Essay on Summary of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Summary of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya recalls an Easter Sunday at the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in Arkansas. Her mother makes her a special Easter dress from lavender taffeta, and Maya thinks the dress will make her look like the blond-haired blue-eyed movie star that she wishes, deep down, to be. But, the dress turns out to be drab and ugly, as Maya laments that she is black, and unattractive as well. She leaves her church pew to go to the bathroom, and doesnt make it; she runs from the church, ashamed, but glad to be out of church and away from the children who torment her, and make her childhood even harder than it already is. Analysis: One of the main themes of this chapter is race and appearance; Maya†¦show more content†¦Analysis: Angelou tells of the little sensory details that make her life working and living in the store an adventure for a young girl. She recalls the smells, and unfamiliarity of the place, and the constant stream of people who made the place seem exciting and almost magical. However, the theme of romance vs. reality soon becomes plain; for even as the cotton pickers come in each morning, happy and boastful, each afternoon they come back bitter and wondering how to make enough money to make ends meet. Angelou notes the difference between the wonderful mornings and the hard reality of the afternoons, knowing that however things might seem, there are always the harsh facts of life to face. The difficulty of being black in the South is a theme that is important throughout the work; financially, it is difficult to make ends meet, and black people also face social hardship. Even in the intro to the work, Angelou reminds us that living in the segregated South during this time is never easy; not even to a child, and not even with wonderful sights and sounds around at the store. Chapter 2: Summary: Maya and her brother recite their times tables for their Uncle Willie, who was crippled as a child and whose left side of his body is shriveled and deformed. Maya and her brother are disturbed by his disability, though his mother, Mayas grandmother, blames God but accepts her son. Things are more difficult forShow MoreRelatedSummary Of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings 1184 Words   |  5 PagesBY: Nitesh Goel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 1) She is described that she is poor and she is black. This proven by the quote she is a too-big Negro girl with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil. 2) Mr. Steward, the white former sheriff, comes to warn Momma that the whites were on the path to hurt or kill a black because they say a black man has â€Å"messed with† a white woman. Momma hides Willie in the potato and onion bins in case the mobRead MoreSummary Of Maya Angelous I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings1363 Words   |  6 Pagesancestors’ â€Å"old-fashioned† ways of living and thinking. Maya Angelou expertly depicted this diversity of progressive thought in her first autobiography, which focused primarily on her childhood. The three generations Angelou portrays in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--Mommas, her parents, and her own--represent the diversity of progressive outlooks and, despite their obvious divides on accepting circumstances through generational respite from direct slavery, Maya’s generation was the only one remotelyRead More Sympathy, by Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Reflection of the African Americans Struggle for Freedom911 Words   |  4 Pagesfor Freedom I know what the caged bird feels, alas! When the sun is bright on the upland slopes; When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass, And the river flows like a stream of glass; When the first bud sings and the first bud opes, And the faint perfume from its chalice steals-- I know what the caged bird feels! Sympathy was written by Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1899, right at the end of the Nineteenth Century. It is a poem about the caged bird who wants to be freeRead MoreMaya Angelou Essay1019 Words   |  5 Pagesfor black pride and heritage (St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture). Although she speaks for people of color, her messages of hope and strength appeal to people of all ages and races. Angelou is best known for her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in which she recalls herself as a young African American girl finding self-confidence in a highly prejudice world.   Maya Angelou’s work should still be taught in schools today because of her focus on civil rights and feminism, which continuesRead MoreWhy Should Anybody Care?1198 Words   |  5 Pages ELA7_SB_U5_L11 Introduction and Objective â€Å"Why should anybody care?† That’s the question of the day! The answer is also how you create an effective concluding section for your essay. You want to make sure your reader understands why they read through your entire essay, and you want them to be happy they spent the time doing it! Today s lesson objective is: Students will write a concluding section that follows from the information or explanation presented. In addition to a strong introductionRead MoreEssay on I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings1319 Words   |  6 Pages 1) Summary of Character Traits amp;nbsp;a) School smart (Maya is smart. When she moves to San Francisco from Stamps, Arkansas, she is skipped a grade.) amp;nbsp;b) Caring sister (she always talks of her devotion to Baily) amp;nbsp;c) Determined (she wants to get a job with the streetcar company and she keeps bugging them until they finally give her a job) amp;nbsp;d) Proud (she lives with the junkyard kids instead of going back to her father’s; she slaps Dolores for calling her mother a whore)Read MoreSister Flowers Summary Essay examples996 Words   |  4 PagesSister Flowers Summary â€Å"Sister Flowers,† is a descriptive narrative by Maya Angelou. This piece was taken from her first of six autobiographies, Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970). Angelou, with much admiration and respect, describes a woman by the name of Sister Flowers as, â€Å"the aristocrat of Black Stamps†(87), â€Å"the measure of what a human being can be†(88), and educated. Angelou, who became mute almost a year earlier after being raped at the age of eight, was at a low point in her life. She describesRead MoreRhetorical Analysis Of I Know Why The Caged Bird Cannot Sing794 Words   |  4 PagesIn Francine Prose’s essay â€Å"I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Sing† Prose tends to evoke her unsureness on why schools use certain books to teach students their moral values. Prose argues that certain books should be taught in English classes, that in fact, teach students their values. Prose uses several literary examples, such as Frankenstein, How To a Kill A Mocki ngbird, The Great Gatsby, etc. She also provides several controversial opinions, such as using different books to try and teach studentsRead MoreMaya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay1687 Words   |  7 PagesMaya Angelous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya shields herself against the confusion of St. Louis by reading fairy-tales and telling herself that she does not intend on staying there anyway. Vivian works in a gambling parlor at nightRead MoreEssay on Banning Books4604 Words   |  19 PagesCatcher in the Rye from high school classes after a protester reported that she had counted ‘785 profanities’ (Donelson 1985). With the offensive talk, one is clearly able to see why this book wi th the profanity alone is banned in many schools, even today. Moreover, sexuality appears to be another issue regarding why Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye was banned in the United States. Many parts within the book dealt with sexuality in Holden’s life. For example, Holden observes the man and women