Brysen Newville Professor Spurlock English 1B 14 April 2024 Writing Exercise Cagedbird had a very big importance on both the book ‘Trifles’ by Susan Glaspell and the poem ‘Sympathy’ by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Although it is referenced in both books / poems, they don’t exactly have the same exact story behind each meaning. In the book Trifles, the caged bird is used to symbolize the prison of Mrs. Wright's marriage. In the instance of the book, Mrs. Wright felt like a ‘caged’ bird. As to where in the poem Sympathy it’s expressing the freedom for African Americans that back then were held back by laws and segregation and other things such as White Oppression. Now, although these meanings are different in a sense, they are actually really similar when …show more content…
Paul Laurence Dunbar uses the extended metaphor of the caged bird to represent the entire black community during those times of slavery from the 1600’s - 1800’s. Now some may ask, as the poem Sympathy was written by a man, but the play's protagonist was a girl. Could both genders back then have felt a struggle? Now the answer to that question is yes, both genders actually had struggles back then. During the slavery era, although most women weren’t used to doing heavy work, they were often used in the kitchen and used for sexual matters. Men often were used in the fields or for heavy work that the slave owner needed done. So to say the very least, both genders definitely played a huge role in suffering back in the times of the slavery era. In the story Trifles, Mrs. Wright had killed her husband due to her feeling trapped in a relationship that she didn’t want to be in. Mrs. Wright's husband had killed her caged bird, which represented women and men back in the times when men were superior to women. The cage in this instance was the men who basically had the women on ‘lock’ as the bird was locked in the
The bird that was once free with the freedom of the sky to enjoy, is now caged inside a birdcage with no relief and loss of freedom. No opportunity for the bird, only to be trapped in its own delusion to only hear rumors of the northern lands. The bird is a representation of the slaves in the southern states, with the sky representing America at the time being once a land of the free, opportunity and free religion. Slavery is represented as the bird cage, caging the freedom for the slaves. During this time slavery was popular in the Southern states in the 19th century. Frederick Douglass a slave in the 19th century, who published a book of Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass in 1845. He showed his experience as a slave and his moral
While reading, I felt a sense of sadness for the caged bird, as its undeniable determination was persistent and valiant. Along with the message of the poem, I also appreciated Angelou’s unique sense of “unstructured verse” and her non-traditional poetic approach. It is clear that the caged bird represents African Americans and the free bird represents the white population, however, the poem is well written which sends this implied message of African-American suppression in a poetic, yet clear,
Paul Laurence Dunbar depicts this idea in his well-known poem “Sympathy” (one of my favorite poems!), describing a caged bird that longs for freedom. Dunbar establishes his knowledge of the bird ’s feelings, his desire for freedom (his motive of rebellion). Dunbar draws empathy from the audience as he describes the bird’s integrity in the descriptive lines: “I know why the caged bird beats his wing Till its blood is red on the cruel bars.” The caged bird goes to a dangerous extent to be heard, as he bleeds on his prison bars, for he is willing to do anything for his freedom— this shows his integrity and confidence in his values.
In I Know why the Caged Bird Sings the author uses many different literary devices and various figurative language examples. The use of metaphors, imagery, similes, and Symbolism has a great effect. They’re effective due to the fact in how they inform the reader of various important details needed to understand the story completely. The use of specific, different, and various types of language illustrate to the reader the effect of racism on many characters in the novel.
There are many rights that one can attain once they reach a certain age; however, the right to freedom is not one of them. In the poems, “Sympathy,” and “Caged Bird,” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou, both authors used the caged bird as a central symbol in their writing. This central symbol of the bird is significant and reveals the theme “when someone loses the unalienable right to freedom, life lose its value,” because of its supposed representation of freedom, it becomes a trophy, and its song has a double meaning.
The symbolism used in this play is directed at the need for equal rights for women, and the role many men played in squashing that dream. The bird and bird cage are metaphors for the laws in place which prevent women from voting and the need to be free from those oppressors. The singing of the bird is symbolically the crying of a nation of women who demand the right to vote. Also the husband, who broke the bird’s neck, represents the men who oppressed and opposed women, and who ultimately met their demise. The last truly symbolic instance is the knotting of the rope and the knotting of the stitches.
Devising the perfect murder is a craft that has been manipulated and in practice dating back to the time of the biblical reference of Cain and Abel. In the play, “Trifles” exploration is focused on the empathy one has for a murderer who feels they have no alternative from their abuser. As a multifaceted approach, the author Glaspell gives her audience a moral conflict as to whether murder should be condemned based on the circumstances rather than the crime. Presenting Mrs. Wright as the true victim of the crime of domestic abuse rather than a murderer gives Glaspell a stage which shows her audience the power of empathy.
The most readily apparent parallel between the two is that both render their captive immobile; the bird and the African-American are confined. Beyond this immobility, more telling commonalities appear vis-à-vis the nature of the captives. Dunbar’s captive is the bird, and the nature of a bird is to fly. While the bird retains its intrinsic ability to fly – its aerodynamic anatomy does not change – the surrounding cage prevents it from externalizing its intrinsic inclination. Hence, the bird’s anguish follows from the suppression of its natural tendency. Du Bois’ paralyzed African-American is in precisely the same position as the caged bird. Again, an aphorism: the nature of the African-American is to be both African and American. According to Du Bois, just as the bird’s inclination is to fly, the African-American’s natural inclination is to reconcile the two chief cultures he embodies. As with the caged bird, the African-American cannot externalize its inherent goal in the face of society’s direct opposition to that goal. In the sense that both are unable to externalize their internal urges, the bird and the African-American are
To continue, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Maya Angelou, and Alicia Keys have utilized various forms of literary devices in their works to fully explain and emphasize their main theme and opinions. For example, in Dunbar’s poem, ‘Sympathy,’ there is a strong use of metaphors, which is a phrase or word that represents another object or idea that it would not normally be related to. In the poem, the author uses a caged bird to somewhat symbolize racially oppressed African Americans in the 1800s. The poem includes, “I know why the caged bird sings, ah me…” “When he beats his bars and he would be free; It is not a carol of joy or glee, But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core…” By using the symbol of the caged bird in the poem, the author
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
There are many different ways someone is considered to be free, the direct definition is to enjoy personal rights or liberty, this can be interpreted in different forms. In their poems “Caged Bird”, and “Sympathy”, Maya Angelou and Paul Laurance Dunbar use caged birds to represent what it means to be free. They both use birds to convey a better image for the reader. Birds are used in both poems of “Caged Bird” and “Sympathy” as a central image because the caged birds are metaphors for true freedom and hope.
The novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings goes through the childhood of Maya Angelou as she faces the difficult realities of the early South. This novel does not do a very good job at portraying the hardships of the blacks because she
She is comparing a free white person, the free bird, to a black slave; the caged bird. Angelou uses rhymes and repetition to show the meaning of her poem and to prove the point that she is making to her readers. This poem is all about the inequality and the violation of civil rights that black slaves had to go through (“Angelou, Maya. Caged”;“Skinner”;“Hagen”). Angelou often writes about inequality, but not just the inequality for African American people, but for women as well and the stereotypes that they face. This is potraied in Angelou 's “Phenominal
I chose these three poems because the subject matter appealed to me and I believe that the poems convey their meaning very effectively. Upon researching the poems, I discovered that Caged Bird was in fact inspired by Sympathy, which accounts for the similarities in language and imagery, as outlined below. All three poems deal with the subject of freedom using the imagery of birds; On Liberty and Slavery is narrated as a human plea for freedom, and makes reference to birds in that context, whereas Caged Bird and Sympathy both use the imagery of caged birds to explore the theme of loss of freedom. The symbolism of birds is used to depict freedom, as birds are essentially without constraints; in comparison to the limitations of humans, they have limitless possibilities. When a bird is caged, however, it loses that potential and is restricted not by its own limitations, but the limits set by another.
In the “Caged Bird” Angelou’s comparison to the caged bird was African-Americans in the society they were living in. She symbolized the bird with African-Americans experiences. In the second stanza the poem states “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing”. This is comparison to African-Americans in their society. When African- Americans were enslaved they use to sing songs to uplift their spirits because that’s all they could do. They were physically bound and mentally brain-washed. The songs was there way of showing they still had fight left in them. In the fourth stanza it states “The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn and he names the sky his own”. This is saying the while African-Americans were enslaved and oppressed they watched Caucasians be free and do as they pleased. Although at the time African-Americans never experienced freedom they yearned for it. They knew it had to be better then what they were enduring. Racism is considered the cage around the caged bird, and it means not getting treated fairly with jobs, medical treatment, and even get