Name: I Know why the Caged Bird Sings
Rating: 4.221751412429379 (354 reviews)
ISBN: 9780553279375

Maya Angelou

A black woman recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums.

I Know why the Caged Bird Sings

Dreya

Dillon Gonzalez

“What sets one Southern town apart from another, or from a Northern town or hamlet, or city high-rise? The answer must be the experience shared between the unknowing majority (it) and the knowing minority (you)”

clara

Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with the shades of deeper meaning.

"I was falling" "I was falling in the sky." I liked her for being able to fall in the sky and admit it.

and after being a woman for three years I was about to become a girl.

‘’To be let alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal indecision.’’

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

ikkychan

Just finished reading "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. This is one of the most remarkable book i've read this year. During the 1930's and 40's America, before the Civil Right Movement, the life hasn't been really kind to Black people. Though the slavery has already ended, it doesn't mean the years after that generates a generous result for the living quality of American Black, and more so for their brothers and sisters in the South. Racism and segregation were still running rampant throughout the country, what with news of black people being lynched and hang to death on a tree for allegedly doing something they shouldn't do circulated daily; designated to live in concentrated living quarters like harlem and other poor area of the country; given no chance to have better job other than servant, farmer, and cotton picker; the list of injustice and unfair treatment just goes on and on like a railroad tracks it makes you think, well isn't life just kick-you-in-the-crotch-spit-on-your-neck fantastic? We see all of these grim recollections through the eyes of Marguerite Ann Johnson (or as those who are dear to her call her, Maya) as a young child of three, fresh from the train, shipped together with her brother, Bailey Jr. Johnson, by their divorced parents to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson (or like she called her, Momma) in Stamps, Arkansas. At a very young age, Maya learns the internalized effect of racism and segregation in her community by the whites, as she exposed herself to derision for disappointed hopes. Despite the possibility to talk about this book in 500-page academic journal, I could only discuss the few parts of the stories that stuck with me, those that i keep mulling over long after i turned the last page. First thing I noticed, through Maya's precocious observation, is how sheltered and separated the black community is from the rest of civilizations. When she mentioned the fact that even the effect of The Great Depression hasn't reach Stamps, not until after several years passed. I can't help but wonder how hard life actually was in Stamps, if the neighborhood felt that the Depression did nothing but change their every day situation from the 'already the worst' to just 'a tiny bit worse than worst'? Also, Maya said that because of how thoroughly segregated Stamps was, it's possible that some of the blacks have not seen any white person, not once in their entire life since they are separated as remotely as it is from white community (even so far as saying as a child she believed they were a mere myth), as though the whites didn't want anything to do with the blacks, even if they live in the same region. This sense of estrangement does nothing but encourage the already debilitating displacement Maya suffered throughout her life. Spending the majority of her childhood and teenage years shuffling from one household to the other (even spent some time as a homeless, sleeping night after night inside a junk car), like many other children experienced at that time due to demographical economy change between the North and South, Maya finds it hard to define her sense of self and belonging. The need for connection, any kind of connection, makes her susceptible to Mr. Freeman's---her Mother's ex husband---sexual advances which leads to the rape that traumatize her for a long time. The disposition shown clearly at the time Maya tried to recite a poem on Easter, the line "I didn't come to stay" reflected how desperate she was, with a mind as young as she had, to make sense of the cold reality of her own rootlessness. It draws a parallel to the social alienation of the black community as a whole. Descended from slaves who were kidnapped and forced to part with their homeland in Africa, black people still continue to fight for their place in a country which deprave them of their independency. Growing up in the South, Maya confronts the internalized racism from early childhood. She witnessed how the white society determined to demean her identity and sense of value; like how her proud moment of eight-grade graduation amounted to nothing when a white-speaker claimed the insignificance of black education; how a white dentist said that it was better for him to stick his hand on a dog rather than treating her, a black child, and proceed to refuse her and her grandma at the door; her white employer refused to call her by her name and one-sidedly decided to call her 'Mary' because her name was 'too long to say'. At the same time, she is aware of how these injustice sparks the notion of resistance, not only by her family, but the black community as a whole. The shape of resistance against racism comes in many form throughout the book, each character has his and her own way of dealing with social pressure and confinement. Momma maintains her dignity in the face of mockery by the powhitetrash and keeping her steady faith in church in opposition to the sins of the white, Bailey Sr. speaks with fancy accent and lives extravagantly to assert his dominance from his peer and declares superior masculinity by having numerous affair with women in Mexico to fight against dehumanizing and emasculating racism, the black community use church and righteous condemnation to stand up againts racism and rejoice in the image of retribution as the whites burns in hell for all their sins they committed to the blacks. And Maya herself expresses her strong disapprovement of how her white employer trying to reduce her identity to 'Mary' by shattering the most valuable china in her white employer's house. As she gets older, she continued to strive in the face of the pressure of living in a thoroughly racist society not only as a black person, but more importantly as a black young woman as she stand in a center of 'tripartite crossfire' between racism, sexism and power struggle. Wrestling with sense of failure all her life, she began having her first real winning in life, when she became the first black streetcar conductor in San Fransisco and given birth to a beautiful baby boy at the age of sixteen.

Shahir Saleheen

To write an autobiography in such a poignant, yet inspiring way is something unlike any other autobiography I've ever read. Maya Angelou writes with so much power and conviction in her poems, and I've known her to be one of the greatest poets in modern American history. When I finally had the opportunity to read this novel, an autobiography based on her life living in Stamps, Arkansas, St. Louis, Missouri, among other pivotal places, I was so gripped by the story of her circumstances and the circle of people she lived with and experienced, I ended up reading this book in one sitting. My favorite themes within this novel is Maya's relationship with her family, and her connection with the world around her as someone who was often displaced. With some of the horrors and hardships she experienced over the course of her young life, it was apparent that her family would have a very complex relationship with her, often relating to the experience of trying to survive in the South as a Black American in the 1930s. In many ways, family often contributed to some of the hardships within her life, from the moves across the courtry away from her parents, dealing with the emotions of abandonment with her brother. Despite the discipline her grandmother and uncles gave them, they often were a symbol of protection and stabilty during their time in Stamps, and her relationship with her Grandmother and mother, as well with her teachers that motivated her to pursue literature, contributed to this complex community fabric that built the foundation of Maya Angelou's life. The situations she was forced to deal with growing up were disturbing, reflective on the awful conditions Black women were subjugated to, via the white supremacist patriarchy she was raised in. The women that surrounded her in that time span helped push her to become the best person she could be, and it's a testament to the community of womanhood that exists that often saves lives and protects women in the most direct ways.

Nadine MacDonald

Definitely insightful. However the writing was difficult to follow at times 

Anna Cassmer Ling-Vannérus

Devika M

A BBC Radio 4 Dramatisation

Hit me like a ton of bricks. I was never assigned this in school and didn’t know anything of Angelou’s early life. What a work of art, a memoir that reads like fiction, striking and considered.

skully

I know why the caged bird sings

A classic in American literature, one I first read years ago as a freshman in high school. I remember appreciating it then, but thinking it was a bit boring (a 14-year-old's opinion, on a book being taught in high school English class). Re-reading gave me a much better appreciation of it, and of Angelou as a writer. 

The story meanders a bit, but ultimately heads us in a single direction. And during that meandering Angelou shows us what an exceptional writer she is and her ability to write different styles of story. (One of the chapters is basically a ghost story.)

As I got towards the end of the book, I began to see what 14-year-old me was thinking, in that it slows down a bit, and it took me a while to get through the last 100 pages. But overall a really good book by an American icon.

rumbledethumps

A classic in American literature, one I first read years ago as a freshman in high school. I remember appreciating it then, but thinking it was a bit boring (a 14-year-old's opinion, on a book being taught in high school English class). Re-reading gave me a much better appreciation of it, and of Angelou as a writer. 

The story meanders a bit, but ultimately heads us in a single direction. And during that meandering Angelou shows us what an exceptional writer she is and her ability to write different styles of story. (One of the chapters is basically a ghost story.)

As I got towards the end of the book, I began to see what 14-year-old me was thinking, in that it slows down a bit, and it took me a while to get through the last 100 pages. But overall a really good book by an American icon.

I understand the importance of this book, but it just wasn't for me and I was getting through it so long

Nikola

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.

Jimmy Cerone

Wow...

I’ve never come across writing as descriptive and original as this. It’s been years since I have read a biography that’s a page turner. Angelou is a gift.

I really enjoy this book and I am glad I got to listen to Maya as she read about her story. 

Truly heartbreaking at some points listening to the life she lived. Honestly speechless that this is how some humans still treat others. All I think about how this wasn’t that long ago and how relevant these stories are today. 

🌞Laur🌞

I really enjoy this book and I am glad I got to listen to Maya as she read about her story. 

Truly heartbreaking at some points listening to the life she lived. Honestly speechless that this is how some humans still treat others. All I think about how this wasn’t that long ago and how relevant these stories are today. 

This book provides a unique insight not only into Maya as a person, but a unique look into life as a southern black woman in the midst of some of the biggest racial upheavals in our nation’s history. Riveting and beautiful are understatements!

Heart-wrenching, beautiful, and inspiring. Great on paper and as an audiobook.

Genevieve Hayes

felicity yoon

** spoiler alert **
           I don't normally read autobiography book because most of the book gives only facts, life events and I don't like the monotonous tone. But in this book, Angelou's unwavering tone and her descriptiveness capture the reader and making you understand what it is like to be a black girl in 1970.

 (descriptive)
 -  "In cotton-picking time the late afternoons revealed the harshness of Black Southern life, which in the early morning had been softened by nature's blessing of grogginess, forgetfulness and the soft lamplight."
- "My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on 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."

Throughout her life, Angelou had dealt with child rapist, violence, abuse and racism. She was only 8 or 9 when she was raped by her stepfather and the man was murder soon later. But she got this victim guilt that she allowed herself to mute and not communicate with other. If she did, she thought that person might also got murdered. 

The life of African American was complicated, tiresome, and full of violence when you think about other people that involved in her life. Also she pointed out the strict and uneducated background of her church community specifically and overall of her race such as her Momma thought saying "by the way' is a sin so that she was beaten harshly by her. The Racism was so complete in Stamps where she spent her childhood compared to San Francisco or in Mexico around that time. 

This book gives me such an inspiration that the girl who had dealt with a lot in her life finds life something to be worth living; her brother (Bailey) her books, and her first born son. You could've end your life and give up with everything but Angelou, even when she doesn't have anything, she wasn't trodden and still find love and bonding. People who have impacted her life include her teacher, Mrs. Flower who help her to try speak up again and another teacher, Miss Kirwin who love teaching and sharing information and treated all the students fairly. I have discovered that in friendship and relationship if you don't have mutual respect and trustworthiness, you should get out of that well immediately. Unlike from any other book that beg you to feel so emotional and pretentious, this book gives the genuine voice coming from Angelou. 

"She comprehend the perversity of life, that in the struggle lies joy."
"Life is going to give you what you just put in it. Put your whole heart in everything you do, and pray and you wait."
"Just as gratefulness was confused in my mind with love, so possession became mixed up with motherhood. I had a baby. He was beautiful and mine."

Isabela H 

I had to read this book for a class on women, gender, and ethnicity, discussing the intersectional discrimination that Maya Angelou faces in her early life. Already knowing that the subject matter was going to be difficult to get through in terms of seeing someone suffer for things about them that they can't change, it was a surprisingly enjoyable read. I appreciated how individual chapters were set up as vignettes of Angelou's life, each allowing the reader to take away from the book what they wanted.

Toyah Blackburn

Jaymie Lemke

While this book was not my favorite, I am glad that I read it. If nothing else, at least it's off my To Read list.

Trever

I feel like it's unfair to rate an autobiography, especially one that focuses so heavily on racism. Luckily I have good things to say about this one. Angelou keeps you emotionally engaged in her past self. It's pretty well-written, but really the best part is that it's pretty intimate and tender. Angelou definitely had struggles in life, and, knowing she overcame them, we can safely read her accounts now.

Mia Kern

It seemed terribly unfair to have a toothache and a headache and have to bear at the same time the heavy burden of Blackness." p. 201 

Having recently primarily limited myself to works of fiction (to which I can thank the reading fatigue from 18 years of school), I'll admit that I struggled with this memoir for a while. I'm glad this book can serve as my entrance into the beautiful world of memoirs. This this book is enlightening and depressing and humorous and monumental. 

Angelou's writing is truly beautiful. On one hand, I do think this is a valuable read for anyone, and could truly be eye-opening for many. On the other, I recognize that I got so much more out of this because I chose to read it myself (or, at least, with my book club) than I would have if it'd been assigned as a school reading.

Melissa Schwartz

Caroline Mao

This was a very beautiful, very slow book in which a great deal of things happen. It's perfect for a slow day, or a night when one's having trouble sleeping.

The only work I've ever read by Maya Angelou before is "Phenomenal Woman." I think I'm going to read a few more, because she crafts her words with such honesty.

Jackelyn

This had been on my reading list for a long while and my company's book club finally brought it to the top. I had a hard time getting through it as I found myself not too fond of her writing style. My only negative feeling was towards the ending. Seemed rather abrupt and cut short.

Content Warnings: Rape, Racism

Alexia

2.5 stars, actually. 
This book just wasn’t what I expected. I found it somewhat boring and the story seemed to lack direction.
Perhaps it just wasn’t for me...

Maxime van der Wal

Kayla 

This has been in my TBR for a while now and I finally got around to reading it last month. .
.
I put it off because I knew that there were some traumatic events Maya Angelou went through and are told in this book. .
.
I really felt like this book was written as though a child was telling the story rather than an adult looking back which was a new experience and honestly made the terrible parts less anxious for me to read. They weren’t as graphic as I had feared and used more child like words and descriptions which did not lesson the terribleness of it but made allowed me to read, understand and continue with the book. .
I have a very hard time reading about things like the events in the book but I’m glad I was able to read this important book. It gave a big insight into 1940s America and I really feel like I gained something from this book. .

I Know why the Caged Bird Sings

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