Preview

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Maturity

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
223 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Maturity
In the autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” the author Maya Angelou reflects on her childhood insecurity, especially about having been sent away by her mother, and how their reunion aggravated her personal fears. Maya had never been confident; from a young age, she considered herself uninteresting and ugly, as her sense of physical beauty was tied up in internalized racism. She felt inferior to her brother Bailey, who she described as handsome and charming, and she saw these traits in her mother as well, saying, “They were more alike than she and I, or even he and I. They both had beauty and personality, so I figured it figured” (60). She understood that Bailey and her mother had an instant connection, but felt left out— this perceived

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou, the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was a young influential black girl in Stamps, Arkansas. The three most remarkable people in Maya’s life were Bailey, Vivian Baxter, and Grandmother Henderson. Bailey, her brother, was there for her when she needed someone, and Vivian Baxter taught her how to express herself. Grandmother Henderson was the person who always supported Maya Angelou and taught her almost everything she knows.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the story, I Know Why the Caged Bird sings, the character Marguerite is Maya when she was a little girl, whose childhood made her strong. She is a very smart girl who deals with new problems that she learns from and others she would try to understand what had happened. Maya lived with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas because her parents sent her along with her older brother Bailey and at age 6 and seven they both questioned why their parents sent them. She was sexually assaulted and later was muted by guilt. She finally met both of her parents, but they weren't what she had expected. Maya's life opened her eyes and made her realize what is really in front of her the whole time, although that is true, what still stays the same is that…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Vivian Baxter Quotes

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings” Maya Angelou writes about her life from the ages 3 to 16 years old. Angelou writes about her experiences with her mom in part of her autobiography. Vivian Baxter, Angelou’s mother, despite not being there for most of her childhood, she is a major influence to Angelou. Vivian is a young woman who works hard and learns from her life experiences. Vivian Baxter is a strong resilient individual because she has insight, that prevents her from making brash decisions, independence, which allows her to do what is best for her, initiative, that makes her strong and confident, and morality, that lets her know right from wrong.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why The Caged Bird Sings

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    1. 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.…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Everyone’s lives are shaped by their childhood lessons and experiences. Most people are directly influenced by their parents and other important adult figures in their lives. Children are prone to have certain characteristics and beliefs because of what is told to them or a specific event which they encounter. In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou’s life evolves and is enriched because of the people who take care of her. She receives advice from many human beings, and must choose what guidance to follow. Maya is influenced the most by Momma, Daddy Clidell, and Mrs. Flowers. To begin, Momma, as her name indicates, is like a mother figure. Even though she was Maya’s grandmother, she takes on full responsibilities as if Maya were her own child. Since Maya is abandoned by her parents, Momma takes her in and teaches her many important life lessons. She always makes sure Maya puts God first and has respect for all religion. “I would have wriggled just a bit, but each time I looked over at Momma, she seemed to threaten, ‘Move and I’ll tear you up,’ so, obedient to the unvoiced command, I sat still.” (Angelou, 31) Momma always makes sure to bring her grandchildren to church and makes sure they behaved properly. Ever since Maya was a small child, it was forced upon her that church and God were number one priorities. In the future, Maya recalls all the punishments she had for her “blasphemous” actions so she remembers to keep the Lord close to her heart. Religion intertwines with another aspect of Momma’s influence on Maya. She makes sure her grandchildren are clean of body as well as clean of soul. “‘Thou shall not be dirty’ and ‘Thou shall not be impudent’ were the two commandments of Grandmother Henderson upon which hung our total salvation.” (Angelou, 21) Momma is very religious, and always brings God into her arguments whenever possible. She states that it was a sin to…

    • 1760 Words
    • 50 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    |Quote #15: "If you ask a Negro where he's been, he'll tell you |My Opinion:…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou's turbulent experiences through late childhood and adolescence transformed into an almost positive force in her adult life as they helped enlighten, inspire, motivate and shape her very being. They provided her with the vehement fuel that drives her achingly powerful words and allowed her the knowledge and wisdom that led to self-discovery (finding one's inner self) and eventually knowledge of self (understanding one's inner self), two endeavors that most of humanity is never able or perhaps willing to acquire. In Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Marguerite Johnson experiences a particularly difficult childhood where she is often displaced geographically, socially and racially, and is even raped at a young age,…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Meanest Influence

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the autobiography of Maya Angelou’s life. She tells the story of her life in Stamps, Arkansas as well as her life moving from place to place. She deals with many problems including prejudice in many forms. Because of this prejudice, Maya must deal with the extremely influential actions of segregation, racism, and sexism.…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Caged Bird Banning

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Her autobiography starts in the small town of Stamps Arkansas. Maya recalls her youthful escapades with her brother Bailey in their Grandmother’s store. Their Grandmother was a harsh woman, who scrubbed them clean every Sunday (much to the children’s dismay). She recounts her first fearful encounters with racism and sex. Later, Maya moves to California with her beautiful mother. Her mother is a graceful dancer who likes to say that she, “Hopes for the best, prepares for the worst, and is unsurprised by anything in between.” It is by her Mother’s boyfriend that Maya is sexually abused and raped. Although she tells the story in an unattached fashion, it is clear that the incident affected her entire life. She returns to her Grandmother’s home for a few years and begins to develop into an avid reader. For a summer, Maya lives with her father and his spiteful girlfriend. She moves out into a junkyard and becomes a free-dancing, confident girl. From the Junkyard on, Maya is sure of herself in a way that she never was before. The book ends in Maya’s pregnancy. She gives birth at just sixteen years of age. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is primarily a coming of age story. Through the book, Maya finds herself and develops into the poetic thinker and writer we know of…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The separation of race is nothing new in American culture. Even though slavery was abolished in the late 1800's signs of class separation and racism are still apparent in this story. In the paragraphs sixteen and seventeen of "Champion of the World" a story lifted from Maya Angelou's popular novel, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", there are many references to racist offences committed by whites to blacks. She uses a champion boxing match as a metaphor for an opportunity for blacks to rise above the oppression visited upon her race though the efforts of Joe Louis, "The Brown Bomber". He does not just represent himself but the whole black community as a whole. When it appears that Louis is about to lose to the challenger, Primo Carnera,…

    • 350 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Chapter 5, three “powhitetrash” girls come to the Store and mock Annie Henderson. They call her by her fist name, showing a great lack of respect for their elder, crudely imitate the way she hums Church songs, and pouch out their mouths like hers. Marguerite, watching the way in which these three girls demean her grandmother, becomes infuriated. But what makes her even more upset is the fact that while these three powhitetrash girls are tormenting her grandmother, she merely does as they ask and continues to hum. And as the girls walk out of the store, they all say, “ ‘Bye, Annie’” (p. 32). But Mrs. Henderson responds, “ ‘Bye, Miz Helen, ‘bye Miz Ruth, ‘bye Miz Eloise.’” (p. 32).…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The purpose of authors writing literary works is to teach specific values and themes that they deem essential to put across to their readers. Francine Prose, the author of the excerpt I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read, is just by being skeptical of using literary works to teach values because of the way many English classes target the values of the author rather than the literary work itself. By using the two examples of the novels Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Prose expands her argument by proving to the reader that many English teachers focus on the background of the author and his or her values while losing some of the ability to show the true meaning of the works.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” – Dr. Maya Angelou. This inspiring poet, novelist, historian, educator, actress, filmmaker, producer, memoirist, dramatist, and civil rights activist has had a superior impact on today’s American society. (A&M TV) Maya Angelou is an African American woman who went from poverty to international success. Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in Saint Louis, Arkansas to Vivian and Bailey Johnson. Her parents divorced when she was three years of age. Her and her brother, Bailey Jr., were sent to live with their grandmother in a small town called Stamps, Arkansas. Like many of the African American children that grew up in Maya’s time, she faced racial discrimination. She was always positive about it, because of the tradition old-fashion African American household she was raised in. She gives her grandmother and extended family in Stamps credit for all of the lessons and values she was taught that helped her significantly later in her adult life and while pursuing her career. Bailey and Maya were extremely close. He suffered from a bad stutter, so he could never correctly pronounce her name. He decided to call her “My” for my sister. After watching a video on the Mayan Indians, he then began to call her Maya. The name stuck. When Maya was seven years old, her and Bailey were sent to visit their mother in Chicago. Her mother’s boyfriend sexually molested her. She was too ashamed and embarrassed to inform any adults on what had happened to her, so she confided in her brother. (America Academy of Achievement) Maya’s uncle found out about what his sister’s boyfriend had done to his niece and killed her attacker. She felt that her words had killed the man, so she fell into a long phase of silence that lasted for five years. She often expressed her feelings through poetry,…

    • 706 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Specifically it will discuss the themes of racism and segregation, and how these strong themes are woven throughout this moving autobiography. Maya Angelou recounts the story of her early life, including the racism and segregation she experiences throughout her formative years. With wit, sincerity, and remarkable talent, Angelou portrays racism as a product of ignorance and prejudice. However, she finds the strength to rise above this crippling condition.…

    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is the first in a series of autobiographical works by Maya Angelou, an African American author and poet. Published in 1969 the novel captures and amplifies the socio-political zeitgeist in Black America. It is a bildungsroman that follows a young African American girl with an inferiority complex on her psychological and characteristic development to become a more socially aware and proactive individual. An individual beginning to adopt or preparing to adopt the attitudes that Bo Bennett discusses in the above quotation. This essay will explore the extent to which Angelou achieves self-actualisation in the novel.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays