Allreaders.com
Author Maya Angelou booklist (click here)

Book Review By Judy Berman
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird sings is the autobiography of Maya Angelou. She tells of the hardships she experienced in her youth, beginning with her parents' divorce when Angelou was only three years old. As a result of the divorce, Maya and her older brother are sent to live with their grandmother in a small, Arkansas town. Here, she experiences the horrors of racism and learns to hate herself for not being white. When she is eight, Maya goes to live with her mother in St. Louis. There, she is sexually abused by her mother's live-in boyfriend, and is emotionally scarred by the terrible experience. Finally, after Maya has become aware of racial prejudice and religious hypocrisy, she begins to find her voice. Maya's mother marries a man who proves to be a positive father figure, and the family moves to Los Angeles. Here, Maya spends her teenage years being defiant and getting herself into a lot of trouble. When she becomes pregnant in her senior year of high school, however, she gains the confidence to become a strong woman and a good mother to her child.


Plot & Themes
Kids growing up/acting up? Yes
Kids: - parental abuse
job/profession:
Ethnic/Relig. of subject (inside)
Gender/Class story? - woman's story
Job/profession/poverty story Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1950+

Subject of Biography
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Ethnicity - Black
Nationality - American
Unusual characteristics:

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Deep South
Small town? Yes
Small town people: - hostile, like Gomer Pyle on steroids - dumb Rednecks, like Gomer Pyle
Century: - 1930's-1950's

Writing Style
Book makes you feel? - thoughtful
Graphic sex in book? Yes
Pictures/Illustrations? - None
How much dialogue in bio? - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 0-25% of book
Back To Main Menu