Review Of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - 1553 Words

Dylan Liang Ms.Camarda ENG 2D7 October 27 2015 Marguerite’s Fight Against Adversity As the late great William Arthur Ward would state â€Å"Adversity causes some men to break, others to break records† (Ward). Throughout the novel â€Å"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings† by: Maya Angelou, she illustrates Marguerite combating society from a disadvantaged position. Set in the United States during the time of racism and segregation towards the black community, the novel displays the contrast in Maya’s upbringing in Stamps, St. Louis to San Francisco and her constantly changing development and maturity in herself through her effectiveness to conquer difficult situations. Maya Angelou uses symbolism in the form of the caged bird to represent her position in these difficult situations, such as dealing with racism/segregation, the influence of her family, and also facing her sexuality during her childhood. Facing adversity, Marguerite’s fight against society, illustrates Angelou’s theme that when faced with adversity in life, the ability and effectiveness to deal with these problems matures one’s character. Firstly, in Stamps, Arkansas, a predominantly black community, young Marguerite Johnson is unknowingly faced with racism and segregation. Through rage against the prejudice of the black community, a young Marguerite experiences this at such a high moment in church. Regardless of her innocence at that age, she had already experienced racism and segregation. â€Å"If growing up is painfulShow MoreRelatedRacism in Maya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay1643 Words   |  7 PagesRacism in Maya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou, the current poet laureate of the United States, has become for many people an exemplary role model. 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This novelRead MoreMaya Angelou Research Notes1165 Words   |  5 PagesCouncil (SCLC). o Angelou and her son moved to Cairo and then to Ghana. She worked as an editor at the African Review and a freelance writer. †¢ Career as an author and poet: o When Angelou returned to the US, she wrote I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which described her childhood and adolescence, ending with the birth of her son Guy. It was highly successful. o I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was Angelou’s first of six autobiographies. o Angelou took 15 years to write her sixth and final autobiographyRead More Maya Angelou: Hope into Art Essay1343 Words   |  6 Pagesworldview that shapes her work can be gleaned from a brief review of a few lines from the 1962 Nobel Prize winning speech of another celebrated writer, John Steinbeck:    The writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate mans proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit--for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. 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She â€Å"[is] always talking about the human condition – about what we can endure, dream fail at and still survive.†(Matzu 23) Angelou’s early life was full of hardships; making her strong and ready to fight forRead MoreEssay Personal Perseverance in the Works of Maya Angelou1313 Words   |  6 P agespoet, historian, and author Maya Angelou says in all my work I try to tell the human truth-what it is like to be human...what makes us stumble and fumbleand fall and somehow miraculously rise and go on from the darkness and into the light (Ebony 96). This theme is consistently exemplified throughout Angelous greatly acclaimed autobiographical worksand poems such as I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in my Name, Still I Rise and Phenomenal Women. All of these books depict the true-lifeRead MoreMaya Angelou : An Amazing Woman1155 Words   |  5 Pages2000, she received the National Medal of Arts. In 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. She was also the first black woman director in Hollywood. Maya Angelou is known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which was first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. Angelou received several honors throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Award s in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, in 2005 and 2009. EvenRead MoreLiterary Analysis of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay2756 Words   |  12 PagesThomas Lim December 9, 2010 English 2 Professor Padilla Themes of Racism and Segregation in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Specifically it will discuss the themes of racism and segregation, and how these strong themes are woven throughout this moving autobiography. Maya Angelou recounts the story of her early life, including the racism and segregationRead MoreEssay on I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou2409 Words   |  10 Pagesthem to take over the rest of her life. Overcoming prejudice demands one to go through a long, ruthless journey, particularly when the prejudice is directed towards oneself. This is unmistakably displayed in Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. At the beginning of the novel Maya, as a young child, dislikes her ethnicity. As the novel progresses and she matures into a teenager, she gains a better understanding of her race and finds some comfort in it as well. Towards the endRead MoreA Brief Biography of Maya Angelou746 Words   |  3 PagesVivians boyfriend was found guilty but was only jailed for one day. Freeman was murdered just four days after his release from jail. For almost five years Angelou refused to speak because she stated, â€Å"I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone...† Angelou and her brother were sent back to live with their grandmother shortly after Freemans murder. Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a teacher, introduced