Examples Of Struggles In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The Darkest Struggles When Maya Angelou wrote the book “I know why the caged bird sings” she was speaking from her very on soul and pouring out the deep feelings she had felt when she was younger, all the way up until she was a young adult. African American women will always have more on their shoulders more than any other race especially white women will. No one really knows if all of the discrimination started because of the color of our skin or the attitude that lingers in our voice. Only thing that is known is that African American women are mistreated, abused, and cheated out of the rights of living their lives. When one is judged and are told what they are going to do and what they will be in life, it can cripple someone but not
the strong African Americans. Being a young African American living in Stamps, Arkansas then automatically you lived a harsh life but if you were an African American woman it was even harder.
Young Maya witnessed everything and every piece of discrimination first hand. Living in Stamps, Arkansas, she dealt with more than just racism and segregation, she has issues with her identity. In her mind if blonde hair was beautiful and she was not anything more than a nappy headed black girl living in a nightmare that he wished one day she would wake up from. Stamps was so segregated that the existence of white people was almost unreal. Because she was an African American the white folks treated her different, and humiliated and refused her service almost all the time knowing that there wasn’t anything that anyone could say or do to change the way she was treated. Maya was insecure about herself. She had ratty hair, pass me down clothes from white women, and she just did not feel pretty in her own
skin. Discrimination was a big thing African American women had to live with and just realize that it would never change.
There is always something to say; in Maya’s case, she had a brother to make her feel better. “Oh Mizeriz Coleman, how is your son? I saw him the other day, and he looked sick enough to die “from the uglies.”(Angelou 21) Bailey would be sure to avenge his sister by insulting the people that would offend her. Maya saw her brother Bailey as the greatest person in her world. Bailey was her only other sibling and she enjoyed that. She was big , had the skin color of shit and had black steel wool hair; however Bailey was small , had velvet black skin and had black curls down his back. Bailey did not see that when he saw her, he thought she was just as beautiful and he loved her just as much as she loved him (22). Bailey could count on very few punishments for his horrible behavior, because he was the pride of the Henderson/Johnson family (23). African Americans were discriminated against by whites and harsh comments were always made. Maya had gotten a horrible toothache and needed to see a dentist. Grandma had people on a list that owed her and one was a white dentist. When they got to his office he said “Annie, you know I don’t treat nigra, colored people”
(183). Bailey and Maya moved around a lot through their adolescent days. Maya was moved to St. Louis with her mother. Bailey and Maya both instantly fell in love with their mother; she was beautiful and very interesting. Their mother Vivian lived the wildlife working in a gambler’s parlor; most African American women did what they could to get money to survive. Along with that crappy job, there was a no good undercover man that was always secretly waiting to do something foul. Vivian had nothing but good intentions and was a great mother. Every night she got off work she would kiss bailey and Maya on the cheek and ask “haven’t you finished your homework?” if they were finished, she would send them to bed after saying their prayers. (Pg. 69)
Many African American women have been raped and abused. Being a woman, we are perceived as weak-minded and powerless so getting taken advantage of was not a hard obstacle. A man could be frustrated about something or just simply lusting something that they know they can have and a young African American girl was the first victim. Young Maya was very humble and had the sweetest soul and she was molested then raped by Mr. Freeman. “He took my hand and said, ‘feel it’.’ “ Then he dragged me on top of his chest with his left arm, and his right hand was moving so fast and his heart was beating so hard.” (Pg. 71). Mr. Freeman had Masturbated with poor little Maya in his arms and her sweet innocent mind had found a liking to the feeling that she had afterwards he had ejaculated and held her. She felt at home but she really had no idea would had just happened. Mr. Freeman then told Maya “if you ever tell anyone what we did, I’ll have to kill bailey.” (Pg. 72) Like many men once they had, a victim to prey on they came back and finished their job. Sadly, Maya had to deal with this abuse; Mr. Freeman was not finished with her. One day only Maya and Mr. Freeman were home he told her to come here and so she did. Then he said to her, “Pull down your drawers.” he raped her and told her again that he would kill her and bailey if she told. (Pg. 76)
Draining Displacement keeps the phrase “I did come to stay” in Mayas regular vocabulary. Her having that in her head keeps the cold reality of her rootlessness away. African American women are moved around. Most women live unstable lives all throughout their lives until they are confident enough to stand up and become their own person. African Americans descended from slaves who were displaced from their loving homes, blacks continued to struggle to finds their place in a country that was still violent to their kind. Maya found that place in San Francisco; she finally felt that she belonged somewhere.
There is always that darkest end of struggling but once you have hit the bottom you can only go up from there. Maya had found her confidence she was convinced that she would become successful and that she would have a job. “I WOULD HAVE THAT JOB. I WOULD BE A CONDUCTORETTE AND SLING A FULL MONEY CHANGER FROM MY BELT. I WOULD.” Sexuality is a big question in Mayas world; she worried about if she was becoming a lesbian. She worried so much she became curious and got a boyfriend. “Would you like to have a sexual intercourse with me?” (Pg. 274) Three weeks later, she found herself pregnant. She has to tell her mother but she had no idea on how to tell her. She left a note on daddy Clidells bed: “Dear Parents, I am sorry to bring this disgrace on the family, but I am pregnant. Marguerite.” (Pg. 279) She is more confident than anything now; she is ready to take care of her child and to be a mother. All African American women go through a lot but we can also rise up from the situations that belittle us and make us less of a person. You have to be strong, smart, and you have to have confidence in yourself.