Characterization is a physical description of a character‚ the way the character acts and the personality traits of the character. Bailey Johnson Jr. is the older brother of Marguerite Ann Johnson‚ the protagonist of the novel‚ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. In order for Maya to become independent‚ she needs to separate from Bailey. Their original relationship was holding her back. Bailey is described in the book as a bright‚ clever and light-spirited person. Maya needs to separate
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Throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings there were many themes such as racism and segregation‚ strong black women‚ and literature. The strongest theme addressed in the book was racism and segregation. Racism and segregation was shown in just about every aspect of the book. A major example of to this theme is presented by how Maya and her family lived in the black side of Stamps. Their side of town is all dirt roads and broken down‚ while the white side of town the roads are paved and everything
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Jacqueline Rodriguez June 6‚ 2011 Period 5 SOAPSTone Reading Strategy Guide Speaker: The voice of the story “I Know Why The Cage Bird Sings” in the chapter “Champion of The World” is a little African American girl named Maya Angelou. From the research I have done it seems that she is around the age of 6 or 7 years old; do to the fact that Joe’s victorious fight against Carnera was in the year 1935 and Maya was born in 1928. The majority of the African American race in these times of history
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“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
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Asia Johnson “I know why the caged bird Sing” written by Maya Angelou is a amazing and inspiration autobiography about a black girl growing up in the American South in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Although‚ Maya had many difficulties in her life‚ she always found away to overcome each battle and with good people that she come in counter with help her in a way. As I read the book I stopped and put myself in her place. I felt her pain of abandonment‚ low self-esteem and feeling unwanted. Her difficulties
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unfit for a particular audience. Maya Angelou has written so many banned books she is the most banned author in the United States. “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing” is one of her many books‚ that is banned. “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” is banned for many reasons‚ I’ll let you decide if you think it should. One main reason Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” is banned is for the pornographic language‚ incest‚ and rape. One Texas school states it is full of “gross evils”. Angelou often
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay The book we recently read was called‚ “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”‚ written by Maya Angelou. This was a memoir about Maya Angelou’s life from age 3 to 17. The story was about Maya’s life living with her brother and grandmother who she called‚ “Momma” in Stamps‚ Arkansas. Then later in her life‚ she ended up living in St. Louis with her mother‚ San Francisco with her Father‚ and even living in a car at a junkyard. She was faced with confusion in
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Theme Reflection In the story‚ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‚ there are many themes. Two of them include racism and displacement. At a very young age‚ Maya met the effects of racism and segregation in America. She had been told about the differences between blacks and whites‚ which developed her belief that only blonde hair is beautiful and that she is a fat black girl stuck in a nightmare. However‚ Stamps‚ Arkansas‚ was so segregated that as a child Maya never
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My Reaction to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou once proclaimed in an interview‚ “All my work is meant to say‚ ‘You may encounter many defeats but you must not be defeated’” (Anthology). This statement holds especially true in her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Her inspirational coming of age story is filled with many defeats that shaped her into the independent and compassionate woman she became. After reading this book‚ I found there to be many meaningful areas
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The purpose of authors writing literary works is to teach specific values and themes that they deem essential to put across to their readers. Francine Prose‚ the author of the excerpt I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read‚ is just by being skeptical of using literary works to teach values because of the way many English classes target the values of the author rather than the literary work itself. By using the two examples of the novels Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
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