I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Another repeat author, and yes the second read was as good as the first.  This time an autobiography of Maya Angelou, in her 1969 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.  Angelou provides a wonderful series of stories from her childhood, not at all “picket fences and happy times.”  Begins with the story of how her parents leave her and her brother, Bailey, and are ushered to Momma’s (their grandmother) home in Stamps, Arkansas.  The abandonment of the two children play a large role in their formation and development as young teenagers (fear, separation, and independence).  Living with their grandmother and their crippled uncle in rural area of Arkansas, running the family store form the two into who they are, as the times in which Mom and then Dad (separated) take turns in taking the children away, first to St. Louis and then with their father to California.  Maya and her brother face racism, abandonment, and coming of age as teenagers with sex and finding their identity.  While Angelou is in St. Louis at the age of 8 she faces the worst possible thing one would ever think of for their child, molestation by her mother’s second husband.  Maya’s experience of the trial and the aftermath underscores how strong a child must have been to go through such a horrific moment of life, thinking she was safe in her mother’s home.  Other moments/stories include the bonding with other African Americans over the Joe Louis fight, being frightened finding bodies hung in the trees by the Ku Klux Klan, and sharing moments in Church on Sundays.  Angelou provides a real insight into what racism felt like when her mom brought her to the Dentist and being refused to receive treatment because she was black!  The story ends with the story of her experimentation and desire for having sex, which leads to her pregnancy.  Angelou has a brilliant way of bringing the reader into her life and feeling what she must have been feeling during those moments in her life.  While it may have been therapeutic writing the book, sharing such intimate moments in one’s life is a gift to us from which to learn.  I am trying to better understand why the caged bird sings as I read and feel her challenges, hard for me to sing.  Although is there anything else left to do?  A very powerful read.