I Know Why The Caged Bird Research Paper

“…thus the first step towards the far more monumental act of writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings itself. Poetry, in all its forms, can be an act of resistance.” (Pierre Walker A.). Also, according to Jeffrey M. Elliot, an interviewer who collected Maya’s several interviews over the years, Maya couldn’t refuse a challenge. She confirmed that she had the inability to “resist a challenge” This was in reference to this poem. This was the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman during that time period. Two more years later in 1972, Maya also published the Pulitzer Prize-nominated poetry collection. It was named Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I

Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, author, and poet. She wrote many books and poems that conveyed the vivid experiences in her life. Maya Angelou’s works are well known and she is an eminent writer. One poem in particular that is well known is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” written in 1969. In this work she described racial inequality, and the lack of freedom African Americans experienced in the 1930’s and 40’s. Maya Angelou uses many Rhetorical strategies and literary devices to describe the lack of racial freedom in the world at this time.

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014) was an American author, actress, screenwriter dancer and poet. She was known for her memoir, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings (bibography.com). “Her parents divorced when she was only three and she was sent with her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, the young girl experienced the racial discrimination that was the legally enforced way of life in the American

Maya Angelou tells of her life experiences and struggles in her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” that gives us insight about Maya’s life as a young black girl growing up in a time of racism. The novel discusses various forms of oppression that she had to face as well cope with them. Robert A. Gross wrote an analysis for Newsweek about the book and claimed that Angelou’s book is not only an interesting story of her own experience, but also a portrayal of a Southern black community, thus being a historic reference of the 1930’s. Joanne Megna-Wallace backs up Gross’s claim in her critique of “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and also stresses the importance of the novel as a historic book, and also discusses how Maya Angelou intended the autobiography to target the historic circumstances of the time period. However, these two analyses portray the novel in two completely different ways. Robert Gross views the novel as a well-written story that was cleverly thought out and racism has a slight impact on the main character’s life. He views the autobiography as being a beautiful story that portrays the warmth and understanding within the black community, whereas Wallace argues that Maya Angelou’s autobiography is way of exposing the horrific racist conditions that made up her childhood. She focuses on Maya Angelou’s struggle and the tragic events that made her the woman she is.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiographical novel written by Maya Angelou, was published in the year 1969. The novel follows Maya as a young girl facing challenges such as racism and sexism following the civil rights movement. While reading the book, the reader is introduced to events in history such as the Great Depression and World War II.

Maya Angelou, named at birth, Marguerite Johnson was on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her and her family moved from St. Louis to Stamps, Arkansas, where she was raised growing up. Maya Angelou was an American author, dancer, screenwriter, actress, poet and civil rights activist. Angelou gained a majority of her fame with the memoir she wrote in 1969, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This memoir made literary history as being the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. Angelou received many awards and honors throughout her entire career. These awards included two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, in 2005 and 2009. Angelou became one of the most legendary and influential

In the poem, Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, Maya uses a selective word choice as well as similes and personification to express her message in her poem. The main idea of Still I Rise is that with all of the negativity that is thrown at a certain person, they will not let the hatefulness affect them in any way, but will allow the negativity to help them rise to be a better version of themselves. To prove my reasoning, a string of words in the poem releases a pessimistic atmosphere with words such as ‘pain,’ ‘fear,’ ‘terror,’ and ‘gloom.’ These words tend to spread an adverse feeling throughout the poem. The words that were previously listed represent the negativity that is targeted at a person. In contrast to the sullen emotions that crept through

Maya Angelou is one of the most distinguished African American writers of the twentieth century. Writing is not her only forte she is a poet, director, composer, lyricist, dancer, singer, journalist, teacher, and lecturer (Angelou and Tate, 3). Angelou’s American Dream is articulated throughout her five part autobiographical novels; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in my Name, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas, The Heart of a Woman, and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes. Maya Angelou’s American Dream changed throughout her life: in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya’s American dream was to fit into a predominantly white society in small town

The memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography written by Maya Angelou as she grew up in the mid-20th century, where being a black girl and facing racial issues in society, had to overcome many problems that show the larger issue of the time period. I chose this book over the other nineteen memoirs because of the strong recommendations I received from my fellow class mates, and because of my interest in racial issues during the terrible times of segregation. Life was not fair, and Maya Angelou had to face a lot during the 30’s and 40’s in order to try to live a normal lifestyle and become a confident person. Maya shares her story with us to increase our knowledge of racism, prejudice, unequal treatment of women, and sexual

This led her to release her first album “Miss Calypso”. In 1961, Maya appeared in another off-broadway production called “The Blacks” with James Earl Jones, Lou Gossett Jr and Cicely Tyson. The play was a success and Maya was able to move abroad in the 1960s, in countries like Egypt and Ghana as a freelance writer and and as an editor. When she returned to the United States, Maya was encouraged by James Baldwin to write about her life experiences. This ended up with Maya releasing her memoir in 1969 about her childhood and her young adult years, it had the name “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and it became extremely successful as well it became the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American

As an African American women living in the segregated era. She became involved in the civil right movement alongside Dr. Martin Luther king. As an activist to civil right movement, she many of her works express the frustration of the oppression of African American were dealing with in a prejudiced world by speaking about the issue through her writing, like many great leaders. Maya can connect with her reader with from her writing. Maya is writing give hope for those who suffer from in the past of segregation. In her autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings she talks about the anger of watching her grandmother staying silent until a disrespectful white girls, because she was raised to believe children should respect elderly and act properly. As a child, she could not understand why black people treated as a second-class citizen to the point where they could not eat a certain color ice cream on a certain day even if they hold a higher standard in the community. She speaks of her experiences of seeing her uncle hiding in the potato bin because the fear of being Lynch by angry racist seeking revenge. She dealt with being called out her name by employee who doesn’t acknowledge her and dined medical treatment by a man her grandmother help because he rather touch a dog mouth then an n*gger. As a child her grandmother teach bailey and her the proper way to behave but it anger her

Maya Angelou is one out of the best known poets. She has written a lot of poems that inspires and assist people with their lives. She has a “desire humbleness to learn and experience all that life has to offer her” (gale biography in context, “Maya Angelou More than a Poet”) which makes her poems have a meaning to them. In addition, Maya Angelou got a lot of pieces of poems considered equality to her experience as a human of the United States during race times and her experience as a person who worked with other civil right activist. Maya Angelou uses deep themes that leaves the reader to think about the topic is being talked about. In her poem, “Still I Rise” she talks metaphorically about discrimination. In the poem, it states, “does my haughtiness offend you? ( the poetry foundation, “Maya Angelou”). This quote from the poem shows how the rest of the poem is about people believe they is better than other people and that the other people should suffer because they are inferior to the people, but the people being abused should not be embarrassed of who they are and be thankful for life(“Maya Angelou More than a Poet 1”).

Maya Angelou is recognized as one of the most profound poets of the twentieth century. With her extensive wisdom of everyday life came a long and rigorous past of overcoming racial prejudices and treacherous mishap. Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928, making her the second child (her brother Bailey Jr. being the oldest) of the calamitous marriage between Bailey Johnson and Vivian Johnson. When Angelou was only three years old, her father and mother divorced. As a result of their divorce, Maya and Bailey Jr moved to Stamps, Arkansas to live with Bailey Sr.’s mother. At the age of eight, Maya was sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Freeman. Soon after his release from prison, Maya’s uncles tracked him down and murdered Freeman.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a novel by Maya Angelou, where she writes about her childhood and her experiences while growing up. This non-fiction novel illustrates Maya Angelou’s childhood, being tossed around by her parents, and having to experience different cultures. Maya struggles particularly in finding friends, she is reserved, and will only open up to Bailey, her brother. Maya moves a couple of times to different places, which may contribute to her not having friends. The novel revolves around Maya Angelou, Bailey, and her grandmother, evolving through life from being a child to a teenager. This novel is set in the “South”, in America.

Maya felt strongly about oppression and this pushed her to make this poem to achieve social justice and to