In the story, “I Know Why the Caged Bird sings”, the character Marguerite is Maya when she was a little girl, whose childhood made her strong. She is a very smart girl who deals with new problems that she learns from and there are others she would feel impenetrable. Maya lived with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas because her parents dropped her and her brother Bailey off when they were young. Maya was violated and later was reprieved. She was acquainted with both of her parents, but they weren't what she had expected. Maya started to see the truth, but what still stays the same is that throughout the whole story she still remained vigorous. Maya's grandmother is a German woman who married Maya's grandfather who is an African American and both own a store in Stamps where Maya would help around. At age 3 Maya was sent away to live with her grandparents with tags on their clothes saying "To Whom it May Concern" written on it. With most of Maya's childhood living with her grandmother, she started to call her grandmother momma. While working in the store and helping her grandmother she had developed what …show more content…
It took Maya a while to get used to her mother ever since she met her, but after a while she began to call her mother "Lady". Maya started to have a close relationship with her biological mother. Even when her mother found out that she was pregnant, she still accepted her and the baby. When Maya met her father they were there she was spending loads of time with her father until she heard him sell her into marriage with a stranger when they were at a bar in Mexico. When Maya saw her father passed out by the bar she took them home with her father’s car, but she doesn't know how to drive and had a car accident. At first Maya thought he was going to be mad at her, but yet all he asked her was "how did you like
Thomas Carlyle expresses culture as: “the process by which a person becomes all that they were capable of being.” By unifying people, culture empowers us to be everything we can be. World-renowned author and activist, and possibly the most inspirational woman of all time, Maya Angelou, both explains and proves this idea in “Champion of the World,” an excerpt from her collection of memoirs: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” Through the use of many types of rhetoric, she illustrates how cultural identities can unite us and bring out many emotions in us, bad and good. She demonstrates her purpose: how culture gives us an identity, and brings us together to grow in places we could not alone. She uses syntax, diction, tone, and other rhetorical
Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya shields herself against the confusion of St. Louis by reading fairy-tales and telling herself that she does not intend on staying there anyway. Vivian works in a gambling parlor at night. Maya pities Mr. Freeman because he spends his days at home waiting for Vivian to return. Maya begins sleeping at night with Vivian and Mr. Freeman because she suffers from nightmares. One morning after Vivian has left the bed and the house, Mr. Freeman sexually molests Maya. He does not rape her but rather masturbates on the bed while holding her close to him. Afterward, he threatens to kill Bailey if Maya ever tells anyone, but Maya, who does not understand what has happened and who actually enjoyed being held by someone, cannot understand what caused such a threat. For weeks, Mr. Freeman ignores her, and then molests her again. Again, he ignores her for weeks. Maya feels rejected and hurt, but she loses herself in other things, such as books. She wishes she were a boy because the heroes in all her favorite books and stories are male. Bailey welcomes the move to St. Louis and he makes friends, with whom he plays baseball. Maya, however, does not make any friends during this time. She and Bailey begin to grow apart, so she spends her Saturdays in the library reading fantastic adventures. ...
When someone is pushed to the breaking point, how does one successfully move forward? First off, the definition of a “breaking point” in someone's life is an event that occurs to someone and causes them to give in to the pressures bringing them down. In the story “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” we are presented with a very sad reality of racism which is constantly pounding on the main character Marguerites life. But then she is raped by her mother boyfriend Mr.Freeman, Mr.Freeman dies and because of Marguerites young mind, she thought that it was her fault which led to her breaking point. But in the story she is able to slowly move forward with her life. One
These two novels spoke about real powerful momentous events that occur in the authors’ lives. The authors emerged from the shadows and transformed their mishaps into motivation of overcoming life’s hardships. These two stories exemplify ways of overcoming Life’s hardships and finding sense of oneself. These authors break their vows of silence to prove the beauty of a broken person. They both converse on racial discrimination, relationships with God, & coming into themselves.
In Maya Angelou's autobiographical novel, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", tender-hearted Marguerite Johnson, renamed Maya by her refined brother Bailey, discovers all of the splendors and agonies of growing up in a prejudiced, early twentieth century America. Rotating between the slow country life of Stamps, Arkansas and the fast-pace societies in St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California taught Maya several random aspects of life while showing her segregated America from coast to coast.
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.
Humans consistently make comparisons between themselves and the next person, over fashion, cars, jobs, the nation they belong to, religion, and the land they own. All of these are material things, yet their egos divide them into groups who feel superior to the other in order to pride themselves. Pride can be beneficial, but it has more detrimental effects than positive ones, as pride and ego make people feel more important to others, spark rivalries between groups such as how nationalism influences war and hatred, and caused white people to treat the black community as an inferior people such as in Maya Angelou’s memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this deeply frustrating yet inspiring text we follow Maya Angelou’s emotional roller coaster as she gains more confidence and pride in both herself and her race despite extensive setbacks such as being raped at eight years old, and she explains her
Do you think different adversities are solved similarly? Are there any correlations between different adversities? Is there a way to overcome one’s adversities? Well in the book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the main character has the capability to solve her most important ones. The main character, Maya Angelou, experiences the wrath of racism while living in the south during the 20th century. Racism is the stem of many adversities such as low-self esteem and poverty which Angelou must face.
At a young age, Maya Angelou’s parents got divorced. After the divorce was final Maya and her older brother, Bailey, were sent away to live with their grandmother. Angelou’s not so perfect life started when she was a young girl. “When she was about three years old, their parents divorced and the children were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou claims that her grandmother, whom she called ‘momma, had a deep-brooding love that hung over everything she touched’” (Burt). In the first chapter of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the book starts with Angelou talking about her parent's divorce. “Our parents decided to put an end to their calamitous marriage, and father shipped us home to his mothers” (Angelou 5). After living with her grandmother, or as Maya begins to call her “momma”, for 4 years Maya Angelou and her brother Bailey are sent back to St. Louis Missouri. In St Louis they lived with her mother and her boyfriend Mr.Freeman. Mr.Freeman makes a huge impact on young Maya’s life. When she was only 8-years-old he rapes her, after being raped Angelou becomes mute and will ...
Another concept of motherhood as featured is that of strength where after her parents divorce, Maya’s mother is able to move on with her life and even support her daughter against her boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Here, Maya considers the aspect of strength as one of the pillars of motherhood and she persists with it despite her doubts and fears as a young woman. When she goes back to Momma’s house after Mr. Freeman’s death, she experiences the strength of her grandmother in helping her to overcome her silence.
Maya Angelou is an author and poet who has risen to fame for her emotionally filled novels and her deep, heartfelt poetry. Her novels mainly focus on her life and humanity with special emphasis on her ideas of what it means to live. The way she utilizes many different styles to grab and keep readers’ attention through something as simple as an autobiography is astounding. This command of the English language and the grace with which she writes allows for a pleasant reading experience. Her style is especially prominent in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", where the early events of Angelou’s life are vividly described to the reader in the postmodern literary fashion.
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.
But Maya is very observant about her father and his illness. Her father is very protective of her, and she is very aware of the fact that he doesn’t want her to leave him. Even though it is not directly stated. You see this in every way of her personal behavior.
Maya’s journey throughout the book is one of true strength and empowerment. She fought racism, even when she didn’t understand what it was. Discrimination strengthened her before she had graduated eighth grade. She turned hate into motivation and ambition. 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.