In her autobiographical novel, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou relates her story as a poor black girl living in racially segregated Stamps, Arkansas. As the story unfolds, she describes relationships with her family and members of the community, her love of reading, her feeling of inequality, the racial prejudice she suffers, and her experiences as a single mother. What makes Angelou heroic is her perseverance over a multitude of odds. In the beginning of the novel, the reader learns that Angelou is living with her grandmother because her birth mother abandoned her. With no direction or positive influence in her life, a white woman introduced her to “her first white love” – William Shakespeare –who befriended Angelou. Reading
became an escape from her reality. In real life, she weathered many hardships on her path to adulthood. What then makes Angelou a hero? The archetype of a hero usually involves hardship, struggle, and an arduous journey. When this hero reaches a certain breaking point or climactic scene, a turn of events usually brings about resolution, self-awareness, and peace. This is true in Angelou’s autobiography. Throughout the novel, racial prejudice is an overriding factor in her life. Even though Angelou documents her struggles against prejudice, lack of a formal education, and personal failure, she comes full circle when her son is born. She embarks on a new self-awareness and peace. There is a heroic quality about a woman who has overcome so many odds.
Similarly, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, which I first read the summer after I graduated high school, is a tale of oppression that translates into a deeply moving novel chronicling the ups and downs of a black family in the 1930’s and 1940’s. A myriad of historical and social issues are addressed, including race relations in the pre-civil rights south, segregated schools, sexual abuse, patriotism and religion. Autobiographical in nature, this tumultuous story centers around Marguerite Johnson, affectionately called "Maya", and her coast-to-coast life experiences. From the simple, backwards town of Stamps, Arkansas to the high-energy city life of San Francisco and St. Louis, Maya is assaulted by prejudice in almost every nook and cranny of society, until she finally learns to overcome her insecurities and be proud of who she is.
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.
In her autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Angelou encounters many struggles, whether it pertained to others or herself. Throughout her life, Angelou experiences conflicts relating to self love, her weaknesses, and gender roles. Despite these conflicts, numerous female characters influenced Angelou and shaped her into the woman she was. All of these tie in with the gender/feminist literary lense.
Walker, Pierre A. Racial protest, identity, words, and form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Vol. 22. West Chester: Collage Literature, n.d. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
Maya Angelou, an African-American poet and autobiographer, is known worldwide for her works of literature. She first began writing and publishing her works in the late 1960’s. Angelou is recognized for her voice for social justice, civil rights, feminism, and the importance of love and family. Her most famous work is her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969. Six years following that, she published a book of poems, titled Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well. Although it was not as popular as her previous book, the poems within still held her powerful voice for her ideology and what she believed in. Her purpose was “to put all the things bothering me — my heavy load — in that book, and let them pass” (Chow). One of the poems included in the book, which was titled “Alone,” describes the difficulties of going through life without others to be there. By using themes of wealth and class, Angelou explains the effect loneliness has on a person.
Maya Angelou uses her memoir I Know Why The Caged Birds Sings, to share her story about her difficult life growing up as a black girl in the South. Her story takes her from Stamps Arkansas all the way to Oakland, California. Through this journey, she travels to different cities, with a major event happening in each city. Angelou incorporates the five elements of a story: opening, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution by using each city as a backdrop for pivotal events in her life.
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
Maya Angelou, a black woman, clearly shows her knowledge of the black community. Within her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” she speaks about the troubles of blacks oppression. Before ever writing she has ethos from living within the black society. This furthers her perspective as well as reinstates her theme of blacks being the stronger race for everything they have to deal with. Altogether Angelou displays in chapter nineteen that because of a fight with both discrimination and oppression blacks have became the stronger race.
In the poem, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou juxtaposes two birds to demonstrate the harmful effects of oppression. One bird is allowed to soar freely through the skies, while the other is shut in a cage and can only hope to be released someday. Angelou uses this comparison to show the importance of. Throughout the poem, the author’s use of diction and rhetorical devices make her message more powerful to the reader.
“The pen is mightier than the sword” This quote may be cliche, however it is undeniably true. A single book or quote can change one’s perspective on the world, making it one of the greatest weapons. One quote, acting as a sword, can effectively slash through views of ignorance. A book, as an armory full of swords, can deliver final blows to close minded perspectives, and finally reform them. These weapons can ultimately open new eyes, while crushing the old.
Maya Angelou tells her story of coming to age from her perspective as a child until the age of 17, when she gave birth to her son. In the title and dedication of Angelou’s autobiography, Angelou relates her story to the metaphor of a caged bird as she encountered racism and oppression throughout her adolescent years and further relates it to a specific audience as she dedicates it to her son “and all the strong black birds of promise.” She uses this metaphor to illustrate her message of hope, that despite any situation, Black children can become strong, independent individuals and strive for success. Angelou provides detailed accounts of specific instances in her life where she overcame cruelty, and relates it to the metaphor of “strong black birds of promise.”
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
The author, Maya Angelou, was an Author, Poet, Producer, Director, Actress, Writer, Civil Rights Activist, and has won dozen of awards and honorary degrees. In addition, several Presidents appointed Ms. Angelou to numerous commissions and committees. She also recited one of her poems at the inauguration of former President William Clinton in 1993. Her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969, received international recognition and acclaim. Some of her published works people have wanted to ban which center on racism, identity, and family. Through her many projects she has exposed the pain of racism and stated “…Fundamentally, we are more alike, my friend, than we are unalike.” (Angelou, 1994) Furthermore, that we must teach young people about diversity and we are equals.
Throughout I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, racism is a frequent obstacle that non-whites had to overcome. When Maya is young, she doesn’t recognize the racism and discrimination as well as her grandmother does. As Maya gets older, she begins to recognize and take notice to the racism and discrimination towards her and African Americans everywhere. Maya may not recognize the racism and discrimination very well at her young age, but it still affects her outlook on life the same way it would if she had recognized it. 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.