Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.

Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and Its Impact on my Life

Reading is an inconceivably marvelous activity. All books from history books to fiction books to non-fiction to religious books is an adventure, a treasure chest waiting to be found. I am a huge lover of books and all the treasures hidden inside of them. Apart from the bible, there has been no book that has plagued my consciousness like the autobiography, I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou. This book is painfully raw and honest, and I have a lot of respect for Maya for sharing her experiences in this book in the way she did. I know why the caged bird sings has taught me so much about the struggles of black people and has inspired me to keep pushing when things get hard. I found out about Maya Angelou during an English assignment in school. I had to pick a book from a selection my teacher chose for the class to share with my fellow peers. As someone who likes to read books, a title as unique as I know why the caged bird sings was Juliet to my Romeo, a must-read choice. So I opened the book pdf unaware of the brilliance that I was about to read and how it would affect me.

I know why the caged bird sings shares so much of Maya Angelou's struggles with being black in days when black people were still cotton pickers. She is very blunt in the retelling of her life that you are almost uncomfortable by the truth the book delivers. I am struck with awe as I read the first few years of her life, and I am captivated by the story she tells. I could feel her pain as she wrote about her experiences. I could feel both the good and bad parts in her story. I relate heavily with this book because my age is similar to Maya’s age towards the end of the book (16). I often look back to Maya’s experience in I know why the caged bird sings as a sought of blueprint as I walk on the journey of life. As a black teen, especially during the modern time, I relate to Maya’s desire about not wanting to be black. I sometimes feel like hiding the color of my skin because I see the injustices that happen to black people to this day, and feel so dejected. Maya Angelou's story and experiences help me cope with this feeling by showing me that other black people felt similar to me, and being black is not a curse placed by a cruel magician ( A reference from the book). I feel inspired by her resilience at 16 when she faced racism as she applied to be a streetcar conductor. Maya had to consistently go to the streetcar office in San Francisco for two weeks before she got the job. She documents in I know why the caged bird sings, that she was determined to get the job as a streetcar conductor even though there were other jobs that paid twice as much. This story shows me the importance of just consistently pushing forward despite receiving rejections. By reading her experience of being a streetcar conductor, I am motivated to be someone who never lets their skin color determine where I work or what treatment I receive.

Another story of hers that inspired me greatly was her testifying about her rapist as a child. The details of what happened to Maya Angelou are incredibly sad. The man who committed the heinous crime threatened to kill Maya’s mum and brother if she told. Yet she still trusted her brother to tell and even testified in a court of law at the young age of 8. Her courage at such a young age was something that took my breath away. The man who raped Maya died, and Maya Angelou thought it was her voice that killed him, her, speaking up that ended his life. I respect her so much for speaking out, for being brave in indescribable ways. Her braveness at 8 is what pushes me to be brave now, it shows me that although the truth is scary to be said, the truth must be said, so people are brought to justice. There are so many more stories in the book that have inspired an aspect of my life. Maya with this book has single-handedly changed my life in a manner that is shocking to me. When I saw the challenge “Black in business” and saw the contents of the challenge was talking about someone who has inspired or motivated us, I knew I had to share my love for I know why the caged bird sings and how Maya's experiences in the book have changed my life. This book I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou is an autobiography I highly recommend to everyone, because this book is full of stories that someone can use as life long lessons in the long and yet short journey called life.