I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Figurative language refers to the techniques a writer uses to enhance his or her writing and to create images so that the reader can enjoy the text and understand his or her purpose. This can be...

In order to determine the meaning of this line, we must first look at the following line for more information. Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I...

In her poem "Caged Bird," Maya Angelou communicates themes of racism and color discrimination through the juxtaposition of two metaphorical birds: one free and one caged. The free bird represents...

Mrs. Flowers is an important part of young Marguerite’s life. This is in large part because she teaches Marguerite firstly to love and respect books and secondly to understand the significance of...

The rhyme scheme in this poem is loose and somewhat erratic. In the first stanza, for example, there are no full end rhymes—although there is some assonance which creates a pattern of half-rhymes....

In chapter 35 of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou describes the father of her son very briefly and does not even give his name. He was one of "two handsome brothers...easily the most...

Marguerite, or "Maya," has a complicated relationship with her grandmother, who she refers to as "Momma." As a child, she often resents the fact that her grandmother is so strict and religious. It...

This book is written in the style of an autobiography. It is in the first person point of view and tells the story of her life in chronological order. However, ever the poet, Angelou uses many...

In Maya Angelou's autobiographical book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Mrs. Flowers, a literary African-American woman in Stamps, Arkansas, becomes Maya's mentor and the first person who...

Mrs. Flowers introduces Marguerite to a number of new ideas during their first meeting. On the walk over to her house, Mrs. Flowers tells Marguerite first that Language is man's way of...

In the book, Marguerite uses a metaphor to explain how she feels about her grandmother's store. She likens the store to "an unopened present from a stranger" when it stands "alone and empty in the...

Let's take a look at the exact passage you're talking about in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. To set up the scene, our protagonist, Maya, is working in the home of Mrs. Cullinan....

Maya Angelou published her memoir as a successful adult looking back at a difficult childhood. She begins these recollections with a single event that encapsulates the challenges she faced. While...

The relationship between Maya and her brother, Bailey, is incredibly complex from its beginnings. The two of them are sent to live with their paternal grandmother, nicknamed Momma, in a southern...

Mrs. Bertha Flowers appears in chapter 15 of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She is a lady who lives in Stamps, near Momma's store, and who befriends Marguerite when she returns from her traumatic...

Maya Angelou uses allusions through her memoir. Some of them evoke the period and places about which she is writing, while others appear as she struggles to express the agony of the sexual abuse...

Well, the root problem is the abuse that Marguerite suffered when she was living with her mother at the hands of her step-father. As Chapter 14 makes clear, the impact that this horrendous incident...

Although it is not explicitly mentioned in "Caged Bird," slavery is a powerful theme of this poem. The bird in the cage sings of a freedom it has never enjoyed. This caged bird is a metaphor for...

Maya Angelou's autobiographical book ends with the birth of her son because it reinforces the main theme of the novel, the maturation of the main character Marguerite. By keeping the pregnancy a...

Mrs. Flowers is a dominant figure during a difficult period in Marguerite's life. The above quote references one of the life lessons that Mrs. Flowers teaches Marguerite. The latter basically...

After a traumatic experience in St. Louis that scars Maya and results in an unexpected move back to Stamps, her newfound relationship with Mrs. Flowers offers a road to healing and growth. Maya is...

Maya lies on the witness stand because of events that led up to her rape by Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman had molested her multiple times leading up to her rape (Chapter 11). When asked by the...

A hyperbole is a literary device that over-exaggerates a particular detail or fact; this over-emphasis highlights the seriousness of a situation from a character's point of view. Take Marguerite's...

During Maya's time working for Mrs. Cullinan, she was taught the antiquated system of keeping house in the pre-war South. While she teaches Maya the proper way to keep a house, she is trying to...

Maya identifies her first love as William Shakespeare and his written works. As a girl, she reads every single book in the small library in Stamps, Arkansas. In chapter 2, she explains why the...

Mrs. Annie Henderson, Maya's grandmother, is a major influence in Maya's life. Strong, independent, and above all loving, she raises Maya and her brother firmly and caringly, instilling in them...

Mrs. Flowers wanted Marguerite to foster her ability to express herself with confidence. She told Marguerite that self-expression was a form of communication and that language was what separated...

This question is asking for an opinion about Maya Angelou’s poem “Caged Bird.” This means you have to assess and analyze the poem to determine what you find appealing about it. Personally, I enjoy...

Angelou is able to illuminate the stakes as being high for African- Americans when Joe Louis was about to fight for the heavyweight championship against Primo Carnera. It was clear that African-...

In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, the first volume of her autobiography, Maya Angelou’s describes her life in Stamps, Arkansas where her grandmother Annie Henderson owns a store. She has lived...

Because they were instructed to do so by their Momma, Bailey and Marguerite for the most part stood by quietly when the ill-behaved "powhitetrash" children came into the store. If one of...

There are various conflicts throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. One which every reader remembers is the abuse and rape of the author by her mother's partner, Mr. Freeman. Another is the...

In the middle of the night "the used-to-be sheriff" comes up to the store to warn Momma, whom he calls Annie, "to lay low" because "a crazy" black man "messed...

In Chapter 18, the minister speaks about the meaning of "charity" from the book of First Corinthians in the Bible. He tells his congregation that charity never allows the wealthy and privileged to...

A shy and inhibited girl, Marguerite "sopped" around her environment until one day when Mrs. Flowers throws her "a lifeline" and asks specifically for Marguerite to carry her purchases home with...

As children living in Stamps, Arkansas with their grandmother, Maya and Bailey cried during Christmas after receiving gifts from their estranged parents. Maya recalls receiving a photograph from...

Uncle Willie's disabilities are entirely the result of a tragic accident he sustained when he was a small child. At the tender age of just three years old, he was dropped by a careless babysitter,...

In chapter 3 of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a former sheriff comes to Momma's house to warn them that Uncle Willie should lay low that night because a Black man "messed with a white lady...

Whitefolks couldn't be people because their feet were too small, their skin too white and see-throughy, and they didn't walk on the balls of their feet the way people did—they walked on their...

There is one section of the novel where Momma is talking to one of her customers that comes into the store. Momma is a woman of faith, and her conversations often end with phrases such as “Bless...

Maya Angelou gives an account of her formative years in I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing. It is through this account that we establish how the women in her life mold her into the person she becomes....

Marguerite didn't really think about the real reasons she and Bailey were going to California. Momma had decided that it would be safer for the children to grow up in the West with their parents...

In chapter 29, Angelou narrates the character of Daddy Clidell, who is friends with other Black men known for their successful con efforts toward racist white people. She describes a time when they...

Maya and her brother Bailey are raised in Stamps, Arkansas by their grandmother, whom they call "Momma," after their parents abandon them. Momma runs a general store in town, whose revenue she uses...

The most obvious similarities between the two works are that they both express the adverse circumstances of African Americans in the decades after Emancipation. Paul Laurence Dunbar published...

The statement simply means that Uncle Willie's personality is full of contradictions. On the one hand, for instance, he's severely disabled; the left side of his face is paralyzed so that he can...