I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s essay, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, explains her coming-of-age experience when she begins to understand the struggles she faces because of her race. Angelou was a successful writer, winning many awards, as well as being an actress, dancer, and singer. This essay was written as a memoir about her childhood, and it was written to explain to the general public about the difficulties she faced growing up as an African-American child. Additionally, it portrays the epiphany she has when she realizes that it is important to remain kind and strong instead of lashing out in order to defeat evil. Angelou uses the narrative mode of writing for this memoir, and the essay is comprised entirely of multiple personal anecdotes. Angelou also uses rhetorical questions and metaphors throughout the essay. The rhetorical questions help put the reader in Angelou’s mindset and allow Angelou to insert the thoughts she was having during the situations in the essay. For example, Angelou writes, “How long could Momma hold out? What new indignity would they think of to subject her to?” (15). These questions allow the reader to understand Angelou’s thoughts and feelings while the event is taking place, and therefore, create a stronger connection to Angelou.

The metaphors provide more thorough descriptions that place the reader in the story and give the reader a better understanding. For example, Angelou writes, “I burst. A firecracker July-the-Fourth burst” (15). This metaphor describes how angry Angelou was when the girls were disrespectful to Momma, and it helps the reader better understand Angelou’s feelings about their nasty actions. These two rhetorical devices are useful in helping Angelou’s purpose of portraying the struggles of her childhood because they place the reader in the story in Angelou’s shoes, which form stronger connections between Angelou and the reader. The connections that are formed are then used to help the reader better understand and become informed about the struggles Angelou faced growing up as an African-American girl, since the essay is written well after the events in the essay took place and the audience has not lived through similar events themselves.

Maya Angelou as a child.   Source: http://www.eurweb.com/2014/05/author-poet-maya-angelou-dies-in-north-carolina-at-86/

Sources:

http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388#career-beginnings