I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Masterplots II: Women’s Literature Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Maya Angelou
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Autobiography
- Time of Work: 1931-1945
- Setting: Stamps, Arkansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Los Angeles and San Francisco, California
- Principal Characters: Maya Angelou, Bailey Johnson, Jr., Mrs. Annie Henderson, Uncle Willie, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, Mrs. Vivian Baxter, Bailey Johnson, Sr., Grandmother Baxter, Mr. Freeman, Daddy Clidell
- Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography
- Subjects: African Americans, Maturation or coming of age, Family or family life, Memory, Adolescence, Murder or homicide, South or Southerners, 1940’s, Prejudices or antipathies, Manners or customs, Social life, 1930’s, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Violence, Small-town life, Youth
- Locales: St. Louis, MO, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, Stamps, AR
Form and Content
Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells her story: that of a Southern black girl moved from place to place, along with her brother Bailey, after their parents’ divorce. The book is divided into thirty-six chapters and begins with a vignette, a sketch of the young Maya trying unsuccessfully to recite an Easter poem in church. She cannot remember the words. “Peeing and crying” in fear, she flees the church and concludes, “If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust...
[The entire page is 2653 words long]
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