Thank You Ma Am And I Know Why The Caged Bird

Have you ever struggled on a school assignment but wasn’t able to get help? Didn’t you wish there was someone there with you that could’ve helped you do it? Being kind is important, whenever you’re helping someone with schoolwork or guiding them to make good decisions. The later example is shown in “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and “Thank You M’am.” The character Mrs. Flowers in “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” reveals how kindness is important. “When Maya was about ten years old... She had become depressed and withdrawn.” (Maya Angelou 26) Then Mrs. Flowers came in to her life, and changed everything. She sacrificed her free time just for Maya, encouraging her to practice talking by reading aloud. As Maya remarked on page 29 “...She had made tea cookies for me and read to me from her favorite book. It was enough to prove she liked me.” When Maya grew up, she became a famous writer
Luella Bates Washington Jones, or Mrs. Jones for short, gives a tough love type of kindness to Roger, a teenage boy who tried to steal her purse. Even though her speech is rough, she still has a kind heart. She is kind to Roger, even saying that if she took care of him “I would teach you right and wrong.” (Langston Hughes 187) While Mrs. Jones is a large woman and could’ve just turned him in to the police, she didn’t, getting him to wash his face and giving him food. Feeling guilty for trying to steal her purse, he tries to be nicer, offering to get milk from the store for her. She refuses the offer. When she left her bag and the door open without supervision, Roger thought about stealing her purse and running for it. But he didn’t because “he didn’t want to be mistrusted...” Mrs. Jones inspired him to be nice and to not steal again. At the end, Roger leaves Mrs. Jones’ home, with a gift and advice from her. She gave him some money to buy what he had tried to steal her purse for and a new determination to be kind to others and not steal