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About the Author

December 8, 2008 admin 0

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson. When she was three years […]

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Overview

December 8, 2008 admin 0

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the autobiographical story of the pain that accompanies a young girl’s loss of innocence. Feeling rejected by […]

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Setting

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The book begins in 1931 with Maya’s earliest childhood memories and proceeds through the end of World War II. Events of great social significance-from the […]

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Themes and Characters

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Angelou shapes the narrative of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings with two traditional themes of autobiography: the triumph over obstacles and the search […]

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Literary Qualities

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings begins as a narrative of a young black girl growing up in the care of her grandmother in […]

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Social Sensitivity

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Segregation was so complete in the 1930s “that most black children didn’t really absolutely know what whites looked like,” and Angelou herself “never remembers that […]

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Topics for Discussion

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1. What does Maya think about her grandmother’s religious beliefs? Why is the church so important to Momma? 2. Why is the next door neighbor, […]

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Ideas for Reports and Papers

December 8, 2008 admin 0

1. Research Joe Louis’s rise to prominence in the boxing world, and the difficulties he faced as the first black champion prize fighter. 2. Angelou […]

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Related Titles and Adaptations

December 8, 2008 admin 0

The success of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings encouraged Angelou and her publishers to publish four additional autobiographical novels that cover the years […]