The Caged Bird is Free
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Reviewed by Chakka Reeves
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is the narrative of the author's life
from her times in Stamps, Arkansas when she was seven, to her high school
years in San Francisco. Her family wasn't very close, except for her
grandmother, whom she called Momma, her Uncle Willie, and her older brother
Bailey, her best friend. Her relationship with Bailey was a strong one, but when
Maya was raped by her mother's boyfriend(p.60), she didn't tell him, for fear
that Mr. Freeman would kill him. Maya was so young that she didn't understand
why what she did to her was wrong, so she told in her, "I began to feel
lonely for Mr. Freeman and the encasement of his big arms. Before, my world
had been Bailey, food, Momma, the Store, reading books, and Uncle Willie.
Now, for the first time, it involved physical contact" (p. 64).
But her troubles don't end there. Once in San Francisco, old memories of her
and Mr, Freeman come back to her when she has sex, by choice, with one of the
two brothers up the hill from her house. More heart-ache is heaped opon young
Maya when she finds out that she is pregnant, at 16. She made a mistake that
is still made today, she thought that if she "gave it up," he might want to get to
know her.
These are the experiences that molded Maya Angelou into the infuential,
elequent, vivid black woan you and I know today. Although this isn't the first
book I've read by Maya Angelou, this would havve to be my favorite. It isn't
one of those Keep-you-at-the-edge-of-your-seat-books, but it was so well
written so well, that even at neutral times
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