I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969 autobiographical novel about the early years of author Maya Angelou's life. Written at the end of American Civil Rights movement, the autobiography explores the isolation and loneliness faced by Angelou, and the attributes of her character that helped her cope with the prejudices of society. Quite graphic in nature, the text deals with issues including childhood rape, racism, and sexism, some of which has generated controversy. The book was inspired by the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., who was killed on Angelou's birthday (April 4) in 1968.^[1] Image File history File links IKnowWhy. ... Maya Angelou (IPA: [1]), born Marguerite Ann Johnson, April 4, 1928 in St. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This Side Of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a famous example of an autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel is a novel based on the life of the author. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books. ... Hardcover books A hardcover (or hardback or hardbound) is a book bound with rigid protective covers (typically of cardboard covered with cloth, heavy paper, or sometimes leather). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... ISBN redirects here. ... The year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books. ... This Side Of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, a famous example of an autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel is a novel based on the life of the author. ... Maya Angelou (IPA: [1]), born Marguerite Ann Johnson, April 4, 1928 in St. ... Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom This article is about the civil rights movement following the Brown v. ... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Ethnocracy Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial quota... Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Gay bashing Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial... Assassin and Assassins redirect here. ... Martin Luther King redirects here. ...

The novel is the first in a six-volume autobiographical series, covering her childhood and young adult experiences. Later books in the series include Gather Together in My Name (1974), Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976), The Heart of a Woman (1981), All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), and A Song Flung Up To Heaven (2002). See also: 1973 in literature, other events of 1974, 1975 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1975 in literature, other events of 1976, 1977 in literature, list of years in literature. ... See also: 1980 in literature, other events of 1981, 1982 in literature, list of years in literature. ... The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books. ... See also: 2001 in literature, other events of 2002, 2003 in literature, list of years in literature. ...

Explanation of the book's title

The title of the book comes from the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar: Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was a seminal American poet of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,

When he beats his bars and would be free;

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings -

I know why the caged bird sings. (Stanza 3)

The metaphor of an artist whose creativity is threatened by oppression is a common one in African American literature. The title "encapsulates a representation of the Black writer in society as an artist in danger speaking for his/her people".^[2]

Plot summary

The novel follows Marguerite's (later called My, or Maya, by her brother) young life and the struggles she undergoes in the racist South. Abandoned by their parents at an early age, she and her older brother, Bailey, are sent to live with their paternal grandmother ("Momma") and crippled uncle in Stamps, Arkansas, where her grandmother operates a general store. Many of the problems Marguerite encounters in her childhood stem from the prejudices of her white neighbors who treat her family at the best with cool respect and, at the worst, blatant contempt. Despite the fact that Momma is wealthier, the white children of their town hassle them insolently, one girl even revealing her pubic hair to Momma. Manifestations Slavery Racial profiling Lynching Hate speech Hate crime Genocide (examples) Ethnocide Ethnic cleansing Pogrom Race war Religious persecution Blood libel Paternalism Police brutality Movements Policies Discriminatory Race / Religion / Sex segregation Apartheid Redlining Internment Ethnocracy Anti-discriminatory Emancipation Civil rights Desegregation Integration Equal opportunity Counter-discriminatory Affirmative action Racial quota... Stamps is a city located in Lafayette County, Arkansas. ... Pubic hair is hair in the frontal genital area, the crotch, and sometimes at the top of the inside of the legs; these areas form the pubic region. ...

A turning point in the novel occurs when Marguerite and Bailey's father unexpectedly appears at their home to send them to live with their mother in St. Louis. While there, eight-year old Marguerite is raped by her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, which traumatizes her. Mr. Freeman is later murdered after escaping jail time, which burdens Marguerite with guilt and causes her to withdraw from everyone but her brother. Even after moving back to Stamps, Marguerite remains reclusive and nearly mute until she meets "Black aristocrat" Bertha Flowers, who supplies her with books to encourage her love of reading, and coaxes her out of her shell. “Guilty” redirects here. ...

As Marguerite grows up, she experiences many other instances of racism, including an old white woman who shortens her name to "Mary," hence reducing her name to a more common one; white speakers at a graduation ceremony who disparage the black audience by implying their limited job opportunities, and the white town dentist's refusal to operate on Marguerite's rotting tooth, even when Momma reminds him of a previous loan. Finally, when her brother Bailey is disturbed by the discovery of the corpse of a black man that some white men took pleasure in seeing, Momma decides to move the children to live permanently with their mother in San Francisco, California. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...

Marguerite, now more frequently called "Maya," enters adolescence, but not without awkwardness. She becomes worried that she might be a lesbian (which she equates with being a hermaphrodite), and initiates sexual intercourse with a teenage boy she knows only vaguely to dispel this fear. She becomes pregnant, which she hides from her family until her eighth month of pregnancy in order to graduate from high school. Marguerite gives birth to a baby boy at the end of the book and begins her trek to adulthood by accepting her role as a mother to her newborn son. This article is about same-sex desire and sexuality among women. ... For other uses, see Hermaphrodite (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that Duration of sexual intercourse be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about human pregnancy in biological females. ...

Literary significance

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has been called Maya Angelou's "magnum opus" and "a modern classic among young adult and adult readers."^[3] In 1968, deeply depressed about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou had a meeting with her friend James Baldwin, cartoonist Jules Feiffer, and Feiffer's wife Judy. The following day Judy Feiffer called Robert Loomis, an editor at Random House and gave him the idea of Angelou writing her autobiography. At first, Angelou refused, but as she reported, he "tricked" her into it by "daring" her: "It’s just as well, because to write an autobiography as literature is just about impossible."^[1] The result was Caged Bird, which catapulted Angelou to international fame, critical acclaim, and "heralded the success of other now prominent [black women] writers"^[4] Martin Luther King redirects here. ... James Baldwin may refer to: James Baldwin (editor and author) (1841–1925) James Baldwin (writer) (1924–1987) James Baldwin (baseball player) (born 1971) J. Baldwin (born 1934), industrial designer, author, educator James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934), philosopher and psychologist Category: ... Cartoonist Jack Elrod at work. ... Jules Feiffer (1958) Jules Feiffer (born January 26, 1929) is an American syndicated comic-strip cartoonist and author. ... Robert Loomis (born 1926) is an executive book editor at Random House, where he has worked since 1957. ... // Random House is a publishing house based in New York City. ...

Poet James Bertolino asserts that Caged Bird "is one of the essential books produced by our culture, and we should all read it, especially our children."^[5] It was nominated for a National Book Award in 1970^[3]; in 1995, Angelou's publishing company, Bantam Books, recognized her for having the longest-running record (two years) on The New York Times Paperback Nonfiction Bestseller List.^[6] One of Caged Bird's most outspoken praises comes from James Baldwin, Angelou's friend and mentor: "This testimony from a black sister marks the beginning of an era in the minds and hearts and lives of all black men and women ... Her portrait is a Biblical study of life in the midst of death."^[3] The National Book Awards is one of the most preeminent literary prizes in the United States. ... Bantam Books is a major U.S. publishing house owned by Random House and is part of the Bantam Dell Publishing Group. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... James Baldwin may refer to: James Baldwin (editor and author) (1841–1925) James Baldwin (writer) (1924–1987) James Baldwin (baseball player) (born 1971) J. Baldwin (born 1934), industrial designer, author, educator James Mark Baldwin (1861–1934), philosopher and psychologist Category: ...

Caged Bird has been categorized as autobiography, but as feminist scholar Maria Lauret stated, Angelou has placed herself in this genre while critiquing it. Lauret believes that autobiographies written by women in the 1970s can be described as "feminist first-person narratives" and that Angelou and other feminist writers have used the autobiography to restructure the ways to write about women's lives in a male-dominated society. Lauret sees a connection between autobiographies like Angelou has written and fictional first-person narratives, calling them "fictions of subjectivity" because they both employ the narrator as protagonist and "rely upon the illusion of presence in their mode of signification"wow.^[7] Cover of the first English edition of 1793 of Benjamin Franklins autobiography. ...

Lauret states that "the formation of female cultural identity" is woven into Angelou's narrative, setting her up as "a role model for Black women". Lauret agrees with other scholars that Angelou is reconstructing the Black woman's image throughout her autobiographies, and that Angelou uses her many roles, incarnations, and identities in her books to "signify multiple layers of oppression and personal history". Angelou begins this technique in her first book, and continues it in her subsequent volumes, especially her demonstration of the "racist habit" of renaming African Americans. Lauret sees Angelou's themes of the individual's strength and ability to overcome throughout Angelou's autobiographies as well.^[8] French writer Valérie Baisnée puts Caged Bird in the midst of literature written during and about the American Civil Rights movement.^[9] For other uses, see Oppression (disambiguation). ... Martin Luther King is perhaps most famous for his I Have a Dream speech, given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom This article is about the civil rights movement following the Brown v. ...

The title of Caged Bird was parodied in the Season 19 episode of the television series The Simpsons, "I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."^[10] Simpsons redirects here. ... I Dont Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 4th episode of The Simpsons nineteenth season, and first aired on October 14, 2007, although it was originally scheduled to air on September 30, 2007. ...

Criticism

Caged Bird has been criticized by many parents, causing its removal from school curriculum and library shelves. "Parents, schools and related organizations have argued that the book encourages deviant behavior because of its references to lesbianism, premarital sex, cohabitation, pornography and violence."^[11] Censors have also been critical of its "sexually explicit scenes, foul language, and irreverent religious depictions."^[12] As a result, Caged Bird has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number three.^[13] For a curriculum vitae, see Résumé. In formal education, a curriculum (plural curricula) is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. ... Julio Pérez Ferrero Library - Cúcuta, Colombia A modern-style library in Chambéry A library is a collection of information, sources, resources, and services: it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. ... This article is about the ancient Roman political office. ... ALA Logo The American Library Association (ALA) is a group based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. ...

References

• Baisnée, Valérie (1994). Gendered resistance: The autobiographies of Simone de Beauvoir, Maya Angelou, Janet Frame and Marguerite Duras. Amsterdam: Rodopi. ISBN 90-420-0109-7
• Bertolino, James (1996). "Maya Angelou is three writers". In Modern critical interpretations: Maya Angelou's I know why the caged bird sings, Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Chelsea House Publishers. ISBN 0-7910-4773-3
• Foerstel, Herbert N. (2002). Banned in the U.S.A.: A reference guide to book censorship in schools and public libraries. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 1-5931-1374-9
• Lauret, Maria (1994). Liberating literature: Feminist fiction in America. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-4150-6515-1

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Notes