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Summary: Daena A.k.A *Dae*Dae* Truman high school
Review: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was a very interesting book. It allows you to understand the events and things that African Americans had to go through in the South. Also, it was basically an autobiography of Maya Angelou's life. The book takes you through twists and turns that Maya went through. It allows you to see how Maya went from being a child to being a strong black woman. It explains anything you might have wanted to know about Maya Angelou. It seems as if the book brings to life the events that occurred. It makes you feel as if you were right there next to Maya. I would recommend this to book to anyone who likes to read and is trying to find themselves.
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Summary: A Good book
Review: " I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"is an autobiography of Mya Angelou. She speaks of her life, going through trials and heartaches. A major theme in this novel is racism. During Maya's childhood, she is looked upon as a lower class,black girl. She feels that blacks should stand up to the whites and shows this feeling in many ways. I would recommend this book to any generation. I think anyone can relate to it and be affected by it in some way.
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Summary: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Review: Two African American siblings, Marguerite and Bailey Johnson, were sent after birth to be raised in Stamps, Arkansas with their grandmother (Momma) and Uncle Willie. Growing up, they seldom heard from their parents and continued their everyday routines of helping with Momma's store, going to school, attending church, meeting new friends, and dealing with the discrimination that constantly haunted their race. Angelou writes, "People in Stamps used to say that the whites in our town were so prejudice that a Negro couldn't buy a vanilla ice cream". Times were starting to get harder in Stamps with the harassment from the whites and discrimination extending to the point where the dentist wouldn't even help Marguerite's cavities. This prompted Momma's decision to send Bailey and Marguerite to try living with their parents who were now willing to take care of them and who lived in a safer area. Because of their mother and father's separation they stayed with their mother in St. Louis, only to return home shortly after, when Marguerite was raped by Mr. Freeman, mother's boyfriend. Time was all that was needed and eventually, the children were back living with their mother who was now living in California, like their father. Moving there brought good and bad into Bailey and Marguerite's life. Their mother was very supportive, and the city life was astonishing. However, Marguerite dealt with being only one of three African Americans in her school, she ran into trouble trying to find a job as a streetcar driver, and Bailey began drifting away from her. On her visit to see her father and his girlfriend she witnessed her drunken father at a party in Mexico and his girlfriend attacked Marguerite out of jealousy, leading Marguerite to run away. Settling down in this new environment of the city life was no piece of cake compared to the peaceful country landscape of Stamps. Through the many struggles of life, more changes laid ahead for Marguerite and Bailey. Marguerite became pregnant (a baby to call her own is just what she wanted), and Bailey decided what he needed was to start a life of his own. Marguerite and Bailey Johnson had grown up.
Maya Angelou had a creative way of telling a childhood story. She writes, "And my seven year old world humpty dumptied never to be put back together again". The reader can get a strong understanding for what it was like for an African American in those times and dealing with the discrimination. At times it felt like you were right there guiding Marguerite through her struggles, with the use of descriptive vocabulary and dialogue. Angelou's remembrance of her past is remarkable and she walks her readers through every enjoyable, heartwarming, and sad clip of her young life. She expresses her own opinions and feelings throughout the book giving its readers a clearer picture. All in all, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was well written and inspirational.
Along with these exceptional traits, there are a few weaknesses of Angelou's memoir. There was no specific plot to the novel and no particular theme either. The theme is whatever you interpret it to be. The flow of the book is quite fast paced with choppy transitions. Because the book is constantly changing scenarios, the stories lack precise details that could enhance the components of the book much more; therefore, a clearer focus on Maya Angelou's pieces of her childhood would be more beneficial.
Although I was intimidated at first by this memoir because my first thought was that it was going to be too boring, after the first few chapters I realized I was looking forward to reading the next! No doubt, this book does keep you interested with its many varieties of stories that take you on an emotional ride between happiness and sadness. I would particularly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a book that isn't dragged out, likes to read challenging terms and vocabulary, and reading about the overall ups and downs of an African American struggling to find a place in society. Maya Angelou is by far, an extraordinary writer and her life is one that is never to be forgotten!
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Summary: Naming
Review: This novel has many major themes. A major theme that i felt intreeved by was naming. Maya felt strong about that. There were many occasions in which the whites, who represented the rich and prosperous, felt they had the right to change the names of the "blacks". Maya felt that was stealing her identity and it is.
I would recommend this novel to anyone, but one special group that i feel this novel would do really good for are the young adults. Maya suffers through many experiences we can actually learn from.
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Summary: Truman H.S. student
Review: This book emphazises racism and segregation throughtout. There are some whites that live among blacks, but their lives are very different in Stamps and there is not a mutual respect between them. Although Maya was raised in a strict household, she is from a different generation that could not help but be bothered by this. Her telling the readers of her learning process is what makes "I Know Why the Changed Bird Sings" a great book.
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Summary: Looking deep within the meaning
Review: I know why the caged bird sings is a remarkable peice of a literary work. It displays many themes and meanings behind the title. Some themes are displacement, Identification, and Abandonment. This book shows the struggles of segregation and the reactions of the people of many generations and how they differ in their thoughts and actions. Maya's silence is the key theme that puts the book's true purpose and the Title together. I recommend this book because it was really heartwarming and gave the most interest to me.
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Summary: The caged birds sing of freedom...
Review: I had always been somewhat resistant when faced with the prospect of reading Maya Angelou's 'I know why the caged birds sing'. Perhaps it is the fact that it graces so many high school reading lists, and I remember the sense of dread of having to cram in a somewhat dull-ish book in a hour or two before an exam.But within a week and a half of reading this, I devoured the rest of her autobiographies with a mixture of such fascination and revulsion. Revulsion at the inhumanity, but taken by the beauty of Angelou's own humanity when dealing with those who oppress. The shear force of her womanhood is startling. In some little way, I would go as far to say that this book has altered me, as I imagine it has altered many who have spent an evening curled up, turning page after perfect page. Perhaps I feel more, I empathise a little more, perhaps I understand the process of self-acceptance a little better. Writing in itself is such a introverted period of self examination, and yet oddly, this book has the subtle power to suggest that the reader examine themselves. It really is that brilliant, and certainly one i could have devoured at least a day before the exam.
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Summary: much to be learned:
Review: This book offers much to be learned from the words written inside. Ms. Angelou tells the truth, does so eloquently and courageously. The book is a gift from her hands to ours. I am a child of abuse, and this book has helped me in so many ways...I could not help but to cry. I will read it over and over again, just in case I missed a thread of what she is telling me.
I rank this book as a 5+ it rates right up there with books such as Nightmares Echo and Beauty For Ashes.
Beautiful!
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Summary: Poetry from the heart
Review: I've read three books recently that I found absolutely fascinating: The Secret Life of Bees, Bark of the Dogwood, and I know why the Caged Bird Sings. As far as the best, it was a toss up between "I Know" and "Dogwood." Both are well written pieces of literature with wonderful characters and an entertaining story to tell. Make no mistake, "Caged Bird" is not easy reading--it's not some pulp fiction piece. This is a real book, full of poetry, ideas, and great writing. You do have to put some work into it to get something out. But in the end you will be rewarded. Also recommended: Bark of the Dogwood, Secret Life of Bees
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Summary: I know why the caged bird sings
Review: "I know why the caged bird sings" I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou was a great book. This book told us about her life and how tough it was as a young African American girl growing up in the 50's and 60's. She was molested and raped, and put in other situations that she didn't want to be in, this book is just informing us that we will sooner or later be put in a position like she was. She lived in a world that ostracized her because she was black, everyday African Americans are put in that position, all she's telling you is how to handle it. I believe that every child, adult, and elderly person should read this book and I'm telling you, you will like it. I know why the caged bird sings was one of the most touching novels that I have ever read. I had to read I this book for my first year of high school but if I knew it was this excellent I would've read it much earlier. I know why the caged bird sings is an intellectual and very magnificence novel, I would read it again and again until I know it by heart. If you didn't read this book you should, I would again. I admire Maya Angelou as a speaker and a poet; she's an artist not just to me but many others. I read all of Maya Angelou's poetry and I have read most of her novels and have loved all of them.
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