I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: Novel Study Journal While suspense is created through the occurrence of certain events throughout the story, it is not the main element in the memoir. However, there are circumstances that provoke questions for the reader and draw curiosity. For instance, when Maya and Bailey receive presents from their supposedly dead parents one Christmas, it makes both the children and readers wonder if perhaps Maya and Bailey’s parents will reconnect with them soon. Also, when Maya’s bloody drawers are uncovered by her family following her rape, the reader is left with a cliffhanger at the end of the chapter. This leaves readers in anticipation of what is to occur next and builds up worry and tension for Maya’s fate. Nonetheless, …show more content…
These symbols shape Maya’s childhood, growth, and her coming of age experience. For example, the presents that Maya and Bailey receive one Christmas reveal the bitter truth that their parents are alive. They learn that their supposedly dead parents shipped them away when they were young and realize that although their parents care about them enough to send them presents for Christmas, they aren’t valued enough to stay with them. This is the first time that Bailey and Maya begin questioning why their parents abandoned them and come to understand the harsh reality that they are living. The presents are one of the earliest causes of their loss of innocence. Therefore, the presents actually symbolize rejection from their parents rather than what gifts are traditionally supposed to represent: giving and affection. More specifically, the doll that Maya receives as a gift from her mother is white with “blue eyes and rosy cheeks and yellow hair painted on her head” (Angelou 51). Maya already loathes her appearance and believes that being Black means that she is too big and ugly to ever be pretty. She wishes to be a beautiful, slender white girl and the doll symbolizes the unattainable beauty standard, which she can never reach. Maya and Bailey rip this doll apart. The doll represents Maya’s beauty ideals and it impacts the way that she sees herself, worsening her self-confidence, which is already so low from a young age. Another prominent symbol is Momma’s Store, which is the central gathering place of Black Stamps. Maya grows up here and spends long hours helping out Momma around the Store. During Maya’s early childhood, the Store is her favourite place to be and she feels a sense of belonging there. Blacks gather at the Store for numerous occasions, such as to listen to the wrestling match on the radio as they all root for the Black wrestler, Joe
When the narrator first compares her Barbies, she thinks that she needs perfect and new Barbies to fit in with everybody else. The narrator does understand that her family does not have money, but she simply works around it. Although, she wants more Barbies it was unlikely for them to get them. The narrator says, “Because we don’t have money for a stupid-looking boy doll when we’d both rather ask for a new Barbie outfit next christmas. (14-15)” The narrator has to make do with what she has. She can not have a boy Barbie because it is not in her parents budget. This affects her and it makes her lose confidence in herself because she does not have what everybody else has. After the narrator receives her partially messed up Barbies, she says, “And if the prettiest doll, Barbie’s MOD’ern cousin Francie with real eyelashes, eyelash brush included, has a left that that’s melted a little-so? If you dress her in her new ‘Prom Pinks’ outfit, satin splendor with matching coat, gold belt, clutch, and hair bow included, so long as you don’t lift her dress, right?-who’s to know. (16)” Even though the Barbie has a melted left foot, the narrator moves past this. She will just cover it up with a dress. The narrator wanted new and perfect Barbie’s in the beginning, but she realized that these Barbie’s are not everything and she can make them her own. She is not defined by her Barbies. Sandra Cisneros used symbolism and characterization to describe how the narrator had a hard time coming into her own identity and finding
The girl's mother is associated with comfort and nurturing, embodied in a "honeyed edge of light." As she puts her daughter to bed, she doesn't shut the door, she "close[s] the door to." There are no harsh sounds, compared to the "buzz-saw whine" of the father, as the mother is portrayed in a gentle, positive figure in whom the girl finds solace. However, this "honeyed edge of li...
She uses third person diction to construct an image of what the male and female consider regarding a situation that is not declared. Just like every other girl, it is implied that the daughter in the situation wishes to conform to society by having a Barbie Doll. An ironic situation arises as a result because the father doesn’t want his daughter to be influenced by the doll. He is concerned with how she may perceive beauty as a consequence of it. He states, “It's not just the pointy plastic tits, it's the wardrobes. The wardrobes and that stupid male doll, what's his name, the one with the underwear glued on?” (Atwood 491). The situation is ironic because throughout this vignette, women are characterized as being “fake” or “plastic”. Although the father’s concerns are valid, he doesn’t realize that his daughter would otherwise spend the rest of her time wishing to have the doll. Eventually, she would become just like that doll. Atwood summarizes this by saying “repression breeds sublimation.” (Atwood 491)
In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros, the young girls didn't mind they did not receive other things such as new Barbie's or Ken Barbie's and the friends to go along with the dolls (206). These girls were just happy to play with their own dolls. The girls have bonded with each other and they enjoy playing with each other's dolls. A doll brings two or more children together for fun and social entertainment. Have you ever listened to a child frequently you will hear a child say " so what” that means the child really don't care, it don't matter; nothing else mattered to the two little girls. In the short story "Barbie-Q,” by Sandra Cisneros to purchase a brand new Barbie doll meant that the dolls are expensive in the store so the girls are very happy and pleased to own a second hand Barbie. When the parent places the dolls in the child's hands the dolls take on the character of the owner's beauty; culture; how girls see themselves and the future when the kids are all grown up. Barbie is a fun toy to dress up. Each child has her or his own imagination of a Barbie doll. I, too, myself, like watching all the different cultural background Barbie dolls in the malls or Macy's Department Store around Christmas times. Most large department stores dress
The first effect of the birth imagery is to present the speaker's book as a reflection of what she sees in herself. Unfortunately, the "child" displays blemishes and crippling handicaps, which represent what the speaker sees as deep faults and imperfections in herself. She is not only embarrassed but ashamed of these flaws, even considering them "unfit for light". Although she is repulsed by its flaws, the speaker understands that her book is the offspring of her own "feeble brain", and the lamentable errors it displays are therefore her own.
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.
The girls feel that people need to mask their imperfections and true selves to uphold the image of how they are supposed to be. These dolls were found in a less than desirable place, such as “Lying on the street next to some tool bits ,and platform shoes with the heels all squashed, and a florescent green wicker wastebasket, and aluminum foil, and hubcaps, and a pink shag rug, and windshield wiper blades, and dusty mason jars, and a coffee can full of rusty nails”. They find another Barbie with heals in the depths of junk. They cover up the physical flaws of the burnt barbies with pretty outfits such as the “Prom Pinks” dress. One of the girls state “as long as you don't lift her dress, right? - who’s to know.” This attempt to cover up where the dolls came from and their imperfections seem to parallel their feelings about themselves and where they come from. The girls have an image of how their dolls would be if they were new. This could be the role society plays on the image of how women are supposed to be and look
In the text "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" a young black girl is growing up with racism surrounding her. It is very interesting how the author Maya Angelou was there and the way she described every detail with great passion. In the book Maya and Bailey move to a lot of places, which are, Stamps, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and San Francisco, California. Maya comes threw these places with many thing happening to her and people she knows. She tries to hold onto all the good memories and get rid of the bad but new ones just keep coming. That is why this book is very interesting. It keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
Even though Claudia’s mentality has not reached maturation, she still registers that everyone around her has basically defined the American standard of beauty for her, due to their constant raving about the doll, but for her the question is why they are the universal beauty standard. She even tries to tear the doll apart and find something attractive on the inside, but even after demolishing it, she is still left disappointed because she has yet to discover the secret to the doll’s
A 1930s plastic “mammy” memo and a pencil holder, that Saar purchased at a rummage sale, and a small image of a smiling mammy holding a squirming and screaming white child.” (Lipsitz 2011) A description of the piece is of the mammy doll wearing a red dress with blue and yellow flowers on it, standing in front of Aunt Jemima syrup labels. The mammy doll is holding a broom in her right hand, and a pistol under her right arm and a rifle in her left hand. In front of the mammy doll is a postcard of a smiling mammy caricature holding a crying white baby. In front of the post card is a clenched black fist symbolizing black power and also creating a silhouette and at her feet is raw
In the beginning of “Barbie Doll”, pleasurable and unpleasurable imagery is given so that the reader can see the extremes girls go through to be considered perfect.
The book thus explores a lot of important issues, such as: sexuality and race relations, and shows us how society violated her as a young African American female. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou clearly expresses the physical pain of sexual assault, the mental anguish of not daring to tell, and her guilt and shame for having been raped. Her timidity and fear of telling magnify the brutality of the rape. For more than a year after the rape she lives in self-imposed silence, speaking only very rarely. This childhood rape reveals the pain that African American women suffered as victims not only of racism but also sexism.
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
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou. Resistance to Racism in "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" The problem of racism and racial segregation clearly traced throughout the history of the United States. At different times, this led to the development of social movements for the rights and freedoms of blacks. Of course, these problems are reflected in the literature.
...e in the face of sexism, racism, and discrimination in the book. Through hate, discrimination, sexism, racism, and all else, Maya triumphs and brings hope to not only her, but to the black race as a whole. She brings hope that all blacks are capable and having persistence and dedication pays off in the end. She recognizes injustices, and instead of letting it impact her life negatively, she makes positive impacts on her life through the injustices.