There are many instances in history of words and names being powerful things. They have been used as signs of respect, or as a means to insult others. They can be sentimental, as well as inappropriate given the circumstances. Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is no exception, and contains many examples of names being powerful things. Names have been used as signs of respect for hundreds of years. Soldiers would call their commanding officers Sir or Ma’am, students would add Mr. or Mrs. in front of a teacher's name, and civilians would call their king or queens my liege. In the book “I Know why the Caged Bird Sings” Marguerite and Bailey called their grandmother “Momma,” and it wasn’t because she was their actual mother, but as a sign of respect because she raised them as her own. Marguerite also tells a story about how her grandmother was called Mrs. Henderson in a courtroom, and how it filled the black community with pride to hear a white judge address a black woman as Mrs. (48). …show more content…
Punk, brat, jerk, dunce and many other words are used seemingly everyday as insults, as well as many words considered racist now. It has also always been disrespectful to call a grown up by their first name. In Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, she says “Every person I knew had a hellish horror of being called out of his name” (109), meaning it can hurt emotionally and/or mentally to be called something that isn't your real name. An example is when Marguerite works for Mrs. Cullinan, she begins to call Marguerite Mary because Margaret was too long of a name (A name that also wasn’t Marguerite’s
Maya recalls an Easter Sunday at the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in Arkansas. Her mother makes her a special Easter dress from lavender taffeta, and Maya thinks the dress will make her look like the blond-haired blue-eyed movie star that she wishes, deep down, to be. But, the dress turns out to be drab and ugly, as Maya laments that she is black, and unattractive as well. She leaves her church pew to go to the bathroom, and doesn't make it; she runs from the church, ashamed, but glad to be out of church and away from the children who torment her, and make her childhood even harder than it already is.
The novel, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", by Maya Angelou is the first series of five autobiographical novels. This novel tells about her life in rural Stamps, Arkansas with her religious grandmother and St. Louis, Missouri, where her worldly and glamorous mother resides. At the age of three Maya and her four-year old brother, Bailey, are turned over to the care of their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Southern life in Stamps, Arkansas was filled with humiliation, violation, and displacement. These actions were exemplified for blacks by the fear of the Ku Klux Klan, racial separation of the town, and the many incidents in belittling blacks.
There are many obstacles in which Maya Angelou had to overcome throughout her life. However, she was not the only person affected throughout the story, but as well as her family. Among all the challenges in their lives the author still manages to tell the rough and dramatic story of the life of African Americans during a racism period in the town of Stamps. In Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings she uses various types of language to illustrate the conflicts that arise in the novel. Among the different types of languages used throughout the book, she uses literary devices and various types of figurative language. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou the author uses literary devices and figurative language to illustrate to the reader how racism creates obstacles for her family and herself along with how they overcome them.
“Be who want to be,create a name for yourself”(Unknown). Being one is the greatest gift to society. Creating a name for one is important and key to striving in throughout society. A name will never define someone as a person. The person will define the name. The article “ ‘Black’ Names: A Resume Burden?” by Bootie Cosgrove- Mathers discusses, the burden many parents of color face when choosing their child 's name. The stereotypes set out throughout society on if a parent of color should name their children “black” sounding names is significant. Parents of color should name their children “black” sounding names to embrace their black identity, bring across equality, and end the negative stereotypes that come with “black” sounding names.
In her novel, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings';, Maya 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 the lack of black power';. Fortunately Maya was able to move beyond the crossfire, proving that she overcomes opposition that her status throws her way.
For immigrant, minority, or English learning student, name has historical and hereditary significance. They may have stories behind their name which are suppressed when they are regularly compelled to adjust to an “Americanized” setting. However, that transition forces students to take name that do not define them. Yee Wan moved to United States from China when she was 17. When she enrolled to a school at United States, she was forced to change her name-- she had to decide whether to keep her native name or change to American name so that it would be easier for her teachers to pronounce her name. Realizing that there was no choice, she had to change her name to Winnie. (McLaughlin 1). Similarly, Michelle-Thuy Ngoc is a US born teen
Hope is an attribute in life that many people cling to. It gives people courage and reasons to continue striving in everyday life, especially in the toughest of times. The autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, published in 1969, followed Angelou’s childhood growing up in the South as a minority, the problems that she faced because of that, how she overcame those problems, and how she still found hope. The theme represented in this autobiography is that in every storm faced in life it may feel like there’s nothing left; however, there will always be hope that can still be found.
As a black woman in the 1930's and the 1940's, little power or ever respect was given. There had been no civil rights movement and Jim Crow laws and segregation were still in effect. Blacks, in general, especially women, were not given a felicitous education because it was illegal to acquire or obtain books during that time period. Maya Angelou's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was deeply shaped of her coming of age during the depression that caused her separation, the racism and discrimination she experienced living in the south, and the abuse she endured which formed her discernment of men.
Longing for the freedom that the beautiful blue-eyed white bird holds, the ugly black bird violently throws herself against the bars that ensnare her. After countless failed attempts, the black bird eventually understands that her cage is her identity. Believing her femininity and African American race are the cages that capture her, Maya Angelou relives the unfortunate incidents of her life in her 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. At age three, Marguerite (Maya) and her brother Bailey are abandoned by their divorced parents and sent to live with their paternal grandmother and crippled uncle in the strongly racist and rural town of Stamps, Arkansas. From refusal to receive dental treatment, to being told Blacks only amount to maids and handymen at her eighth grade graduation, racism sinks its way into Maya’s spirit. A turning point occurs when their father unexpectedly arrives in Stamps and leaves them in St. Louis, Missouri with their mother. At just eight years old, Marguerite is sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend, who is ironically named Mr. Freeman. Although found guilty, Mr. Freeman is killed one night. Maya is overwhelmed with guilt for his death, and withdraws from everyone but her brother Bailey. She is allowed to spend a summer her teen years with her father, and after verbal abuse, becomes homeless for a short period. At the end of the summer, she goes back to live with her mother and just before graduating high school becomes pregnant. The book ends with the acceptance of her child and the realization that the love she yearned for from her parents is one that she can now give. By boldly sharing her intimate experiences, Maya Angelou uses imagery, characterization, and symbolism to ce...
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou's novel is a classic tale of growing up black in the American South in the 1930s and 40s. Even though Marguerite's and her brother Bailey's childhood and early youth are probably far from typical for the average black family of that time, the book nonetheless can be read as a parable of what it meant and still means to be a black person in an overwhelmingly white society. The story is told from a "black" point of view and is thus a more "politically correct" representation of race relationship and prejudice than Harper Lee's equally famous To Kill a Mockingbird.
Maya Angelou’s excerpt from her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” reveals the challenges facing a young black girl in the south. The prologue of the book tells of a young Angelou in church trying to recite a poem she has forgotten. She describes the dress her grandmother has made her and imagines a day where she wakes up out of her black nightmare. Angelou was raised in a time where segregation and racism were prevalent in society. She uses repetition, diction, and themes to explore the struggle of a black girl while growing up. Angelou produces a feeling of compassion and poignancy within the reader by revealing racial stereotypes, appearance-related insecurities, and negative connotations associated with being a black girl. By doing this she forces the
The disrespect and irony can be seen when Dee changes her name from a family name to a name that an ancestor could have had while still in Africa. After her Mom finds out she has changed her name to Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo she confronts Miss Wangero about this blatant disrespect, “You know as well as me you were named after your aunt Dicie” (Walker 488). Dee’s name had been her Aunt’s, her Grandmother’s, and her Great Grandmother’s. Dee’s name was a family tradition that could be traced through 4 generations. Dee’s mother went on to say, “I could have carried it back beyond the Civil War through the branches” (488). Dee’s name could had been in the family since before the Civil War. Dee’s only defense for abandoning this family name was that she didn’t want to have a name that was handed down from a slave master. Dee says “ I couldn’t bear it any longer, being named after the people who oppress me.”(488) It’s ironic that Dee would choose to give up the traditional family name in order to pick up a name someone could have had in Africa. It’s ironic to drop a tradition in order to revive one that may or may not have ever been observed by their family. It’s ironic because Dee lost her family’s tradition in order to save one that someone else
Walker, Pierre A. Racial protest, identity, words, and form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Vol. 22. West Chester: Collage Literature, n.d. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
I have read an account called " 'What's in a Name? " ", which is composed by Henry Louis Gates. This account demonstrates to us a youth experience of the creator that happened amid the mid-1950s. In the article, Gates alludes to an occurrence when a white man, Mr. Wilson, who was well disposed with his dad, called his dad "George", a name which was a prominent method for alluding to African Americans in those circumstances. In any case, Gates' dad needed to acknowledge this separation and couldn't make a move around then. By utilizing sentiment to bring out individuals' enthusiastic reaction, and utilizing suggestion, Gates effectively communicates his claim that name shapes individuals' discernments
Throughout I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, racism is a frequent obstacle that non-whites had to overcome. When Maya is young, she doesn’t recognize the racism and discrimination as well as her grandmother does. As Maya gets older, she begins to recognize and take notice to the racism and discrimination towards her and African Americans everywhere. Maya may not recognize the racism and discrimination very well at her young age, but it still affects her outlook on life the same way it would if she had recognized it. The racism and discrimination Maya faced throughout I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, affected her attitude, personality, and overall outlook on life in a positive way.