I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Chapter 34: Questions and Answers
by Maya Angelou

Study Questions
1. What did Marguerite think of her room after Bailey left?

2. Why did Marguerite not run away?

3. What did Marguerite decide to do instead of staying in her room or running away?

4. How old did one have to be to work at a defense job?

5. What did Mother say when she found out Marguerite wanted to work on the streetcars?

6. What did it mean when Mother said, “Can’t do is like Don’t Care”?

7. What were the offices of the Market Street Railway Company like?

8. Why did the receptionist first say that Marguerite could not be seen?

9. Did Marguerite forgive the receptionist?

10. What three forces did Marguerite face?

Answers
1. Marguerite thought her room had all the cheeriness of a dungeon after Bailey left.

2. Marguerite did not run away because it would be anticlimactic after Mexico and dull after the car lot.

3. Marguerite decided to get a job.

4. One had to be 15 to get a defense job.

5. Mother said that they did not “accept colored people on streetcars.”

6. It meant that there was nothing one could not do and there should not be anything one did not care about.

7. The offices were dingy inside and drab in decor.

8. The receptionist first said Marguerite could not be seen because she was not sent by an agency.

9. Marguerite forgave the receptionist; she accepted her as a victim.

10. Marguerite faced masculine prejudice, white illogical hate, and Black lack of power.