world has to offer. Angelou has never been free, but she still sings her song of freedom. Some people never get to experience what life is like when freedom is available and can never even imagine it. Angelou is no different. At first, she does not know what freedom is, but she seems to understand that her life is not what she wants. Therefore she tries to do what she can, singing her songs, and by the end of the autobiography she is so much closer to freedom. Some things in life seem to hold people back from actually accomplishing their dreams, but eventually they will overcome those obstacles. The power of words can sometimes hold a person back or motivate that person to be better and make a change in society and even their own life.
This book is one that is very symbolic, therefore many messages are hidden because she has a way of conveying her feelings. Another literary device that Angelou uses is symbolism to prove the overall theme of her work. Throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Angelou intends for the reader to realize that life is sometimes like a cage that you just can not get out of. The cage represents the racial discrimination, prejudice, and hatred society had against those who were “different”. Cages are objects that keep people from succeeding in their lives and being anything they want to be. Angelou had a great variety of “cages” in her life such as her young age, her strict grandmother, as well as being black in the 40s. Angelou uses the cage to portray the idea of obstacles that can be perceived by the reader. “The Black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate and Black lack of power. The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste and even belligerence (Angelou 272 par 31).” “After graduating from grade school, she and her brother returned to live with their mother, who had moved back to San Francisco. With her mother’s support, Maya became a confident teenager who managed to force her way into a job as a streetcar conductor at the age of fifteen. She was the first black to achieve this status (Telgan 2 par 6).” Again, discrimination and racism made up Angelou’s cage. Even though she sung she felt like she was being ignored instead of being heard. She felt like only those near her and close to her cage were the only ones to hear and actually listen. She is forced to hide the rage that has grown inside of her from all the racism in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou is saying the reason the Caged Bird cries out is because the bird is determined to change things, just like African Americans wanted a change in the way society treated them. She refers to herself as this caged bird that is crying out for the change.
Angelou uses silence as a symbol that has a variety of meanings. Protection is what silence symbolized for Maya at such a young age, due to her traumatic experience. “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’ (Angelou 78 par 7).” “Silence is the only thing she can control at this point, and she knows that her silence overs protection for her brother. Of course even her silence cannot protect her attacker forever.. (Metzger 28 par 9).” / “...Both her grandmothers use silence to help them deal with the world, and now Angelou is using silence to protect herself (Metzger 28 par 11).” Angelou had so much trust in Mr. Freeman, Maya’s mom’s boyfriend, yet she felt so betrayed after the incident. She stayed silent for 5 years, after hearing about his death, 4 days after he was released. Maya just wanted to be loved, but instead she got pain and so many years of guilt. She felt like her voice is what killed Mr. Freeman. Although she has went through plenty of pain and depression, silence is always Maya’s go to. Silence is like Maya’s personal journey but silence is not the only things she is working through. She is struggling with racial tension, self-concept, unstable life, sexual abuse, and even teenage pregnancy. When things seemed to get rough for her, she went to silence. However, Angelou was told to finally express herself by one of her teachers. When she started talking again she was a completely different Maya who fell in love with reading and expressing herself through poetry.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has been rated as a great book by critics.
Personally, this book is overall very captivating and has a honest look at the way society was in the 70s. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the first--and many say the best--- of the five autobiographical volumes the gifted African American author, Maya Angelou, wrote. This work is a remarkably vivid retelling of the turbulent event of their childhood, during which she shuttled back and forth between dramatically different environments in rural Stamps, Arkansas, slightly raunchy St. Louis, Missouri, and glitzy San Francisco, California (Telgan 1 par 1).” Angelou’s autobiography brings out such an amazing message. She gives an overlook of her life through various obstacles and hardships, but Angelou has managed to come through as a strong woman. This book not only tells valid points that people can learn from, but those obstacles may inspire someone who may go through the same exact
problem.
Throughout the course of the book, Angelou has went from this silent young girl, transforming to the image of the strong women who had influenced her life. The transition has been shown from her use of metaphors and symbolism that has impacted the theme of her book.