I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

A book so good it was banned at West Point! While books banned by the Trump government deserve to be read for that reason in general this autobiography of Maya Angelou's childhood and youth especially deserves it. You get an insightful and very thorough look into life in the rural South, the pervasive racism, the importance of church life and how people use it in their own ways and an adventure story of running away. I feel like every American should read/listen to it but it's also very impressive for everyone else. If you like audiobooks try to get this one which is read by Maya Angelou herself which adds another layer to the story being told.

"Era horrível ser negra e não ter controle sobre a minha vida. Era brutal ser jovem e já estar treinada para ficar sentada em silêncio ouvindo as acusações feitas contra a minha cor sem chance de defesa."

a obra traz uma visão nítida das relações raciais no período entreguerras e ensina como a voz pode transformar um mundo injusto.

This remarkable memoir portrays Angelou's as a zig zag through chunks of the country. Her characters are strong, she herself is riveting, and she captures a child/teen's mind beautifully.

Angelou's approach to pervasive racism is interesting, in that she portrays it kind of like living near savages that sometimes attack and sometimes are barely visible. Racism comes across as horrific and unjust, but also as inevitable as fire and storm. It's not that she's writing a book about racism; it's a book about her life and the racism of America is simply one of many threads that run through it.

Angelou is really good at capturing all facets of life. There are moments of horror, moments of softness, and some moments that are just hilarious, like a woman being filled with a hysterical amount of Jesus.

While I occasionally felt Angelou was straining too hard for poetic metaphors, for the most part her writing is elegant and immediate. This is the first of 7 memoirs and I absolutely need to read the rest.

The beauty and utility of Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" comes from its frankness. And I do mean exactly that. It's poesy comes from Maya's courage to say what needs to be said and it is useful in that this frankness allows for a sort of understanding that permits useful discussion on tough topics.

What is the purpose of the book? On the surface, it is a string of recollections from the childhood of Maya Angelou. This, of course, is merely a vehicle for analyzing what it was like growing up in a racist atmosphere and the culture that resulted from the segregation that discrimination formed. It clarifies why some cultural development took place and why certain assumptions of the white man are inaccurate and hurtful.

I believe that it is because of this frankness on the topic of racism as well as rape that this book has been criticized for being required reading in some high schools. I believe that such criticism is evidence that books like "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" are needed in our society and ought to be required reading. I wish I was required to read it in high school.