An Analysis of Maya Angelou’s "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" Julie Gibson Maya Angelou’s I Know Why Caged Bird Sings illustrates how an innocent and naive girl growing up in the midst of the Great Depression overcomes life’s many obstacles and becomes the powerful and influential woman she is today. Maya is a world renowned author‚ teacher‚ speaker‚ actress‚ and mother. Through this autobiographical piece‚ Maya’s use of figurative language and allusion compounds her thoughts‚ as she depicts
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This character analysis was based on the autobiography‚ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‚ written by the famous and inspiring Maya Angelou. In the beginning of‚ I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‚ Marguerite Annie Johnson or Maya Angelou is a precocious girl and she suffered from the typical traumas associated with being a black girl in America‚ as many black girls have. But she also struggled from the traumas of displacement. Her parents gave up on their marriage‚ and soon after‚ they sent away Maya
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teeth . . . ” “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning.” (lines 123–124) “Another Negro woman of her health and age would have been expected to carry the paper sacks home in one hand‚ but Momma said‚ ‘Sister Flowers‚ I’ll send Bailey up to your house with these things.’” (lines 61–63) “She appealed to me because she was like people I had never met personally.” (line 46) Unit 2 Grade 9 83 Reading
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Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings chronicles the early years of the author’s life - up to age seventeen. In the book‚ Angelou poetically describes the phenomenon that is growing up black‚ in the south‚ in the time before and during World War II. I believe that you are expected to interpret this as a memoir of overcoming the odds. I believe that you are expected to regard the happenings of this book with feelings of empathy and/or sympathy. You are also supposed to marvel at the way Angelou
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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
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I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Survivors of great trauma often display psychological‚ emotional‚ and physical effects. In children‚ these effects are often heightened due to their fragile psyche. Angelou demonstrates the effects her trauma has on her by not speaking and viewing herself as worthless. In the first of Maya Angelou’s autobiographical pieces‚ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings‚ she recounts recovering from extreme trauma at a young age. Suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
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nice‚ intelligent‚ and elegant lady who shows a special interest on a young girl that had never been appreciated by anyone before. Marguerite is a young girl who feels lonely and sad; one example is where she states at the beginning “for nearly a year I sopped around the house‚ the store‚ the school‚ and the church like an old biscuit‚ dirty and inedible”. (Maya Angelou‚ pg. 390 of grassroots). Then she met Mrs. Flowers‚ the women that would change her life completely. Mrs. Flower’s personality and
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Triginhall Mrs. Teacher Honors English 10 18 November 2012 Response to Literature “The free bird thinks of another breeze….a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams…” The two literary works “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” can be seen as mockingbirds that have flown over fields of prejudice and repeat what they have seen for all to hear. Jem Finch‚ a young boy and lawyer’s son from “To Kill a Mockingbird” clearly symbolizes a mockingbird
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June‚ 2011 The Presence of Exemplar Male Figures as an Approach to the Representation of Marguerite Johnson’s Weakness in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings “My head was up and my eyes were open‚ but I didn’t see anything.” Using this line in the prologue of her autobiographical novel‚ Maya Angelou introduces the lack of power of the main character of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings‚ Marguerite Johnson. This phrase introduces to the reader a vulnerable girl who attempts to recite a poem in front of her Church in the Black section of the
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I chose Dr. Lincoln because he shows how racist people were before in that time and how they could be given a lot and still not help them if they were black. I came across Dr. Lincoln in chapter 24 in a book called I Know Where The Caged Bird Sings. Dr. Lincoln is a man that went through school to get a degree to get a dentistry. Dr. Lincoln looks like a normal or in other words common white guy. He is a normal white guy because he has brown hair‚ blue eyes. He wears a white jacket because he is
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