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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

            Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," has been deemed one of the most controversial, yet influential autobiographical novels of all time. Although somewhat unappreciated by the general public, this work is held to be a classic work of literature despite its taboo themes and figurative language for its time period. The novel will leave a long lasting impression of Angelou that will evermore be embedded into the readers mind. Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" has gained a tremendous amount of criticism for its disputable topics concerning Racism and prejudice, The American Dream, and its vulgar textual context.
             I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a story of pride and prejudice. It demonstrates how maintaining a stable character and possessing a strong passion for literature can help conquer racism and internal trauma. Living in the Deep South during the civil rights era, Angelou was aware that "black women were consigned to a particular place in the social order, not only constructed in opposition to white women, but assigned roles that served to fix this binary" (Manora). At a young age Angelou was exposed to the harsh reality of her situation: she was a young black girl who was considered inferior because of the complexion of her skin. Growing up her childhood dream was nothing but to wake up one day with light-blue eyes and straight blonde hair. She watched her people suffer from degradation, lynchings, and brutal beatings and came to the conclusion that beauty is defined by being white. Being black meant being ugly and she could not wait to one day hopefully wake up from the terrifying "big black dream" that she was living.
             Throughout Angelou's autobiographical portrait, she puts emphasis on the role that the community represented in her life. The community's involvement in forming the young girls' identity is significant because it "contributes to a discursive trifecta that shows the importance of communal affirmation in maintaining the African American community" (Ero).


Essays Related to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

1. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

... is an important theme through out the Caged Bird, which represents the sustaining force in life. It's a spiritual sustenance and fortitude from 'the Bread of Heaven'"(Showalter 2). The work in which Angelou most successfully utilizes the African-American traditions in her writing is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The event in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which most clearly illustrates the African-American traditions is Maya's graduation from eighth grade. She sets the tone by describing how "the children in Stamps trembled visibly with ... anticipation" (Angelou 142). In keeping w...

  • Word Count: 2988
  • Approx Pages: 12
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Life and Works of Maya Angelou

... that she could cry anytime if she wanted just by picturing her mother lying in her coffin despite the fact that she did not how she looked like (Braxton 45). From the review of Angelou's works including the poem I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, it is clear that she followed the most significant rules of writing a poem. Angelou's theories about literature can be established from her different works and style of writing ... for self-identity among African Americans, which is expressed in her autobiographical narratives such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this poem, Angelou uses th...

  • Word Count: 1524
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

3. Self-Actualization in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

In, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou describes in vivid and painful detail, her childhood and adolescent years. Her autobiography focuses on the development of the self. This novel demonstrates how one may sometimes encounter many defeats but one can never be defeated. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings depicts the self-actualization of Maya Angelou through her peak experiences, humor, independence, realism, and concern for others. Peak experiences are an example of self-actualization that is evident ... -actualization. Maya Angelou's peak experiences, humor, realism, independence,...

  • Word Count: 1327
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

... fears. Maya Angelou deals with the challenges she faced in her younger years in a very genuine manner. One of the most amazing things about Maya Angelou's life is her ability to succeed, even though she lived such a fearful life. She was not disabled by her experiences, so she was able to accomplish everything that she set her mind. There is also a poem titled "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" that Angelou wrote after the novel ... . She arranged the story from a novel to a poem, and the theme was love and ... ...

  • Word Count: 536
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

5. Poetry Analysis of Caged Bird

... their feelings of hope and opportunity and existence, are those unknown to one who is of the African American race. By bringing this to their attention, this audience is able to see the affect oppression and segregation has on the lives of African Americans. Maya Angelou's poem "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" serves two different audiences; the African American audience, with the purpose of relating to their feelings and making a connection and to ... the mixed or predominantly white audience, with the purpose of illustrating the inequalities between races, to make people more aware ....

  • Word Count: 939
  • Approx Pages: 4

6. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Movie and Book 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 ... address given by her classmate. Maya becomes a single parent at the age of eighteen, but it is her inner desire a...

  • Word Count: 2443
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Grade Level: High School

7. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing

I Know Why Caged Bird Sings I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography of the life of Maya Angelou. The book begins with the divorce of her parents, and Maya and her brother Bailey moving from St. Louis to Stamps, Arkansas, where their grandmother lives. Maya deals with sudden, unexpected separation from, sexual abuse, rape, racism, poverty, death, abandonment, solitude, and uncertainty all before the age of sixteen. After leaving the safety and comfort of life with her grandmother in ... a book that is similar to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is Farewell to Manzanar. Both novels w...

  • Word Count: 1549
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

8. Sympathy and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

... it is believed that Maya Angelou (like Dunbar) believes in using an artistic language and approach to express their beliefs. Both poems are different because in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", the author speaks on the experiences of a caged bird and a free bird, while in "Sympathy", the author simply speaks on the caged bird itself. They also have different points of view. In "Sympathy" by Paul Dunbar, the narrator is speaking as ... if he is the bird himself. In Angelou's poem, the narrator is speaking as if they are talking to someone else about the bird. The poems are also differe...

  • Word Count: 810
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Maya Angelou

... or desire to succeed in a world where she was initially destined to fail. Throughout her work, she transforms from the meek and insecure Marguerite Johnson in I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, to the self-confident and intelligent Maya Angelou that is reflected in her book of poems, And Still I Rise. Maya has taken her struggles and transformed them into inspirational poems and stories that reflect her ability to overcome adversity ... and make it in a world where the white male supremacy reigned. Maya's first autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, chronicles her tumultuous life...

  • Word Count: 1347
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

10. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

... and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress. Resilience is often displayed in the autobiography by Maya Angelou called, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It can be found wherever Maya overcomes adversity and the challenges she encounters. This book revolves around the theme "although one may encounter many defeats in life, one must never be defeated" commented by Maya Angelou in the book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya's triumph over defeat is after the speech at Maya's 8th grade graduation. Donleavy, a white speaker ... , talked to the entire class about how...

  • Word Count: 489
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

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