I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou Traits

Write an essay in response to one of the following prompts.

Prompt 1:

In chapter 34 of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings we see Maya’s character develop as she becomes the first African American streetcar conductorette in San Francisco.

Using the character wheel, identify the traits Maya exhibited as she pursued the position.

Write a character sketch of Maya Angelou using both the information from the wheel and support from the text.

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Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Ann Johnson), was born on April 4th, 1928, in St Louis, Missouri. Chapter 34 of her autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, details a defining moment in her life, from when she was determined to become a streetcar conductorette, despite the company not being willing to

Maya continues to go to the streetcar company every single day for a month, until finally they give up and let her have the job.

Another important aspect of Maya’s character in this chapter is Maya’s relationship with her mother. Her mother is supportive of her goal, and this time in Maya’s life is when her and her mother begin, as she puts it, “our first steps on the long path to mutual adult admiration”. Her mother mostly gives her advice in the form of cliché phrases and sayings like “God helps those who help themselves,” and “Can’t Do is like Don’t Care. Neither of them have a home.” As bored as Maya is with clichés like those, the inflection of her mother’s words “gave them something new”, and they get her thinking.

It seems to me like her mother’s support was very important in Maya’s mission to get the job. I feel like without her mother there, she wouldn’t have the same determination to win that she does, especially since it’s said that her mother was also a very determined