Sedaris constructs his feelings through narrative writing, and Angelou explores her concerns through descriptive writing with the analogy of a bird, they still are exploring the similar topic of perceived loss. The loss of freedom, demonstrated by the demand to uphold a family image, versus the caged bird, remain very similar in both pieces due to perceived entrapment, disappointment and self-nonentity. Descriptive essays leave room for misinterpretation and confusion, where as a narrative essay is straightforward and to the point.
The loss of freedom was expressed quite literally for the caged bird, but in my opinion was also expressed for the young boy. Sedaris reminisces of his childhood, and reflects on the disapproval from his father to express himself freely through something simple, such as clothing. “The way I saw it, the problem wasn’t my outfit but my context. Sure I looked out of place beside a Scandinavian buffet, but put me in the proper environment and I’d undoubtedly fit right in”(Sedaris, 2007). If a person denied something simple, like the right to dress and express themselves, and their feelings, how can he know who he really is? “When I started buying clothes from Goodwill, he really went off, and for good reason, probably. The suspenders and knickers were bad enough, but when I added a top hat he planted himself in the doorway and physically prevented me from leaving the house” (Sedaris, 2007). In Sedaris’ “This Old House” he gives us insight of what his childhood was like, and how his mother’s Scandinavian buffet was the centerpiece of all the family gatherings. In the beginning he seemed perfectly content with his life that is until he starts watching a television show based in the Depression-era. It was thi...
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...e author actually lived through it, and as you are reading his story it is much easier to picture yourself in his shoes. The other great thing about a narrative, is that it leaves much less room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation allowing you to absorb the maximum amount of information the author has to offer his reader. When given a choice between a multi directional interpretation based descriptive essay, or a clear life reflective narrative essay, I am pleased to say, with taking all of these points into consideration, that I would choose a narrative essay every time.
References
Sedaris, D. (2007, July 9). This old house: The heart is a lonely managerie. The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/07/09/070709fa_fact_sedaris
Angelou, M. (1983). Caged bird. Retrieved from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178948
Oppression in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Very few literary reviews seem to consider that Angelou's intertwining use of the objective and subjective narrative is an elegant self-analysis of her rank and importance within Stamps. It is important to understanding oneself to be able to understand the culture of the local community--the community's aspirations, history, beliefs, habits, values, etc.
There are many obstacles in which Maya Angelou had to overcome throughout her life. However, she was not the only person affected throughout the story, but as well as her family. Among all the challenges in their lives the author still manages to tell the rough and dramatic story of the life of African Americans during a racism period in the town of Stamps. In Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings she uses various types of language to illustrate the conflicts that arise in the novel. Among the different types of languages used throughout the book, she uses literary devices and various types of figurative language. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou the author uses literary devices and figurative language to illustrate to the reader how racism creates obstacles for her family and herself along with how they overcome them.
The woman is clearly in a place where she does not belong, while the birds are toying with her as she is placed in this foreign place. Clearly the cage is meant for the birds, but the woman inside this cage is trying to fight her oppressors even while they may think she is in a place where she cannot fight back. The woman is trying to trap the birds in her own net even though she herself is trapped. The birds clearly see her as a threat as they circle and attack her yet they dare not enter the cage where she resides. Instead they try to take what little she has left, the woman is trapped in this cage without even a shirt to cover herself. Much like X who was placed in a different kind of cage by his oppressors, X uses what he has in his cage to fight back even when the odds are against him. X uses the knowledge available as his own net to try and trap his white oppressors who think they are safe by imprisoning him. While they see that X is a threat they cannot do much to him directly as he has turned their oppression into his own
In the text "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" a young black girl is growing up with racism surrounding her. It is very interesting how the author Maya Angelou was there and the way she described every detail with great passion. In the book Maya and Bailey move to a lot of places, which are, Stamps, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and San Francisco, California. Maya comes threw these places with many thing happening to her and people she knows. She tries to hold onto all the good memories and get rid of the bad but new ones just keep coming. That is why this book is very interesting. It keeps readers on the edge of their seats.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography with a particularly unique structure. Most stories would be in chronological order, and each chapter is connected to the next. Angelou decided to take a different route; few chapters in her book are connected. They are written as if she began telling any story that popped in her mind after she finished each
The book thus explores a lot of important issues, such as: sexuality and race relations, and shows us how society violated her as a young African American female. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou clearly expresses the physical pain of sexual assault, the mental anguish of not daring to tell, and her guilt and shame for having been raped. Her timidity and fear of telling magnify the brutality of the rape. For more than a year after the rape she lives in self-imposed silence, speaking only very rarely. This childhood rape reveals the pain that African American women suffered as victims not only of racism but also sexism.
Maya Angelou is an author and poet who has risen to fame for her emotionally filled novels and her deep, heartfelt poetry. Her novels mainly focus on her life and humanity with special emphasis on her ideas of what it means to live. The way she utilizes many different styles to grab and keep readers’ attention through something as simple as an autobiography is astounding. This command of the English language and the grace with which she writes allows for a pleasant reading experience. Her style is especially prominent in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", where the early events of Angelou’s life are vividly described to the reader in the postmodern literary fashion.
In the poem there are two birds, one is caged and is forced to watch the other free bird. “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.” The caged bird in Maya Angelou’s poem is forced to watch the free bird from his cage. This caged bird can’t beat his wings, fly, or move, he can only sing a song that is a cry for help. The caged bird can’t do much about his situation, he is trapped and disabled. “ But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.” the caged bird cannot fly anymore because his wings are clipped. Even though he can’t fly the bird still opens his throat to sing. The caged bird in “ Caged Bird” is not as free as the bird in “Sympathy” because if this bid is free he can fly and do whatever he wants. But the bird in Maya’s poem cannot, he isn’t truly free, there is more hope for the other
Walker, Pierre A. Racial protest, identity, words, and form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Vol. 22. West Chester: Collage Literature, n.d. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
The novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings goes through the childhood of Maya Angelou as she faces the difficult realities of the early South. This novel does not do a very good job at portraying the hardships of the blacks because she
Angelou’s use of literary devices such as simile and metaphor enables the reader to make their own idea or inference about the subject. For example, “Young men sharp as mustard” can mean to Angelou that men are sweet but bitter. Another simile, “Their shoulders high like the breasts of a young girl”
Maya Angelou’s excerpt from her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” reveals the challenges facing a young black girl in the south. The prologue of the book tells of a young Angelou in church trying to recite a poem she has forgotten. She describes the dress her grandmother has made her and imagines a day where she wakes up out of her black nightmare. Angelou was raised in a time where segregation and racism were prevalent in society. She uses repetition, diction, and themes to explore the struggle of a black girl while growing up. Angelou produces a feeling of compassion and poignancy within the reader by revealing racial stereotypes, appearance-related insecurities, and negative connotations associated with being a black girl. By doing this she forces the
She is comparing a free white person, the free bird, to a black slave; the caged bird. Angelou uses rhymes and repetition to show the meaning of her poem and to prove the point that she is making to her readers. This poem is all about the inequality and the violation of civil rights that black slaves had to go through (“Angelou, Maya. Caged”;“Skinner”;“Hagen”). Angelou often writes about inequality, but not just the inequality for African American people, but for women as well and the stereotypes that they face. This is potraied in Angelou 's “Phenominal
In the “Caged Bird” Angelou’s comparison to the caged bird was African-Americans in the society they were living in. She symbolized the bird with African-Americans experiences. In the second stanza the poem states “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing”. This is comparison to African-Americans in their society. When African- Americans were enslaved they use to sing songs to uplift their spirits because that’s all they could do. They were physically bound and mentally brain-washed. The songs was there way of showing they still had fight left in them. In the fourth stanza it states “The free bird thinks of another breeze and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn and he names the sky his own”. This is saying the while African-Americans were enslaved and oppressed they watched Caucasians be free and do as they pleased. Although at the time African-Americans never experienced freedom they yearned for it. They knew it had to be better then what they were enduring. Racism is considered the cage around the caged bird, and it means not getting treated fairly with jobs, medical treatment, and even get