The autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is about her life experiences growing up. Maya is a strong willed, stubborn, outspoken, intelligent girl. The fact that she is an African American girl, growing up in the 30’s makes her mature and become more tolerant of confrontations in her life. Maya Angelou faces many hardships throughout her life, including ridicule, rape, and racism and still manages to overcome them all.
             Throughout the story, Maya is discouraged by the segregation of the blacks in her community. Maya comes from a broken home, her parents divorced when she was young. Her and her brother Baily were sent to Stamps Arkansas to live with their paternal grandmother Annie Henderson at a young age. Beyond the family issues Maya had come face to face with ridicule, rape, and racism. This was a lot for a young girl and is the main reason that she has become more tolerant and matured much faster then most adolescents.
             Maya is first faced with ridicule at a young age; she was not the prettiest girl. From the time she was young and through adolescence, Maya considered herself ugly. She was a tall, somewhat lanky African American girl. She was skinny, and felt that her eyes were too small and squinty. She was also ashamed of her large feet. Her peers often made fun of her.“The children’s section of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church was wiggling and giggling over my well-known forgetfulness.” This passage is from Maya’s experience at Sunday school. They other children are laughing at her because she can’t remember a poem. The mockery didn’t stop with her peers though. Not only children mocked her but elders as well. “Our elders said unkind things about my features” Maya would often take refuge from these comments by imaging herself to be a beautiful women. She would say things like “I was going to look like one of tho...