“I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” By: Maya Angelou When I started reading I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, I thought that it was a little boring at first but I thought that it was about a young African-American girl who tells her troubles in life as she grows up. I changed my mind about my thoughts on this book because I started reading it more I began to like it better and I was more into the book. My favorite part of the book was when Maya started to open up to the world again and began by doing so by talking to Mrs.
Bertha Flowers. I was confused by why Margaret and Bailey were sent back to stamps after the incident, with Marguerite being raped, with Mr. Freeman. Because if their parents loved them and could now afford to support them why couldn’t they now stay with them? I was surprised when Mr.
Freeman had began to sexually abuse and rape Maya because I didn’t think that he would do such a thing to his girlfriends daughter, and who would have thought that he’d be such a cruel person to do that to a young helpless girl that didn’t know right from wrong at the time. I predict that Maya will finally fully overcome her rape and live a better life. I liked the way the writer put a lot of emotions into her writing because it tells a lot about the character and how the character feels. I didn’t like that Marguerite and Bailey were sent to Momma’s because their parents couldn’t take care of them because children should feel loved and wanted by their parents and a real family should stick together through thick and thin no matter what.
If I wrote this book I would change the way that Bailey became distant from Maya because they had such a special bond, and a bond like that between brother and sister shouldn’t have deteriorated like that. This book reminded me of a scared and lonely, helpless child who was raped by someone she trusted and didn’t know that it was wrong at the time. I would like to read another book by this writer because she deals with many things that our true and real in our society. I would recommend this book to a friend because it’s a good book to read to understand what rape can do to a young child both emotionally and physically, which doesn’t just happen to young children but to teenagers and adults also.
This book made me feel sorry for Maya for the hardships she went through going up especially being raped and not knowing what to do about it at all. This book made me think a lot about racism, sexual abuse and rape of a young girl, and the strong beliefs in Christianity in African-American life. This book made me realize that rape has a major effect on a young girl and it then leads the person into a different life then they would have. Also, that racism was a lot different and harder to deal with then.
While I was reading I pictured a young African-American girl who was raped and decided to shut the world out of her life but to later grow and let the world back in her life and start to be happy again. The most important thing about this book is that it tells about how rape to a young child can affect their life. I’d like to tell the writer that she did a very good job in writing this book and that I admire her for writing about her life and the hardships she’s gone through. I’d like to ask the writer what happened to her and her son later on in life.
And did it help a lot more to tell your story to others and get your feelings out about your hardships. If I were Momma, I wouldn’t have let Maya go back to visit her mother because I would have been a little scared that the same incident as last time would have happened, even though Mr. Freeman is dead I would still be worried. Also, I would have shown Marguerite and Bailey some more affection towards them.
What happened in this book was very realistic because many children are sexually abused and raped in this day in age and racism is still going on today. My least favorite character was Mr. Freeman because he sexual abused and raped young Marguerite, when she didn’t know that he was doing something very wrong to her at the time. I admire Momma for taking care of Marguerite and Bailey when no one else would.
One thing I’ve noticed about the author’s style is that she expresses what the characters are feeling and how they try to deal with certain situations. If I could be any character in this book, I would be Momma because she took care of Marguerite and Bailey when no one else could or would and she was always there for people when they needed her. I agree with the writer about how racism is an ongoing problem in the world and people should just accept it and deal with it respectively and that rape and sexual abuse are also major factors today that can be very hard to deal with especially if it’s a young victim. I think the title is a good choice for this book because it seems that she’s telling us that she knows why rape and racism are problems today because she herself had to deal with them in the past.
A better title for this book would be “My life of love, trials, and tribulations: A story by Maya Angelou” because this book was an autobiography of Maya Angelou and the hardships that she went through as a child, teenager, and adult and the love that was shared throughout her life. I would change the ending to tell what happened later on in life to Maya and her son. In my opinion, the most important paragraph in this book is ” My race groaned. It was our people falling.
It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging from a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped. A Black boy whipped and maimed. It was hounds on the trail of a man running through slimy swamps.
It was a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful.” This is an important paragraph because just one fight between a black man and a whit man is the basis of the African-American’s hope of freedom. Momma reminds me of myself because like her I’m always or mostly there for people when they need me. Annie Henderson “Momma” reminds me of somebody I know because its reminds me of my grandmother who at a young age, her and her brothers and sisters, were sent to a orphanage after her mother died and her father could not take care of them anymore.
And, when she was old enough to leave the orphanage she then got a job and supported her younger sister and older brothers and her father. And to this day she is a very supportive and loving person. If I could talk to Maya, I would say that I think she’s a very brave person, whom I admire, to deal with her rape and also dealing with racism. When I finished this book, I still wondered what happened to her and her son later on in life.
Did she ever find happiness and get married? This book was similar to other books by this writer because it had to do with similar things that go on in our society. I think the main thing the writer was trying to say is that rape is a very hard thing for a young child to deal with and they need to feel loved and wanted and not that they feel dirty to you. Also, that racism was hard on our society then and it still is sometimes today.
