I know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up in rural Stamps, Arkansas, with her brother, Bailey, she lived with her pious grandmother, who owned a general store. She attended public schools in Arkansas and California, and became San Francisco's first female streetcar conductor. Later she studied dance with Martha Graham and drama with Frank Silvera, and went on to a career in theater. She appeared in Porgy and Bess, which toured 22 countries; on Broadway in Look Away; and in several off-Broadway plays, including Cabaret for Freedom, which she wrote in collaboration with Godfrey Cambridge.

Maya Angelou, born April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, was raised in segregated rural Arkansas. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. By the time she was in her early twenties, Maya Angelou had been a Creole cook, a streetcar conductor, a cocktail waitress, and a dancer. Angelou's stories of her childhood spent shuttling between rural, segregated Stamps, Arkansas, where her devout grandmother ran a general store, and St. Louis, Missouri, where her worldly, glamorous mother lived. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a chronic....

Maya Angelou probably chose the title I know why the caged bird sings for her memoir because the poem it self is about the struggles of life and how you should keep perseverance, hope and strive burning within you always. Mayas' life in her book is so similar to what the caged bird went through. They both felt restricted and needed to be let free. They needed to be let free of their burdens, and break the bars that contained them in so long. More or so Maya's life had hardships, tribulation, mischievousness, sadness, and so much more drama than the average family. Even through all that the one thing the caged bird and Maya Angelou had in common was that they never lost hope. That is why I .... Racism is a very serious topic. In the autobiography of Maya Angelou's life I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings the main character and her family is African American. The book, taking place in the 1930's and 40' has examples of racism throughout. Not only are some of the people racist, but they also segregate, reject, mistreat and are cruel to the African Americans. Although this is tough, the African Americans got by, through religion, outsmarting racist people and avoiding them.

The African Americans in the book mostly all reguralaly attend church. The most religious person in the book is Maya's grandmother, Momma. Most African Americans like church because God is fair and balanced.....

Although Marguerite Johnson experiences an amazingly difficult childhood where she is often displaced and even raped at a young age, she is able to somehow overcome these adversities and succeed in life. One would wonder how much psychological counseling it would take to help a child that has experienced misfortunes such as these, but all it takes for Marguerite Johnson is her big brother. Bailey Johnson provides for Marguerite in a way that no one else does in the entire novel. He gives her his friendship, loyalty, and love at a time when she is vulnerable and needs it most. Bailey is also the most important and only unvarying part of her life. In contrast to Marguerite, Bailey is attra....

Maya Angelo is introducing a lot of statements in the novel. But the main theme of has to do with the pain of learning about life, coming of age, and self discovery. It is the story of Mayas life in a world filled with racism and cruelty. All she wants in life is to feel loved and needed, and she finally finds what she's looking for, when she gives birth to a child and becomes a young mother.

The novel deals with minor statements such as racism. Ever since Maya was a young girl, she was in fear of people who didn't like her because of her skin color. Even a school teacher makes her realize that whites were supposed to be successful, not blacks.

Summary: "Graduation" is an excerpt of the autobiographical book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, written by Maya Angelou. While the book is autobiographical in nature, this particular excerpt is much discussed amongst literary circles because of Angelou's use of both objective and subjective narration.