My Take on I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is a riveting novel and autobiography written by Maya Angelou. In this post, I will be interpreting the first third of the novel. The story encompasses important topics such as racism and rape while also telling the story of a young girl, Maya, who happens to be the narrator of the novel. It appears as though the novel will progress as Maya’s character grows and will outline how she overcomes discrimination and trauma but who knows!? The novel takes place in 2 places, Stamps, Arkansas and St. Louis, Missouri. The former of the places is where Maya can call “home”. She, and her brother, Bailey, live in Stamps with their grandma, who they call Momma. Not only is Bailey her brother, but he is also her idol. St. Louis is where Maya and Bailey go when they see their real parents. I’ll spare you the rest of the details as I don’t want to spoil the rest if you are planning to read it.

Personally, I am having a hard time truly connecting with the novel but I feel I am able to comprehend the situations effectively. I read a novel written by Harper Lee in Grade 10 titled “To Kill a Mockingbird“. Although these novels aren’t exactly the same, they share enough characteristics to allow me to gain a greater understanding of each other. There was one quote in the novel which really stuck with me, it was when Maya said “Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.” (Angelou, 23). Although I cannot exactly relate to the “lonely child” portion, I can relate to when she described her brother as her “Kingdom Come”. Whenever I need any help with anything, my older sister, Riya, is there to help me. She is always by my side to help me through whatever problems I have, whether it be a scrape because I fell or an art assignment that I struggled with. Thanks Sis!

Now, to discuss the purpose of the novel. The purpose seems to be quite straightforward and direct, to enlighten people about racism and sexual assault. I think this is an absolutely fantastic purpose as these are not be problems we should be dealing with in the 21st century. The inspiration behind this novel was first-hand experience with racism and sexual assault. I feel bad and it almost makes me angry that people have to endure this in their lives. It angers me because the people committing these idiotic activities feel no remorse and have no moral compass.

There was one thing that I noticed while browsing the novel a second time, there was some foreshadowing. Maya was crying when they were going to St. Louis with their dad and she asked if they could go back to Stamps (Angelou 58). Although this could be a coincidence, it seems as though Maya predicted that something bad was going to happen in St. Louis before it happened. This intrigued me and I looked for more examples but I was unable to find any, perhaps there are more the farther I progress into the novel.

While I read, I noticed a couple of things about myself. I thought about similar TV shows and movies depending on what was happening. I was always trying to draw connections regardless if they were meaningful or not. Whenever I got to a slower part, I began looking for a reference to the title. Maybe it hasn’t happened yet, or maybe I missed it, who knows?! Anyways, I’ll be back with another post sooner rather than later and in the meantime, I strongly recommend this book to you all whenever you read your next novel. See you in the comments!

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Regular Print Book Discussion Kit. Assembled by the Henderson County Public Library, 2016. 

Garcia, Arturo. “FACT CHECK: Was Maya Angelou Sexually Assaulted as a Child?” Snopes.com, Oct. 2018, http://www.snopes.com/fact-check/maya-angelou-assaulted-chlid/. 

HLN. YouTube, YouTube, 29 Apr. 2015, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzinNywG6ps.