I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiographical novel written by civil rights activist and intersectional, Black feminist Maya Angelou in 1969. It is the first of seven novels she authored about her life before her death in 2014. In the novel, she delves into the most personal aspects of her life throughout the 1930s and 1940s, her upbringing, up until her graduation and the birth of her first child. Her life story deals with notable amounts of rejection, racism (institutionalized, systemic, and internalized), identity and self-reflection, independence, motherhood, and overcoming oppression and sexual abuse.
Maya, born Marguerite Anne Johnson, grew up predominately in Stamps, Arkansas with her brother, Bailey Jr; her grandmother, called ‘Momma’; and her uncle, Willie. …show more content…
Maya struggles to accept who she is, often reflecting on her belief that she is unattractive and unsophisticated due to her race. This stems from systemic racism as a whole, and its affect on the group facing oppression. Since Western society dictates that the ideal appearance consists of pale skin, hair, and eyes, a slender body, and thin noses and lips, those who do not fit in these specific categories have an altered perspective of themselves. To be considered beautiful or worthy, you had to be white. This belief of what beauty entails inevitably leads to internalizing this self-hatred, something Maya suffers with intensely. In her childhood especially, she’s insecure, anxious, and cripplingly