I know why the caged Bird Sings
Maya
Angelou
Maya
Angelou is a great Afro-American writer, whose original name is Marguerite.
This prose is an extract of her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which explores the themes of
economical, racial and sexual oppression. This piece describes her life as a
black girl in Arkansas, the way she comes out of her silence and her
empowerment. As her parents divorced, Marguerite and her brother Bailey lived
with their maternal grandmother’s house with their mother. She was raped by her
mother’s boyfriend at the age of eight. She shared this with her brother and
later that culprit was killed by her uncle. The traumatic incident silenced the
small innocent girl. Maya considered herself especially her speech as
responsible for his death and withdrew herself to silence. This extract tells
the readers how she comes out of the guilty feel and gains her speech after
five years with the influence of her neighbour Mrs. Flowers.
Maya,
the narrator begins this part by stating about the influential person of her
life Mrs. Bertha Flowers, who was the reason to develop Maya’s love for
language and speaking skill. Mrs. Flower is an aristocrat among the black
community. Maya describes Mrs. Flowers’ superior position through her elegant
appearance and dressing style. Maya goes
to the extent of describing Mrs. Flowers smile and simple actions. The
gentleness and care of Mrs. Flowers enabled Maya to understand what a human
being can be. Maya feels attracted by Mrs. Flowers and compares her with the
women characters in English movies who live with individuality. To Maya Mrs.
Flowers looked more beautiful than the white heroines. Maya feels relieved as
Mrs. Flowers does not talk to white people. She believes that the white people
may have superiority complex over the black and due to it they may call Mrs.
Flower as Bertha which may shatter the image of Mrs. Flower. The fact of Mrs. Flower a black enables Maya
to feel proud to be a black. This indicates Mrs. Flowers appeal on the young
narrator.
The
narrator’s grandmother Mrs. Henderson has a strange relationship with Mrs.
Flowers. Her grandmother calls Mrs. Flowers as sister though they both belong
to different churches. Mrs. Flower is an educated upper class lady lives in the
hill side, away from Maya’s locality. She speaks formal English and her
grandmother responds in informal language with grammatical error. Such
communication between them especially her grandmother’s grammatical error irked
the girl and at times she longs for the ground to open and swallow her.
She
narrates a life changing incident that is still fresh in her memory. One day
Mrs. Flowers buys provisions from the grandmother’s shop. When the grandmother
offers someone to carry the luggage, Mrs. Flowers calls Maya to help by stating
that she wants to talk to her. Maya feels excited about this chance and changes
her household dress to a formal one. Mrs. Flowers appreciates the dress and
extends her compliments to the grandmother for stitching. As that is the first
compliment the old lady receives compliment for her work, her excitement makes
her to take off the dress from Maya. Maya feels ashamed of standing half naked
in front of her favourite person. Again she feels like getting sunstroke and
dying than to face Mrs. Flowers.
Later
they both start walking towards Mrs. Flowers’ house. On the way Mrs. Flowers
tells her that she got good feedback about Maya’s writing from school and the
only trouble with Maya is her silence. She advises Maya that language is a
powerful tool for communication and it separates man from the rest of the
livings. Mrs. Flowers asks Maya to read books aloud initially. When they enter
the house the sweet smell of vanilla invited them. Mrs. Flowers says that she
prepared tea cookies for Maya and asks her to eat it. Maya feels overwhelmed
with the thought of her favourite lady preparing something special for her. She
compares the special moment of drinking lemonade and eating cookies with Mrs.
Flowers with having mead (an alcoholic drink of medieval period) with Beowulf.
Beowulf is a famous Anglo-Saxon hero of an epic titled Beowulf. He is
known for his bravery and considered to be a saviour of people. Next Maya
compares the special moment with having a hot cup of tea and milk with Oliver
Twist. Oliver Twist is the protagonist of Charles Dickens’ famous novel Oliver
Twist. Comparing the event of having cookies with Mrs. Flowers with Beowulf
and Oliver Twist tells the importance of the moment in her life as well as her
interest in reading literature.
Mrs.
Flowers reads a poem for Maya and that listening melts her stiffness. Maya says
that it was the best thing that she has done in her life and speaks for the
first time with Mrs. Flowers. Mrs.
Flowers gives her some books to read aloud and some cookies for Bailey, Maya’s
brother. Maya is excited about her visit and returns home happily. Her
grandmother and Bailey wait to receive Maya. Maya imagines the happy expression
of her brother to receive cookies and says ‘by the way’ Mrs. Flowers gave
cookies for Bailey. Something upsets her grandmother and asks Maya to take off
her dress and be ready to get beating. Initially Maya thought it as a joke but
soon realised the seriousness. They three kneel down and pray to god to forgive
her mistakes and she even gets some beating from her grandmother. Now she
understands that she has committed some unforgivable mistake. That day evening
the grandmother tells the reason as Maya has used the word ‘by the way’. The
word way means Jesus and one cannot use god’s name in useless way. Bailey tells
her that the white people, whose god is Jesus as well use the word ‘by the way’
casually in their conversation. Grandmother rejects his argument by stating
that white people use hateful words before god and no need to consider them
seriously. This indicates the Afro-Americans faith in religion.
This
prose piece enables one to understand the socio- economic condition of the
black community in America. Most of them
live in poverty driven condition and have great faith in Christianity though
they are converted one. It also presents the transformation in the life of
Marguerite from silent phase to active phase. The title is apt for her
autobiography as one can understand the Maya Angelou is the caged bird. The
title of the book is taken from her favourite poet Dunbar's poem
"Sympathy". For Angelou, the
image of a caged bird serves as a metaphor for her own life. She compares her
personal struggles including racism, abuse, oppression, and poverty with a
cage. As a caged bird she tries to get the attention of the public regarding
the injustice she and her community faced through her poetry.
Slay
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