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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is told in the past tense. About the Title The title, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, comes from the last line of the poem "Sympathy" by African American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. The caged bird in the poem beats its wings against its cage bars and pleas to be set free from imprisonment. Diagrams

What is the main point of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?

Angelou uses the metaphor of a bird struggling to escape its cage, described in Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem, as a prominent symbol throughout her series of autobiographies. Like elements within a prison narrative, the caged bird represents Angelou's confinement resulting from racism and oppression.

What is the conclusion of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?

The conclusion of the poem is that the caged bird will sing song nevertheless. The songs will be full of fear and tremble but there will be songs. The tune of his songs will be heard in distant hills and one day it will be liberated.Feb 9, 2020

What is the message of the caged bird sings?

The message of the poem is that the world of a caged bird and a free bird is very different. The lack of freedom changes the way one sees everything so the message is to remove all constraints so that one can cherish life as it is and the beauty of this world in complete freedom.Feb 9, 2020

What is ironic about the caged bird?

When things don't work out the way you expect, it is called irony. In Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the author uses verbal, situational, and dramatic irony to describe her childhood experiences with racism and abuse.

Why Maya Angelou wrote Caged Bird?

After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou was inspired by a meeting with writer James Baldwin and cartoonist Jules Feiffer to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as a way of dealing with the death of her friend and to draw attention to her own personal struggles with racism.Mar 31, 2022

Brief Plot Summary

Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe explains the plot summary of Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Summary

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings opens in 1931 as three-year-old Marguerite Johnson (nicknamed Maya) and her four-year-old brother, Bailey, arrive in the small country town of Stamps, Arkansas. Their recently divorced parents put the siblings on a train in California and sent them to live with their grandmother, Momma Henderson.

Chapter 25

Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Chapter 25 of Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Summary

Momma tells Maya and Bailey that she's taking them to California because they're growing up, and they need to be with their parents. Maya suspects the real reason has to do with Bailey.

Analysis

Momma wisely understands that Bailey 's lively intelligence and questioning nature will make it impossible for him to get along in the South in the way she has—by avoiding confrontation. He can't understand why whites hate African Americans.

Chapter 33

Course Hero Literature Instructor Russell Jaffe provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Chapter 33 of Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Summary

Maya feels more grown-up when she returns to San Francisco, and Bailey has changed, too. His new friends are "slick street boys," and he's grown apart from Maya, which is painful to her. One thing she and Bailey still enjoy sharing is a love of dancing.

Analysis

It seems that while Maya has been finding herself and developing a sense of self-worth, Bailey has been floundering. The reason may be, as Maya suggests, his obsession with Mother and with gaining her approval, or it may be the normal adolescent desire to break away from parental control.