I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
by Maya Angelou
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Book Reviews of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Book Review: Race, gender, childhood ...but mostly HOPE
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one beautiful memoir, standing tall above the multitudes which dwell on self-pity or obsessive self-interest. Angelou tells of her life in such a lyrical, affirming way that she speaks to the potential humanity in everybody. Her survival, despite tough challenges, is really about the survival of anybody who has had an inner self yearning to cry out, "I matter!"This book is about feeling and healing the emotional wounds of racism, to be sure. But it is also about transcending that pain, drawing from it deeper levels of meaning about being truly human and truly alive. Or, as Angelou recalls her mother saying abuot the perversity of life, "in the struggle lies the joy."
One enjoyable feature of this book is that many of the chapters "stand alone" as self-contained stories in their own right. There is a recollection of a night listening to Joe Louis squaring off with a white contender, with blacks feeling the hopes of their people alternatively sinking and rising with punches taken and punches delivered. In another chapter, Angelou vividly outlines a child's on-target perception of a religious revival as nothing more than a vehicle for adult retribution fantasies. Sometimes, chapters focus on simple yet eternal truths, like the one which tells of the insidioius pull which a ghost story can have on a child's imagination. Even so, the sum is greater than the total of the parts, as each recollection somehow moves the ongoing journey of self-discovery along.
Angelou also abounds with delightful metaphors, introducing such expressions as "harmony packed tight as sardines," and giggles that "hung in the air like melting clouds." Anyone who simply enjoys the creative ways in which words can take us back to the unvarnished center of human experience will find much to admire here.
Having read this first installment of a multi-part autobiography, the reader will look forward to reading the subsequent works. Angelou is telling her story in the best way possible -- how she liberated that part of her self that speaks and breathes and lives for ALL of us. What a great poet she is! May her words continue to inspire and affirm for a long, long time.
Book Review: Book Review
Summary: 4 Stars
In the book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", I really liked how Maya was able to trust in other people again after having some emotional problems with being raped at age 8. She began to trust Daddy Clidal who was really the only fatherly figure in her life at the time. I thought it was kind of him to take Maya to Mexico with him. When they came home I found it heartbreaking when she was stabbed by Dolores. It made me sad because it reminded her of when she was 8 years old and how she really can't trust people. I don't like Dolores at all because she doesn't seem to be a very understanding person.
When Maya runs away after being stabbed I thought it was remarkable that she stayed with other runaways. It amazed me how running away and being on her own with other runways gave her self-confidence and a sense of belonging. I was very impressed with Maya that she had the courage to come back home after running away. I think that Maya changed for the better. She is very mature and no longer lets people intimidate her, which is great. I think she has developed a better outlook on her family members.
I think Maya has grown a lot as a person and you can tell by her actions. In the book I felt proud of Maya when she became the first black female to ever be hired as a street car conductor. When Vivian told Maya that she should quit school and Maya still decided that she wanted to go, I thought that was very wise of her. Most kids would have dropped out especially when given the option or told to do so.
In my mind it was sad when Maya had to prove her sexuality and ended up getting pregnant. It was very brave of her to stay in school while being pregnant and to graduate. I was so delighted when Maya gave birth to a baby boy because that was really the best thing for her.
In conclusion, if you enjoy reading books about people's past and their problems then this is the book for you. I suggest reading it when you're down because it will show you that there are other people out there who have problems and it may make you feel fortunate for what you have.
Book Review: What I Think About Why The Caged Bird Sings
Summary: 4 Stars
In the book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, is a wonderful book. It is an autobiography and if you like learning about people this is a lady you should read about. I am a type of person that hates to read and I really enjoyed this book. This autobiography is about a little girl growing up in Arizona with her grandmother, brother, and uncle. Their parents have separated, and this is why they are living with their grandmother at the age of three and four. The book has great scenes such as Maya being able to go meet a popular lady of the town. It also has sad scenes such as when their father showed up to take them to see their mother that they have not seen since there parents separated. That is exciting for them they thought but there mothers boyfriend that they liked so much ended up sexually abusing her. Her mother didn't believe anything she said because she finally found a man that she liked since there father. Finally her mother believes her and then got to read for the rest of that part. The scene is a country town poor black family that owned a little store and had very hard times. There grandmother they called mama is very strong and made them good to school and to do all the right thing. I read this book when I was in the eleventh grade and I enjoyed it so much I loved it so much if anyone asked me should they read it I would say yea I loved it that much usually I would be like I didn't like that book. If you like to read I think you would enjoy this book. After finding out she was abused I was like why would someone do that it bad why would you even think about doing that to someone. But to find out Maya had a good life after all that happened and to turn into a good women and writer and to not give up and not think she is someone that inspires me because I know people that it has just messed up there whole life. If you think you would like to read about a country girl growing up this is the book to read I hope you like it as much as I did. Again the name is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou.Book Review: Intersectionality as described by Maya Angelou
Summary: 4 Stars
In her autobiographical novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou recounts her life story as a young, keenly intelligent but insecure black girl in the South during the 1930s and California during the 1940s. The book conveys the difficulties associated with the mixture of racial and gender discrimination endured by a southern black girl, though, and this is perhaps the most fundamental theme explored in her autobiography. The intersectionality of race and gender is a pivotal thread of Angelou's theme, where more than one type of subjugation results in a multiple burden for the victim. Overall, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a powerful, stirring account of the intersectionality of race and gender regarding black women. Though segregation had been officially declared null and void, many of the Southern states were steeped in racist tendencies that further multiplied the gender inequality that exposed black women to a multi-faceted oppression. Peiss, Hine, Terborg-Penn, Bederman, et. al. all examine threads of this intersectionality, and in discussing these threads, one can draw a distinct comparison between anti-black, anti-black women sentiment and Angelou's personal experiences. As a girl, Angelou believed her gender to be a limiting factor. She considered herself to be unheroic, and incapable of achieving spectacular feats like the boys in her comic books. In the narrative, being female for Angelou is just as trying as being black, and she struggled with the double burden, rather than embracing it. However, as more and more black women slowly overcame their troubles as a result of the overwhelming intersectionality of the time, so did Angelou. The novel ended with hope because she bucks the stereotype to become the first black female streetcar conductor. Angelou's spike in confidence and belief in her ability reflects the gradual evolution of black women's race and gender after decades of imprisonment, and foreshadows a future of activism, struggle for respect and eventual victory in those regards.Book Review: An Inspirational and Uplifting Story
Summary: 5 Stars
I would recommend this book to anybody because it's a really inspirational and uplifting book. Maya Angelou is an excellent author who has overcame many tough obstacles in her lifetime, which we read about in this book. After reading some of Maya Angelou's rough experiences she went through in her life, you would probably have to say wow! I used to think that autobiographies were boring, but now, this book is my favorite. A movie version of this book could not compare because Maya Angelou's choice of words lets the reader visualize the setting, feel what she's feeling and the intensity, shock, sadness at certain points are really incredible. If you're going through a tough time in your life, feel weak or helpless, reading this book will get you up and running again. It's somewhat refreshing in a sense that after you finish reading it, you feel like you can conquer anything life throws your way. You feel invincible, like nothing can possibly break you. You'll feel like you can bounce back from anything depressing almost immediately. You start to feel your strength, confidence, and sense of self come back to you. Maya Angelou is an author that once you pick up her book, you won't be able to put it down. I found myself staying up at all hours of the night reading this book because I had to see what happened next. I was first introduced to this book in an English class of mine. We read an excerpt and I, along with the rest of the class had questions and wanted to read more, so I knew I wouldn't be satisfied with only reading the excerpt, and went to buy the book. I was hooked after only reading the first chapter. Not only the story, but Maya Angelou's style of writing gets you hooked. She'll reminisce a certain experience, and put fourth her thoughts and opinions now that she's wiser and more knowledgeable. This is a really interesting and inspiring book that I'm very glad I read because of a moral that it has. It basically says, to me, I can do and overcome any obstacle in my life.