After reading the book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” I thought a lot about what the book was trying to explain. Throughout the awful events of the black girl, Maya’s life, she stayed patient and strong. I do believe that this book belongs among the classic works read by young adults.
Maya went through many different things that made her life very difficult. She grew up in the South around the time of the Depression. There was a lot of discrimination going on at this time, so Maya had to deal with a lot of prejudice people which most kids today don”t have to deal with.She spent some of the story with her grandmother, or Momma, and her Uncle Willie who were both very strict.
If Maya or her brother misbehaved they would be whipped with a belt. Today, that would be considered abuse. Young adults reading this book would be able to understand how badly this would affect the life of someone like Maya. Maya and her brother, Bailey, had to be moved back and forth across the South to see their “Mother Dear”.
One time, Maya was raped by her Mother’s boyfriend Mr. Freeman. He eventually was killed and Maya thought it was all her fault.She went a long time not speaking to anyone except her brother whom she had a close relationship with.
She and her bother moved back to Stamps with their Momma and there she saw things that normal 10 year olds shouldn”t see (We”ll just leave it at that). When she was a little older she moved back to live with her Mother Dear. There she went to stay with her father and his wife for the summer. Maya was disliked by her father’s wife and was run out of the house.
She lived as a homeless person on the streets of San Francisco for a month and finally went back home to her Mother. Maya still stayed strong and decided to get a job.She became the first black woman to work on the Market Street Railway Company. This was a big deal considering that people back then wouldn”t hire black woman to do that job.
This would give young adults more confidence to go for things they think they wouldn”t be able to achieve. At the age of 16, Maya began to explore her sexuality and became very curious. She offered to have sex with a random boy and became pregnant. She kept this secret from her Mother for almost all the months of her pregnancy so she could get her high school diploma.
She told her mother 3 weeks before she finally had her baby. Maya was proud to have her baby.After everything she went through she was still thankful to have such a wonderful baby boy come into her life. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was a good way to show how easy our lives are today.
Teenagers who read this book will feel more proud to have such an easy life. If they do have a hard life like Maya’s, then they will be encouraged to go through it as strongly and as patiently as she did. Compared to Maya’s life, so far mine has almost been completely free of problems. Now that I have read this book I will have a greater respect and a newer understanding for those with hard lives and be thankful for the easy life I”ve been living.
