Maya Angelou Maya Angelou in her two books, “Letter To My Daughter” and “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”, reveals her cultural attitudes and values in order to better society. Maya Angelou intends to motivate young readers and think in more abstract concepts. In "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and “Letter To My Daughter”, Maya Angelou shows us a dark side of American history and how racism and discrimination can affect people, but she also shows us the power of the human spirit in our ability
The book I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou takes readers through significant events in the life of Marguerite. Readers experience her life from age eight to sixteen years old. Maya Angelou expresses her experiences with racism and sexism in a time where there was segregation. The book shows readers the obstacle of being an African American female in a country of racism and sexism. Despite racial and gender issues, Marguerite has accomplished many things in the sixteen years recorded
Born Marguerite Annie Johnson on 4 April 1928 to Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson, Maya Angelou, then three, was sent to live with her grandmother, Annie Henderson. Writing about her growing up years in Stamps, Arkansas in her first autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1971), Angelou describes the helplessness and social disadvantage blacks faced in almost all situations, calling herself and her brother ‘explorers walking without weapons into man-eating animals’ territory.’ She felt that
Maya Angelou uses imagery, repetition, and metaphor. “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou which is the third volume of poetry, published in 1978. During one of the most productive periods in Angelou’s career. The poems themes focus on a hopeful determine to rise above difficulty and discouragement. Angelou’s speaks for her race and gender in many of the poems. This is probably Maya Angelou’s best-known poem, and for good reason. This poem delivers the message of the human strength and ability to overcome
In “When I Lay My Burden Down” by Maya Angelou, Maya is a young girl living in poverty with her grandmother. In addition to living in poverty she must follow two “commandments,” rules that her grandmother has set for her, stay clean and never become imputent. Her grandmother believes that without these rules people become distant from God. Everyone Maya knows respects the rules with the exception of the powhitetrash children, they are always filthy and disrespectful to adults and this causes a deep
Burden Down”, by Maya Angelou portrays a perfect example for Aristotle’s anger-control philosophy. In the story, Maya is a young girl, oblivious to much of the world’s conflicts. She lives in the time of segregation as an African American with her grandmother and many brothers and sisters who respects the family code of hygiene . Living as minorities, her family must withstand harassment from the caucasians, especially from the powhitetrash
“Still I Rise” is a poem by Maya Angelou; an African American poet, educator and civil-rights activist. The poem provides a sarcastic response towards all the negative words or action brought towards women. Angelou uses the poem to metaphorically describe the strength to always survive the battle against people’s criticism of women. This poem delivers the message of strength and ability to overcome hurt, but the main message in this poem deals with the strength to retaliate against discrimination
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou tells the oppression of African Americans by white supremacists through the Social Class lens. The two social classes described in this work are the whites and the blacks. Angelou, being the representative of the oppressed blacks, is mindful of the discrimination. She conveys influential words that will drive history. Maya Angelou is a symbol of the African Americans. “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” (Angelou 40). This line suggests that she is the voice of
I Hear the Song, Too In her heartwarming autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou stresses that those whose lives are confined by the hardships of being “inadequate” in society possess a greater determination and passion in life that are necessary to defy any hindrance in hopes of gaining control over their own life and being unconquerable. Maya Angelou reveals how her determination and passion for life allow her to become the master of her own life by using examples of her hardships
The narrative “Champion of the World,” by Maya Angelou presents us with the portrait of an African-American community living in Arkansas in the 1940s, plagued by segregation with racial boundaries and racial laws. The black community was not only need of a hero to bring them out of oppression, but needed someone to step them in the direction of equality. Joe Louis was that hero to both Angelou and her community. The fight between Joe symbolizes the prolonged racial tension within the community. Joe