Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Term Paper

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Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, she illustrated her coming of age as an intelligent but unconfident black girl in the American South during the 1930s and afterwards in California during the 1940s. Angelou's parents' divorce when she was three years old and sent her and her older brother, Bailey, to stay with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, which was rural Stamps, Arkansas. Annie, whom they call Momma, ran the only store in the black section of Stamps and became the most important moral figure in Angelou's childhood.

Within her book, there are many themes that are brought up throughout the course of the story. Since the book is about a black girl growing up during a time that blacks did not have equal rights, naturally, the major theme would be racism and segregation which can be related to modern society. Therefore, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a detailed story that illustrates the struggle of being black during a time when it was not accepted to be of a different race, which can be reflected, in modern society.

Angelou wrote about her happenings growing up as a black girl in the rural south and in the urban centers of St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She had an extraordinary degree of inquisitiveness and perceptiveness. As Angelou was disturbed by her disarticulation from her biological parents and her impression that she was ugly, she often separated herself, turning to books and literature to escape.

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Angelou faced up to the dangerous consequences of racism and segregation in America at a very young age. She internalizes the suggestion that blond hair is attractive and that she is an overweight black girl fascinated in a horrendous nightmare. And, as she got older, she was confronted by more obvious and personal confrontations of racism, such as a white speaker's patronizing address at her eighth-grade graduation, her white boss's persistence on calling her Mary, and a white dentist's negative response to treat her. Angelou came to discover how the difficulties of living in a thoroughly racist society had overwhelmingly created the character of her family members, and she made every effort to overcome them. It can be concluded that this book discussed the issues of racism, which could be an indication of today's society.

While living as an African-American during those times, it seemed as if it was blacks vs. society. The significance of Joe Louis's world championship boxing match to the black community uncovered the deficiency of publicly acknowledged African-American heroes. It also revealed the desolated nature of the black community's hope for justification through the athletic accomplishment of one man. These unreasonable social actualities restricted and demeaned Angelou and her relatives. Therefore, Angelou created a horrible but realistic picture of racism over sixty….....

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