Two part reading response' I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings' by Maya Angelou.

Two-part reading response: ‘I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings’ by Maya Angelou.

In the I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings Maya Angelou tells the story of her life up to the birth of her child. She faces many hardships in her life. She describes her coming of age as a precocious but terrible black girl. Maya has a little brother named Bailey. As children they suffered the most from the divorce of their parents, they struggle with pain of having been abandoned by their parents. She was sent to live with her grandmother ‘Annie Henderson’. This is not the only thing that happened to her she find herself tormented by the belief that she is ugly child. She does not feel equal from white child but also different from black children. Growing up in Stamps she faced with racism. That tormented her during her life. When she went to visit her mother she is raped by her mother’s friend ‘Mr. Freemen’, who later on was murdered probably by someone from Maya’s family member. She faced racism in society and school where she is discriminated by the speaker. When Maya spend the summer in San Francisco with her father, Dolores, daddy’s girlfriend cuts her in a fight. She runs away and fined herself in a junkyard. Living there with some other people she started to have doubt about her development as a woman and she decides to have sex and try to work out a relationship with one of two brothers who live near her home. Some weeks later she fined herself pregnant. No one knows about her pregnancy except her brother who helped her. The book ends with Maya accepting the care and support of the child she loves.

Maya Angelou through her book ‘I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings’ shows her life experience, which is not at all happy. She suffers since her childhood and throughout her life she faced different problems. Since her childhood she struggled with herself, believing she is ugly, as having skinny legs, big feet, and a gap between teeth. It is scared that she grow up confronted with personal incidents of racism, the consequences were tremendous and her mental health was destroyed. In school she was an excellent student but she was offended by the white speaker there. The speaker was expressed that black students are expected to become only athletes or servants. It is unacceptable to face racism for healthy problems. A white dentist insults her by saying that he’d rather place his hands in a dog’s mouth than in hers. This is a trouble to think that even you are ill you are not respected. The only thing that gives Maya courage was her brother and grandmother. Momma was able to discuss with the dentist about his behavior with Maya and she asked him to apologize Maya. Maya was not accepted not only by the society but even from her family. Her mother and father lives with their boyfriend and girlfriend. No one accept to live with Maya, she just visit them sometimes but the in the first time she visit them faced tremendous experiences . Her daddy’s girlfriends ‘Dolores’ was jealous for Maya, she cut her in a fight . When she visits her mother she was raped by Mr. Freemen. When she lived in a junkyard she started believing that she is not developing normally as a woman. From all this experiences she believes that something goes wrong. This opinion leads her to have sex and three weeks later she fined herself pregnant. What makes me feel story about her was their poor relationship as a family. She is not supported by her family. The most wonderful thing here was that a new human being was coming in this world. She really wants him to born and takes care after him. This is the end of the story, she started to feel confident that she will become a better mother than hers.