I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Kate Macrae 814
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the story of Maya Angelo growing up, an African American girl in the Deep South. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a different type of coming age story because Maya is forced to grow up so quickly. She is exposed to racism at a very young age and has to become independent very early.

The first place I noticed how much quicker Maya Angelo had to grow up compared to other kids was when I found out that she does not live with her parents but instead lives with her grandmother and crippled uncle. Her grandmother owns a store which consumes almost all of her time and her uncle works at the store, so Maya and her brother are forced to take care of themselves for the most part.

Another thing that made me realize how much quicker she had to grow up is how much hate and racism she was exposed to at a young age. On page 45 Maya Angelo wrote
“People in Stamps used to say that the whites in our town were so prejudiced that a Negro couldn’t buy vanilla ice cream. Except on July Fourth. Other days he had to be satisfied with chocolate.”
The fact that at age 7 or 8 she had to buy a different type of ice cream because people told her that she did not have the right to choose for herself. It makes me really sad to think that someone could be hated so much by people she did not even know when they did not even know her.

The last place I noticed how Maya has to grow up faster then other kids was when I realized that unlike many kids she had to learn the concept of money and become responsible very fast because even though her grandmother owned a store they were not rich. A passage that shows just how much she wanted things but could not have them is about something as simple as canned pineapple.
“Although the syrupy golden rings in their exotic cans sat on our shelves year round, we only tasted them during Christmas. I’d like to think that my desire for pineapples was so scared that I wouldn’t allow myself to steal a can and eat it alone in the garden, but I’m certain that I must have weighed the possibility of the scent exposing me and didn’t have the nerve to attempt it.”
Passages like this show just how responsible she was at 8 years old.

So far I have enjoyed this book very much and hope it continues to be as good as it is know. Though it is an unusual coming of age story it is a great piece of writing and you can really feel Maya Angelo’s voice coming through it.