What is your Cage? What keeps you back from freedom? Maya Angelou wrote an amazing and entertaining autobiography titled I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, about her hard life growing up as a black girl from the South. Among the hardships are things known as "cages" as stated as a metaphor from Paul Dunbar's poem "Sympathy." "Cages" are things that keep people from succeeding in life and being everything they want to be. Some of Maya Angelou’s cages include being black in the 1940's and her overbearing grandmother. Her book is unique because of the way it captures a reader’s interest, the figurative languages Maya Angelou uses, and the sorrow contained in the writing. Maya lives in Stamps, Arkansas, in a black ghetto with her grandmother
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She can’t get her lines right. Even though Momma has made a pretty dress for her she becomes self-conscious and feels ugly. Throughout the story Maya grows up. There they grow up under the dominance of the racially prejudice south. Momma owns the store in town and when the kids are old enough to help they do. Momma and Uncle Willie are strict on Bailey and Maya but fair. They always go to church and church plays a large part in Maya’s young life. As Maya gets older she still feels insecure but immerses herself in schoolwork and excels. When they are around seven they are sent to St. Louis to live with their Mom who they have never seen or met. Momma made them leave Stamps because of the racial hatred. They go to school,in St Louis , where they now live, and find out that they are ahead a little and they do well. "Mother Dear" works a lot but Mr. Freeman, her boyfriend, is around when he comes home from work. He first molests, then rapes Maya. He threatens to kill her brother Bailey if she tells. When her bloody panties are found, she tells. Mr. Freeman goes to trial and gets off easy. Her Uncle’s Baxters kill him, after. After this, Maya won’t talk and is shipped back to Stamps. Momma takes care of Maya and life goes back to the small town routine of church, school and working in the store. Maya reads more than ever and becomes smart by doing so. She graduates from the eighth grade with honors. Momma
She can’t get her lines right. Even though Momma has made a pretty dress for her she becomes self-conscious and feels ugly. Throughout the story Maya grows up. There they grow up under the dominance of the racially prejudice south. Momma owns the store in town and when the kids are old enough to help they do. Momma and Uncle Willie are strict on Bailey and Maya but fair. They always go to church and church plays a large part in Maya’s young life. As Maya gets older she still feels insecure but immerses herself in schoolwork and excels. When they are around seven they are sent to St. Louis to live with their Mom who they have never seen or met. Momma made them leave Stamps because of the racial hatred. They go to school,in St Louis , where they now live, and find out that they are ahead a little and they do well. "Mother Dear" works a lot but Mr. Freeman, her boyfriend, is around when he comes home from work. He first molests, then rapes Maya. He threatens to kill her brother Bailey if she tells. When her bloody panties are found, she tells. Mr. Freeman goes to trial and gets off easy. Her Uncle’s Baxters kill him, after. After this, Maya won’t talk and is shipped back to Stamps. Momma takes care of Maya and life goes back to the small town routine of church, school and working in the store. Maya reads more than ever and becomes smart by doing so. She graduates from the eighth grade with honors. Momma