I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography
about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The
first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates
how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and
trauma. The book begins when three-year-old Maya and her older brother are sent
to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with their grandmother and ends when Maya becomes
a mother at the age of 17. In the course of Caged Bird, Maya transforms from a
victim of racism with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified
young woman capable of responding to prejudice.
Angelou was challenged by her friend, author James Baldwin,
and her editor, Robert Loomis, to write an autobiography that was also a piece
of literature. Because Angelou uses thematic development and other techniques
common to fiction, reviewers often categorize Caged Bird as autobiographical
fiction, but the prevailing critical view characterizes it as an autobiography,
a genre she attempts to critique, change, and expand. The book covers topics
common to autobiographies written by Black American women in the years
following the civil rights movement: a celebration of Black motherhood; a
critique of racism; the importance of family; and the quest for independence,
personal dignity, and self-definition.
Angelou uses her autobiography to explore subjects such as
identity, rape, racism, and literacy. She also writes in new ways about women's
lives in a male-dominated society. Maya, the younger version of Angelou and the
book's central character, has been called "a symbolic character for every
black girl growing up in America". Angelou's description of being raped as
an eight-year-old child overwhelms the book, although it is presented briefly in
the text. Rape is used as a metaphor for the suffering of her race. Another
metaphor that of a bird struggling to escape its cage, is a central image
throughout the work, which consists of "a sequence of lessons about
resisting racist oppression". Angelou's treatment of racism delivers a
thematic unity to the book. Literacy, and seizing the power of words, helps
young Maya cope with her bewildering world; books become her refuge as she
works through her trauma.
Caged Bird was nominated for a National Book Award in 1970
and remained on The New York Times paperback bestseller list for two years. It
has been used in educational settings from high schools to universities, and
the book has been celebrated for creating new literary avenues for the American
memoir. However, the book's graphic depiction of childhood rape, racism, and
sexuality has caused it to be challenged or banned in some schools and
libraries.
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