I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

[Lil Missy]

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

is a 1969 autobiography about the early years of writer and activist Maya Angelou; it is the first in a six-volume series. The author uses her coming-of-age story to illustrate the ways in which racism and trauma can be overcome by a strong character and a love of literature. 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.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 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. Angelou uses the younger version of herself to illustrate themes such as identity, rape, racism, and literacy, and Maya has been called "a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America".<1> In the course of Caged Bird, Maya goes from being a victim of racism and having an inferiority complex, to someone who knows who she is and who is able to respond to racism with dignity. Angelou's depiction of rape is controversial, and although brief compared to the rest of the book, it overwhelms the text.

The book's title is taken from a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Angelou uses the metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage as a central image throughout the book, which consists of "a sequence of lessons about resisting racist oppression".<2> Angelou also shows the power of words and how literature helped her survive.

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. However, the book's graphic depiction of childhood rape, racism, and sexuality have resulted in it being challenged or banned in many libraries and by many parent groups.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_Why_the_Caged_Bird_Sings

[HopeFor2006]

1. That is an extraordinary book...

Time to take it off the shelf and brush it off.

[Lil Missy]

6. Extraordinary indeed. I especially love her analogy with a caged bird.

You can lock 'em up, mistreat them, and refuse to give them any voice. But they still have wings, and they don't fall off. It's sort of a spiritual thing with me.

[CountAllVotes]

2. Required reading in college

this was in 1976 however. It should still be required reading IMO.

A fine book by an even finer writer!

:kick:

[Lil Missy]

9. My required reading was

"To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Charlie and Agernon". Oh, and Mark Twain.

Man, I'm getting old.

[CountAllVotes]

10. other required readings

were
Beowulf and also, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey!

This was c. 1970. I'm feeling quite old myself! ;)

[Warpy]

3. I read it as soon as it came out in paperback

and recall it as a very powerful book, as well as a good read.

No wonder the religious wrong want to take it out of all libraries, everywhere.

[Lil Missy]

4. Do religious nutcases STILL seek to ban the book?

I doubt any of them have even read it.

[MrScorpio]

5. Set to music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBMaVhs3WRI

[Lil Missy]

7. Thanks.

[Lil Missy]

8. kick, because she is an important part of the history that took place last Tuesday.

[ensho]

11. yes, I read it then too

thanks for posting