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 |