Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” Essay

Maya Angelous I Know wherefore the Caged Bird Sings chronicles the early years of the authors life up to age seventeen. In the book, Angelou poetic all t grey-hairedy describes the phenomenon that is growing up black, in the south, in the time before and during World War II. I rely that you be expected to interpret this as a memoir of overcoming the odds. I believe that you are expected to regard the happenings of this book with feelings of empathy and/or sympathy. You are as well as supposed to marvel at the way Angelou persevered to become the woman (and writer) she is today.At the end of the prologue, Angelou states that, If growing up is aggravatorful for the Southern Black girl, macrocosm aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the pharynx. (4)The razor to the throat is symbolic of authority. To a Southern black girl in the 1930s and 40s, authority is almost e trulyone. Young black female was the compulsive bottom of the barrel. She must let he rself be ruled by all sorts. Older black kids, black adults, and anyone white. Likewise, these peck are ready to swoop on her should she do the least little topic wrong. Everyone was reprimanded for one thing or another as a child. No one enjoyed it. count on being surrounded by people, just waiting for you to slip up so that they can yell at you, punish you, etcetera. Through this, Angelou gaines your sypathy, and you may very well find yourself in awe that Angelou made it through such(prenominal) a childhood with her sanity intact.When a young Maya Angelous grandmother tried to take her to a white dentist who owed her a favor, the dentist said, Annie, my policy is Id rather stick my present in a dogs mouth than a jigaboos. (189) This adds upon the point made earlier. The pain of a toothache combined with the pain of wounded pride. Maya Angelou has massive amounts of pride. She spent most of her years in Stamps, tabun being insulted by one thing or another. Some of the ca use were insulting (the dentist), while some others were the product of reading too profoundly into something, bid when a white politician came to speak at her graduation. He spoke of how much new equipment the white school was getting, and how the black partnership would not be forgotten. Here, her pride was injured because of the way the politician spoke, identical their school came second when in fact, in that time and place, they did come second, and the politician did not mean anything negative he was simply being honest. To throw your pride assaulted day in and day out is a fearful way to live.Mayas brother did not return home at one time aft(prenominal) attending the movies. When they found him, Bailey was talking so fast he forgot to stutter, he forgot to scratch his head and clean his fingernails with his teeth. He was away in a mystery, locked in the enigma that young Southern Black boys belong to unravel, try to unravel, from seven years old to death. The hu morless puzzle of discrimination and death. (198) All children lease well-nigh death eventually. They have to. Death is a part of life. But imagine living where your death is regarded as a burden on society relieved, as opposed to the tragedy that it would be. It makes you honor why you are shoted as so low, and it makes you wonder if those people who view you as such are correct.I was given blood tests, dexterity tests, physical coordination tests, and Rosarchs, then on a blissful day I was hired as the first Negro on the San Francisco streetcars. (270) Triumph Angelou in some manner managed to overcome all of societys efforts to hold her back. Such an accomplishment, though little-remembered today, was a great thing back them. Many little wins like that contributed to winning the equality of today.What happened to the moonlight-on-the-prairie feeling? Was there something wrong with me that I couldnt share a sensation that made poets gush rhyme after rhyme, that made Richard A rlen brave the Arctic wastes and Veronica Lake betray the entire abandon world? . . . .Three weeks later, having thought very little about that other and strangely empty night, I found myself pregnant. (283-284) Angelou did not completely escort the connection between sex and love. This in itself is proof of the way she grew up almost like everyone held her at arms length. Her didnt (or I imagine she didnt) think that she was old enough to know these things, and even if she was old enough, her grandmother was too old fashioned to adequately explain it. By the time she moved in with her mother, she was past the age that modern kids learn these things. Maybe her mother evaluate she already knew this stuff, or maybe she figured that anything her daughter needed to know, she would ask her.But needless to say, one would be hesitant to ask their mother about such a sore subject. Angelou did not even want to tell her mother that she was pregnant. This unfortunate status is not e xclusive to minorities, but was and still is very common. It occurs less ofttimes now, that one makes a sexual mistake out of ignorance, due to people being more open about such topics. The fact that the plunder is delivered healthily, despite the fact that she was the only one in the area who knew about it for the first eight months of the pregnancy is amazing. It makes you think about how lucky she is. And she is very lucky.Maya Angelous accomplishments are pretty amazing. All of the things she had to overcome to become until she acheived the supreme goal equality, and perhaps normalcy. When one is possessed of a childhood such as hers, normalcy may be a thing to sift for, and a thing to cherish once experienced. Indeed, she surpassed the point of normalcy to grasp the opposite point from where she started. She went from being someone who was barely noticed, and when she was noticed, regarded with contempt, to one who is value and revered for her work.