Self-Worth in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Self-worth is “the sense of one's own value or worth as a person; self-esteem; self-respect,” or the way people view themselves in comparison to others, including, but not limited to, their reason to be. It seems that people’s self-worth is directly related to their reputation, even though it is what you think of YOURSELF, not how others think of you. The blurred lines between self-worth and self-esteem make such a topic rather difficult. Self-worth stood out to me as a different approach to reading this book. Since it is from the author’s point of view, the way she sees herself in her childhood and the way she is looking back at how she saw her life gives the storyline a whole new, interesting twist. These days, so many friendships and relationships have slipped into that follower-followed situation where one controls the other’s (or others’) words and actions. This sort of behavior lowers self-worth. This topic has such an undertone of confidence or lack of confidence that it seemed the only choice for me to write about to go along with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. When young and naïve, our self-esteem and self-worth can by affected by our physical appearance or intelligence, which is rather unfair. At the time period this book covers, the black population was made to think that they were literally inferior to the white population. The Jim Crow laws set in 1896 said that blacks and whites should and will be “separate but equal”. This prejudice was probably a large source of low self-worth in African-Americans in the South. Self-worth isn’t just about how one sees them, but also how the criticism that is thrust upon them. This story is about how one person changed the way she looked at herself and therefore changed her world.