Analysis Of I Know Why A Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou

Those without freedom suffer through imprisonment. Not being to be one’s true self can result in damaging results in a person’s state of mind and success. A person who constantly feels the weight of discrimination is often lacking in complete happiness. In I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou uses narration to effectively achieve her purpose of illustrating that despite being oppressed, one still longs for freedom symbolism and imagery.
Firstly, Maya Angelou uses symbolism to effectively achieve her purpose of illustrating that despite being repressed, one still longs for freedom. Angelou uses many symbols through her literature, the title of her first autobiography even being one. The symbol of a caged bird represents her growing up throughout the book. The cage represents the racism and sexism that traps her from having access to many opportunities. Angelou is the bird who is trapped behind the cage of hate. She states, “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” (Angelou 272). The acts of hate and prejudice she experiences due

A person deprived of fundamental rights cannot achieve their full potential. Limitations and boundaries act as fences to success. As the title suggests, Angelou lives as a caged bird throughout her life, racism and other hardships she encounters being the bars. The cage stunts the success of the bird: Maya Angelou and oppressed beings. Angelou crafts images and symbols of the oppression she encounters in order to show the extent in which she felt trapped. Her feelings of entrapment lead to her unhappiness and longing for