Maya Angelou's Prologue I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya Angelou uses her personal experiences growing up as an African American female to present her primary claim that even in trying times there is something to be grateful for. Angelou’s secondary claims are mainly comprised of stories from her upbringing as well as the description of her grandmother’s attitude even though they are living through times of extreme poverty. In Each of the stories she speaks of one circumstance that seems completely unbearable but yet ends with some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. This structure can also be seen in her description of her grandmother’s outlook on life. By formatting her essay in this way, Angelou is able to develop pathos as well as ethos with the audience.

In just the first few pages of the novel, Maya clearly is upset with the fact she is not an “ideal” young women. She believed that an ideal woman was a white girl with long, blonde hair. Maya expresses her unhappiness with her race when she said that she wished she could look like a white girl having their hair instead of her own. In addition, Critic Pierre A. Walker comments on how “in the opening pages of the book, Maya suffered from a strong case of racial self-hatred, fantasizing that she was ‘really white’, with ‘light-blue eyes’ and ‘long blond’ hair” (Walker). These two quotations

Angelou describes living with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend Mr. Freeman, and her brother, Bailey. They lived in St. Louis, but Angelou says she did not belong in there. She belonged in Stamps with her grandmother. She speaks of how her mother was too good for Mr. Freeman and how he was too old for her. Angelou says, “He was lucky to get her, and he knew it” (Angelou 67). Angelou describes Mr. Freeman as a dull character who only cares about her mother. When her mother was not home, he did not talk with the kids. He simply waits. She mentions, “Mr. Freeman seldom spoke to us… He waited. That was all”(Angelou 69.) Angelou says that she used to have many nightmares, so she began sleeping in the bed with her mother and Mr. Freeman. One morning, her mother had left early in the morning for an errand, leaving her alone in the bed with Mr. Freeman. He tried to seduce Angelou, and she was not fully aware of what he was attempting to do. She saw it as an act of love. She describes, “From the way he was holding me I know he’d never let go, or let anything bad ever happen to me” (Angelou 71.) Mr. Freeman threatened Angelou afterward, saying “If you ever tell anybody what we did, I’ll have to kill Bailey” (Angelou 72.) Extremely close to her brother, Angelou never wanted to do anything to put him in danger, so she did not tell anyone. However, again she was not completely aware what had

Growing up in the South during the years of segregation as a young black girl was difficult. As we will see in a short story written by Maya Angelou, having someone to look up to can make a lasting impression and encourage young girls to make better choices in their lives. There are too many girls, both now and then, that have no role model to look up to. For some, they have no one to set good examples. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, it is evident what a good role model can do to someone's life. By analyzing this text, we will take a deeper look into not only what the text says but what I feel is the underlying meaning behind the words Angelou wrote. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has 36 chapters as well as the prologue. In this paper,

I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings is about racism and sexism and about the early years of Maya Angelou how she had to overcome the criticism, loosing her parents going to live in Stamps, Arkansas with strangers that she got to know later on. This book explores racism, sexism, insecurity, poverty, and abuse Maya Angelou started to fight back and become stronger than she was when the book previously began. She is a strong black African-American woman who teaches women about the poverty, hard-times slavery how black people where treated, we were treated unequally whites were overruling us we had to take orders from them.

Since a young age Maya Angelou has experienced racism from the children around her. It is strenuous for Maya growing up because she feels as if she does not belong. From a young age to adulthood Maya had to go through racism and segregation due her skin color. There was a group of young boys, around Maya’s age, saying rude comments towards Maya because she was black: “Boys? It seemed that youth had never happened to them.

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 suddenly turned her into an “ugly Negro” (Angelou 1-3). Evidently, the notion of white beauty is integrated into Maya’s mind, making her loathe herself

The presence of positive influences is instrumental to succeeding in life. In the novel “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” Maya Angelou reveals personal and psychological struggles of the main character, Marguerite, as a young girl who is slowly being raised to be a strong and independent woman. Her struggles began when she was sent away by her parents along with her older brother Bailey to live in Stamps, Arkansas with their grandmother. Marguerite encounters adversities such as feeling abandoned by her parents, rape, and losing the will the speak. Marguerite overcame her challenges that nearly destroyed her will to become an independent girl through positive experiences with Grandmother Henderson, Bailey, Uncle Willie and Joe Louis.

A child is easily influenced by the surrounding people when moving to the different environments because of the immaturity. Maya Angelou talks about her childhood experience during the period of racial segregation in I Know Why Caged Bird Singings, how she changes her mind of wishing to be a white person to be proud of being a Negro, and how she gets mature to be ready for her adulthood affected by the people around her. Angelou uses the literary tool of characterization, point of view and allegory to portray her growing. Unlike conservative and square-toed Momma, Maya’s mother, Vivian, is a more open-minded person. She is considered as a beautiful, well- educated woman who loves Maya very much but with a little bit selfishness.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is written in first person. The central character of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is Marguerite Angelou, an African American girl who struggles with her identity as she grows up in the 1930s. She has many conflicts with the white people of her hometown, as they treat her and her family with very little respect.

First of all, Angelou chastises the segregation that the African race underwent with the usage of metaphors. For example, the author describes the caged bird's abuse to portray the fascism African Americans experienced by writing, "his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing." Although Angelou does not include "African American"

In the following autobiography by Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya is confronted by the insidious effects of racism, segregation, and prejudice at a very young age. The definition of being beautiful, according to Maya, was having blond hair and blue eyes. Thus, Maya from childhood imagined herself as a fat black girl trapped in a nightmare. This intrapersonal dilemma of identity however did not compare to a plethora of overt and personal incidents of prejudice, many of which related back to race and sex. This work of literature took place in the mid to late 1900’s an era in which African Americans did not possess equal rights in America. Aside from racial prejudice, there was a strong negative connotation towards women at the time. But now even in the 21st century it can be seen that traces of prejudice still exist, similar to that in Maya’s memoirs, along with new conflicts that have arisen in our generation.

Although Marguerite loved what few friends she had, she was a misfit, the fact of which contributed to her confinement. On page four Johnson says, “If growing up is painful for a Southern Black girl being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat,” despite the fact that Ritie could admit it or not, being a social pariah is situation that would make any girl feel as though the walls were closing in on her, and with Angelou this feeling was especially significant. Maya often wished the she would wake up as her “true self,” a beautiful white girl; on page two Angelou writes, “Wouldn’t they be surprised when one day I woke out of my ugly black dream, and my real hair, which was long and blonde, would take place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn’t let me straighten?” This quote shows that Ritie never thought herself pretty, and simply ached to be beautiful, to simply fit in. Maya was obviously entrapped by her being an outcast because she so badly wanted to be something else.

Dear Ms. Oliver: I know why the caged bird sings By Maya Angelou has been an interesting ride filled with various events since our previous discussion. We have heard the tail of a townsman by the name of Mr Taylor and his tragic story of dead wife Florida. Mr Taylor then went on to speak of an eerie dream which he says was real. Florida his wife had spoke to him the night before, she said that she wanted children ( according to Mr Taylor). We then see a graduation, the graduation has an interesting occurrence with a white man doing the speech. Maya seems to be annoyed at him, only talking about the local white schools in the area. ( Their is the dentist thing but it's not super relevant Momma got some money cool) We then have on some random

There is a saying that goes “To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to be accepted by yourself.” written by Thich Nhat Hanh. This perfectly describes how Maya Angelou expresses what it actually means to find strength in how someone sees themselves, and teaches them to rock the world with their innermost beauty. In the poem “Phenomenal Woman”, Maya Angelou discusses the confidence and attractiveness she perceives about herself, and wants to show that all women are alluring in their own way.