I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings is a captivating story of intrigue, hopeless, and despair. Its main characters are Maya (Marguerite), her brother Bailey, and Momma, their grandmother. The story is set in the early 1930’s mainly in Stamps, Arkansas, a poor town with little promise and little hope. The bird in the title is Maya and she is not singing songs of happiness. Racism is the cage which encloses her. That racism hinders jobs, medical treatment, respect, and even the threat of being killed. She is singing songs of anger because she feels trapped at every turn. She is on an emotional roller coaster as she has to deal with racism, poverty, rape and abuse just to name a few. Her songs are her only escape and she endures pain that not many
