Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings depicts the harsh childhood that the author, Maya Angelou, was subject to. The title of the book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, relates to a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar titled Sympathy. The title simply means that Maya can relate to a caged bird singing. In essence, she has been caged because she lives in an era that is plagued by racism and because she is of the so-called, ‘weaker’ sex.

She relates to the reason the bird sings in the conclusion of the book by accepting her race and womanhood for what it is, and she, like the caged bird, will continue to sing despite the fact that she is captive; simply because she has hope that one day she will be ‘released’ from a world of racism. Throughout the book she finds herself in unfortunate situations sometimes caused by her race. However, she always looks towards the positive side, even when she is subject to blatant abuse. She finds joy reading, like the caged bird does with singing, because it brings her hope.

At the beginning of the book, we can see how far Maya's reality has been distorted by racism. Maya believes that by wearing a dress that she would look 'like one of the sweet little whit

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Lincoln's statement that he would "rather stick [his] hand in a dog's mouth than in a nigger's," was the most blatant example of racism in the book. But the dress is later described as 'a white woman's once-was-purple throwaway.

Prejudice definitely has an effect on Maya and her family. The outcome, though it might make small gains for them, certainly will not be as overwhelming as Maya envisions it to be. Her father ignores the injury and when Maya is sent to see her father's friend instead of a hospital, she understands that her father dares not risk his reputation and instead risks his already precarious relationship with his daughter. Maya's fantasy about Momma standing up to Dr. Lincoln, but when asked for a simple favor, he refused, as if he owes nothing to blacks. Her uncle had to live life as a cripple and many people mistreated him since he was black and was crippled. '

Later in her childhood, Maya and her brother Bailey learned of an actress, a white woman named Kay Francis, who resembled their mother. Freeman rapes Maya, she is unable to understand what happened to her and she becomes afraid of Mr. ' Maya says her appearance is merely a 'black ugly dream that she will wake out of’. During the graduation, a man named Mr. The allusions to Hamlet in Henry Reed's speech were ironic, coming after Mr. As much as they might aspire, the reality was that there were firm limits on what they could do in society, simply because of their skin color.

Common topics in this essay:
Laurence Dunbar, Joe Louis's, Freeman Maya, Maya Bailey, Dr Lincoln, Dr Lincoln's, Uncle Willie, Anthem Maya, People Stamps, Fourth Segregation, caged bird, bird sings, caged bird sings, cotton pickers, dr lincoln, bird singing, anger racism, conclusion book, skin color, woman named, people stamps, caged bird singing,

Approximate Word count = 1380
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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