The Caged Bird Controversy
The novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the life story of Maya Angelou as she struggles through life in the South. Published in 1969, the novel has received critical acclaim since 1970 and spent three years as a number one best seller on the New York Times Best Seller List. (Caged Bird Essay) Although this book has a best seller, it was the ninth most frequently challenged book in American high schools (Caged Bird Essay) and has been a censorship target for years. Many school libraries have banned I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, because numerous parents believe that the book is vulgar, poor literature and that it is inappropriate for use in public schools for young people of any age. Others believe that I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings might do what parents fear most - raise important issues while leaving the young reader no avenue to discover his or her relationship to those ideas.What do people mean by "vulgar"? The story consists of Angelou's experiences when she was growing up which includes graphic scenarios. For example, when she described her rape by her mothers boyfriend at the age of eight. In Southlake Texas high schools, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was banned because of the "
and I don't appreciate being portrayed in that way. Majorie Jones, head of the American Civil Liberties Union Arts Censorship project had this to say:"(Angelou) portrays white people as being horrible, nasty stupid people . In the book described her mixture feelings towards oppression as a child. "- Annie Gowen, The Washington Post 1/11/98Overall many believe that I Know Why the Caged Birds Sings is one of the greatest books that Angelou has written so far. As a pregnant sixteen-year-old, Angelou saw nothing very wrong with her actions. Angelou's thoughts of homosexuality became another issue and in any case, a book that discusses homosexuality is presumed controversial. (Learning to Live) This explains why the story has been most controversial in the South, where racial tension was historically the worst and where the novel is particularity set. " To figure out if she was a lesbian or not, she asked a fellow classmate if he wanted to have "sexual intercourse" with her to ensure herself that she was heterosexual. She offers a deep "talk" on the possibility of positive choices: choosing life over death; choosing courage over safety; choosing discipline over chaos; choosing voice over silence; choosing compassion over pity, over hatred, over habit; choosing work and planning and hope over useless recrimination and slovenly despair. ' The last message we want to put across to sexually curious teenagers is that a teenage pregnancy can bring happiness! -Author UnknownThe pornographic content and premarital sex do not compare to the racism which is the number one issue of the book and is the main reason why this book has been so controversial. The use of language in the scene of Angelou's rape is hardly explicit, yet it does deal with a sensitive issue and evoke a strong emotional response. There is no reason to believe that the novel is in its poignant portrayal of race relations. In the following quotation, Angelou talks about joy derived from a pregnancy as an unwed sixteen year old.
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