I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Analysis

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by: Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was written in 1969 by the renowned poet, Maya Angelou. Although a poet, Maya Angelou wrote this novel not as a poem, but as an autobiography. In the autobiography, there are many ways that the two children, Maya and Bailey, feel emotional exile in their lives. The children are abused through the constant racism and comparing themselves to whites, their inner struggles, and the unexplainable pain that comes with being sexually assaulted. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is autobiography that recounts the real life struggles that Maya Angelou and her brother were forced to go through as black teenagers in a hateful and unforgiving society. One of the main reasons that Maya and Bailey were faced with such inner conflict was the continual comparison of black people to white people that the two encountered in their everyday life. For example, society had taught Maya that only blond hair was beautiful, causing the young girl to internalize the idea that her hair was ugly. One may think that hair is not a big deal and may even think that Maya was being overdramatic about the topic, but what one fails to realize is that black women were told that their beautiful curls were unattractive and disgusting, thus creating a false image of “true beauty” and putting unhealthy beauty standards in the minds of young, impressionable black children. Another example of what Maya went through was the segregation