I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Rhetorical Analysis

The novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells the story of Maya Angelou’s early life, full of overpowering situations from her childhood. Maya and her brother, Bailey Jr., face many difficulties but manage to come out ahead. Angelou tells their tales with a sense of wry humor, related to the reader through diction and imagery that leaves a lasting impression. One of the first difficult situations Maya faces was a rape when she was only eight. “Then there was the pain. A breaking and entering when even the senses are torn apart. The act of rape on an eight-year-old body is a matter of the needle giving because the camel can't. The child gives, because the body can, and the mind of the violator cannot.” Maya Angelou’s use of words leaves …show more content…
She does this very well with the use of diction and imagery. Maya and Bailey have had a very rough childhood and have been through things that no child should ever have to go through. These situations, along with the details help to set the mood of this novel. Maya becomes a stronger person through this but Bailey doesn’t turn out so well. The way that Bailey has turned out reflects back on the wry humor in this novel, never would us readers have thought that he would be the one to turn out this way. Maya Angelou’s use of imagery explaining how Bailey has turned out gives you a better understanding. The diction she uses throughout the novel helps us readers better understand the seriousness of certain situations and also the anger, rage, and hurt in other situations. Maya Angelou conveyed the mood of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing in a very superior, well thought out, and detailed way. Although this was what she has actually been through in her real life, she makes a enjoyable story out of it and tells it in a interesting way. Not only do you just read the novel and learn Maya’s story, but you actually walk away with something that you know now but you didn’t know