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Maya Angelou
Essay

To understand why Maya Angelou is different from other authors is necessary to study
her biography and highlight important data. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St.
Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She is an author, poet, playwright, song wright, historian,
dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. She is one
of the great voices of contemporary literature. Unlike other authors that I have studied, Angelou
uses her experiences in many of his works, especially one with which acquired great popularity,
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, her most popular autobiographical work. She stands out
as one of the first African-American women who were able to publicly discuss her personal life.
In times of racism and discrimination, Angelou succeeds in presenting his work, that being
autobiographical; a black woman is the protagonist.
Angelou has served on two presidential committees, was awarded the Presidential Medal
of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and has received 3 Grammy Awards. Also, she was
the first black woman director in Hollywood. She has been nominated for other awards including
Tony Awards, Emmy Award and earned others such as the Pulitzer Prize. She reached all these
victories after a very difficult childhood. She lived the divorce of her parents, racial and
economic injustices of her time. Angelou was abused at the age of eight years, resulting in an
emotional trauma that kept her partially silent for five years. She managed to escape from these
problems and transform them into strengths that made her the woman she is today. She uses the
power of words to defend their cause, denouncing injustices and so helped others in similar
situations. These merits not only difference her of other authors but make her an example to
follow and learn from.
The relations with other important figures of her times as Martin Luther King Jr.,
President Clinton, and the writer James Baldwin served as inspiration for many of his works. She
organized several benefits for Martin Luther King Jr., and he named her Northern Coordinator of
the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Angelou simultaneously with his career as an
activist kept fighting for the rights of blacks and attached to their religious beliefs. Relating her
writings with the issues of racism and injustice, turning them into other tools to fight for her
ideals. This way of asserting their rights and denounce injustice is to me one of great inspiration.
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Also she read and studied French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and the West African language Fanti.
While in Ghana, she met with Malcolm X, then she returned to America to help him build his
new Organization of African American Unity. All this makes me think we have some talent or
distinctive tool that we can use for our good and that of others. We with our technological
advances without suffering of segregation she lived, we can follow in her steps and increase our
desire for knowledge and learning. It is important to make our voices heard, denounce injustice
and above all demand that they respect us, despite our differences.
When we read her work and know her life, we realize how important it is to fight for
what you want and not be defeated by the injustices that at some point we may live. We can learn
about perseverance, overcoming, self-esteem, commitment, responsibility, the importance of
education and self-love to your fellows. Her life is an example that it is possible to succeed after
negative experiences. She said "Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without
courage, you cannot practice any of the other virtues consistently."
Angelou inspires by the beauty of her words and the energy and passion of her works.
She has also written a number of inspirational works and essay collection. These provide
motivation and education to those who read them and have gone through difficult times. She
continues to travel the world, spreading her legendary wisdom. Within the rhythm of her poetry
and elegance of her prose lies Angelou's unique power to help readers of every orientation span
the lines of race. Personally I want to read and learn more about her work as they are a good
example of overcoming.

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The analysis

Point of view:
The point of view is First person; (autobiographic), Maya Angelou speaks in the first person as
she recounts her childhood. She writes both from a childs point of view, (innocent eye) and
from her perspective as an adult.

Setting:
The setting of the story was Stamps, Arkansas in 1930s. The Mrs. Flowerss house, and the
store Black Stamps.

Characters:
The characters are;
*Maya Angelou, the protagonist, a little black girl in the rural South, that is shy, silent, enjoys
reading.
*Mrs. Henderson - (Momma) Afro-American women, Maya and Baileys grandmother. Momma
raises them for most of their childhood. She owns the only store in the black section of Stamps,
Arkansas. Though she never reacts with emotion, like giggles. For Maya Momma was not that
educated than Mrs. Flowers.
*Mrs. Bertha Flowers - A black aristocrat women living in Stamps, Arkansas. She was slender
and her skin was a rich black. She has thin black lips and small white teeth. One of Mayas
influences, she becomes the first person to prod Maya out of her silence after Mayas rape,
taking an interest in Maya and making her feel special. Maya respects Mrs. Flowers mainly for
encouraging her love of literature. For Maya she was a gentlewoman.
*Bailey - Mayas older brother. The only person she talks for five years after her rape.

Style:
The style is personal, autobiographic narrative, formal and inspirational.

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Conflict:
The conflict in that part of the story is the insecurity, and loneliness silent Maya to live in racial
segregation town. Maya felt like a dirty biscuit and needs to appreciate herself.

Plot:
The plot in that part of the story is;
1. Setting -- Stamps, Arkansas in 1930s. The Mrs. Flowers house and the store Black
Stamps.
2. Raising Action Is when Maya goes with Mrs. Flowers to her house. Is when she said
that began my lesson in living.
3. Climax Is when Mrs. Flowers makes Maya speak Yes, maam. Is the first time
Maya talk to another person that is not her brother. Also Maya think that this was, the
least she can do, but it was the most also.
4. Falling actions Mrs. Flowers give a book of poems to Maya, so she can read and
memorize one for her next visit.
5. Resolution Maya feel happy because she was respect not as a Mrs. Hendersons
grandchild or Baileys sisters but for just being Marguerite Johnson and she thinks that
Mrs. Flowers like her for who she is.

Theme:
The themes are; Maya struggles with insecurity and displacement throughout her
childhood.
The importance and power of words.
Racism and segregation.
The importance to respect all kind of people for whom they are.






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Caged Bird
Poem
The Poem compared with the story.

The Bird Cage poem, Angelou compares the bird that lives in freedom and enjoy the
breeze and flying with the bird in a cage that cannot fly. I think she used the song of the bird as a
cry of protest. The cage symbolizes racism and the cage bars injustice. The sky and the breeze
are freedom and equality. It is as if speaking of black men in the years of slavery, and compares
them with white men free. Birds are the main characters in the poem and I think it symbolize the
white and black races.
In the story, "I Know Why the Cage Bird Signs", his characters are segregated in the
village where they live, because of racism, this would be his cage. They did not have the same
freedoms therefore did not have a sky to fly. Maya, it's like a caged bird, by racism and worse by
their own fears and traumas.
In the story when Maya decides to talk, she starts to feel a little of the freedom the birds
feel out of a cage. I think that when Maya Angelou wrote the two works, she experiment the
freedom of the open world and the restrictive surroundings of the caged bird. I feel that at the
end of two works, Angelou celebrate her survival and that of all African Americans in
oppression.











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Appendix

I. Maya Angelou biography

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew
up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright,
dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. She is best
known for her autobiographical books: Mom & Me & Mom (Random House, 2013); Letter to
My Daughter (2008); All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986); The Heart of a Woman
(1981); Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976); Gather Together in My
Name (1974); and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), which was nominated for the
National Book Award.
Among her volumes of poetry are A Brave and Startling Truth (Random House, 1995); The
Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994); Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey
Now (1993); Now Sheba Sings the Song (1987); I Shall Not Be Moved (1990); Shaker, Why
Don't You Sing? (1983); Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975); and Just Give Me a
Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.In 1959, at
the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,
Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. From 1961 to 1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt,
the only English-language news weekly in the Middle East, and from 1964 to 1966 she was
feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana. She returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was
appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the
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Commission for International Woman of the Year. She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1981
as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On The Pulse of the Morning," at the
inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request. In 2000, she received the National Medal
of Arts, and in 2010 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack
Obama.
The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou has written, produced, directed, and
starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the original screenplay
and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both author and executive producer of
a five-part television miniseries "Three Way Choice." She has also written and produced several
prize-winning documentaries, including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which
she received the Golden Eagle Award. Maya Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for
acting: once for her Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance in
Roots (1977).


II. Quotes of Maya Angelou
"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song."
"Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without courage, you cannot practice
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."
"The caged bird sings with a fearful trill/ of things unknown but longed for still/ and his tune is
heard on the distant hill/ for the caged birds sings of freedom."
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."
"We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated."
All great achievements require time.
Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and
continuing needs, is good for him.
Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it.



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III. Photos of Maya Angelou




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