The most important thing in life is relationships with other people. Every relationship has the power to shape lives, whether it is in a good or bad way. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the main character, Maya, forms a relationship the influences the rest of her life. Maya’s relationship with Mr. Freeman causes desensitizes her and causes pain and confusion. Maya encounter and eschewed relationship with Mr. Freeman, desensitizes her for the rest of her life. Maya feels uncomfortable as a n undeveloped 16 year old, so she thinks about becoming lesbian. Before she does so, she decides to have sex to see if she likes boys. She took her neighbor to a remote area, and she had a unsatisfying experience with him. “He may have sensed that he had been used, or his disinterest may have been an indication that I was less than gratifying. Neither possibility bothered me” (278). Maya’s reaction stems from her rape as a child. She was used to a man using her and then simply walking away. She also directly blamed Mr. Freemen as the cause for her …show more content…
Freeman. She thought that Mr. Freeman truly loved him. She loved his touch that he gave her when she had nightmares. “He held me so softly that I wish he had never let me go” (72). In reality, Mr. Freeman just used her for his sexual pleasures. She did not know the difference between love and sex because of him. She thinks that having sex with will let her know if she’s lesbian. This “experiment” would not have arisen if not for Mr. Freeman. “I decided to take matters into my own hands” (276). Maya is clearly confused on how a proper relationship functions. Maya thinks that it is a better idea to have sex with the boy rather than talk to him first. She sees him and asks immediately, “Would you like to have a sexual intercourse with me?” (277). Maya does not know what she is doing is wrong. Mr. Freeman made it seem like all of this was ok, and no one taught Maya
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.
What is good parenting? Many think good parenting consists of keeping a close eye on their child but this in many ways can be detrimental to the child. Personally, my mother was not present for most of my childhood. However, it in no way hindered my growth as a child, instead it brought me up and made me very independent at a young age. Similar to reality, literature depicts the complexity of the relationships between a mother and daughter as well. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Maya’s mother abandons her as a young child and is an inconsistent presence in her life. In Emergence: Labeled Autistic by Temple Grandin, Temple’s mother is constantly devoted to her and gives her the best opportunities possible. While both Maya
Throughout history, there has been racial segregation prevalent in American culture. Barriers between African Americans and Anglos have existed for several centuries with no end in sight. During an era of oppression, the lives of African American's was made distinctive by prejudice and restricted opportunities. This was a time of recognized African American inferiority; which involuntarily forced them to endure many partialities and tyranny. African Americans were forced to be obsequious and acquiescent due to these customs that were profoundly entrenched in a discriminatory nation. The only way for African Americans to gain honer and respect was for them to stand up for their rights and let there voice be heard. Maya Angelou encouraged those of her ethnicity to do this in her poem Caged Bird.
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.
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.
Hope is an attribute in life that many people cling to. It gives people courage and reasons to continue striving in everyday life, especially in the toughest of times. The autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, published in 1969, followed Angelou’s childhood growing up in the South as a minority, the problems that she faced because of that, how she overcame those problems, and how she still found hope. The theme represented in this autobiography is that in every storm faced in life it may feel like there’s nothing left; however, there will always be hope that can still be found.
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 ...
Initially, Maya is already consumed by the white standards of beauty when she is a child because of the white supremacy that surrounds her. Early in the novel, Maya is excited to wear a “special” Easter dress that would supposedly make her look like the perfect white girls. However, when Easter morning arrives, she realizes that the dress only makes her "skin look dirty like mud.” She wishes that she had long, blonde hair, paired with light, blue eyes, instead of her black features. She feels that she is actually white, and a wicked magician
People are born into the world. They learn how to walk, speak, and think in order to make their own decisions. Because they are knowledgeable about these things, it is only right if troubles and hardships start to interfere in their life and become obstacles in their path whether they are personal, political, or psychological. In the autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the main character, (herself) Marguerite, goes through psychologically damaging events, and experiences discrimination because of the color of her skin, but in the end she endures all those hardships, learns how to be independent, and proud of who she is. Along her journey, there are three specific figures who stood out in the book and in Marguerite’s
Chase, Diane Z. and Arlen F. Chase. Changes in Maya Religious Worldview. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2009. Print.
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
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.
Lucia Raatma writes about a woman, author of many plays, books and poems, Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou lived a difficult life growing up where blacks were tormented for standing up for what they believed in. It came out in one of her books “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” The book deals with Maya’s early life, describing her childhood in Arkansas, St. Louis, and California. Critics praised her work. The reference book consists of all Maya Angelou’s valuable moments in life from producing a ten-part program for the National Public Radio to another try at marriage. The book was helpful because it portrayed both the negative and positive parts of her live with civil rights and becoming a free independent woman with rights. This a trusted reference
In the novel, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, written by Maya Angelou, is the beginning of a story about a young Marguerite Johnson living in Stamps, Arkansas, stepping out into the world at a time when segregation, prejudice, and racism were all at their peak. This autobiographical novel is centered around the Great Depression and World War II. In chapter twelve, Maya is raped, and the themes of mistaken love, sexual identity, and the theme of innocence come into play; making her question every inch of the crime and even herself. Beginning with the opening scene in chapter twelve, Maya is told by Mr. Freeman to go and grab milk at the store. He hands her some money and she is off to fetch milk.