I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Analysis

In her autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, Maya (Marguerite) Angelou recounts her experience of growing up during the 1930’s and 1940’s in the south as a black girl and of her teen years in California. Through her individual experiences we learn much about the collective condition of people in that era of American history. Written with beautifully poetic and sometimes striking candor, we get a glimpse into another time and a world that feels somewhat foreign and at times repulsive, yet also familiar as we relate to coming of age and cultural legacy commonalities. Told from the perspective of herself as a child and teen, her story exposes readers to the “cage” of being a lonely, intelligent, traumatized and guilt-ridden youth

Marguerite and I shared quite a bit in common, from an immense love of pineapples, speaking pig latin with other kids, and having brothers I admire more than the world, to the familiar scenes and feelings of growing up like her description of graduation day celebrations and how high schoolers and middle schoolers behaved as the day approached. I also moved around quite a bit as a kid and had a religious grandmother who played a big role in my life and helped to raise me. Like Marguerite, reading was an important part of my life growing up and I would steal away to the library as often as possible. So too was I a quiet lonely child who, through a kind teacher, was exposed to new expressive art forms that helped to pull me out of my shell; in a similar way to what Marguerite experienced with Mrs. Flowers. The coded racial language at the Revival reminded me of the race and class based coded language still employed in some churches today. I grew up in Baltimore City, Maryland, where many neighborhoods are still essentially segregated and so too have I been deeply grated and filled with indignation by the disparity I witnessed. The excesses and entitled behavior of the wealthy angered me as well growing up while most people I knew struggled to get by and faced racial or economic prejudices. The idea of there being entirely different worlds and lived experiences within a

The story illuminates a perspective that, as a white person only exposed to modern incarnations of racism, I can only try to imagine and sympathize with- but one that I don’t think I could ever fully grasp in its total depth and complexity. By considering the context of historical precedent and people’s feelings in that world, the significance Momma owning her own store, of the win of first black world champion fighter, the singing of the Negro National Anthem, the impassioned sermon at the revival, and Marguerite’s achievement in San Francisco of becoming the first female African American streetcar conductor is made all the more powerful. These high notes were juxtaposed by the viciousness and ever-presence of bigotry and racial tensions of the time. The shocking idea that a white dentist could look a concerned grandmother in the eye and ignore a pained child and refuse treatment by saying “My policy is I’d rather stick my hand on a dogs mouth than a n*****’s” made me jerk back in disgust. The description of hiding Uncle Willie in a vegetable bin in fear of the KKK made me put the book down and I was literally brought to tears to think of the reality of it. I recalled when Maya Angelou spoke at