Analysis Of Maya Angelou's 'I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings'

Throughout history, Society has given women certain roles that kept them from realizing their individuality. From slavery to the time of the civil rights movement, for African American women, their race has been another obstacle that kept them from realizing their true self. To explain, after the 13th amendment abolishes slavery in 1865, the Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation in the south. Consequently, these laws changed the way African Americans saw themselves compared to their white counterparts. This idea is evident through the demonstration of characters and setting in Maya Angelou’s novel. Maya Angelou uses herself to show how a black girl perceives herself in white society, she uses Mr. Freeman to show how traumatic events affect one self’s perception, and lastly, she utilizes setting to show how a person’s location impacts their identity. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou demonstrates coming of age to reveal an African American woman’s challenge that must be overcome for self-realization. The first example of a character is Marguerite Angelou, known as Maya. Maya struggles to understand why she is perceived

Maya Angelou uses herself to show how a black girl perceives herself in white society, she uses Mr. Freeman to show how traumatic events affect one self’s perception, and lastly, she utilizes setting to show how a person’s location impacts their identity. Maya Angelou teaches that challenges are faced by everybody, even though some more than others. Nevertheless, these challenges should not keep people down. Obstacles are in place, so they are overcome and in that is how identity and individuality are found. For those who are African-American women, their race and gender have been their greatest challenge, but it can be