Written by one of the most famous authors in the 20th century, Maya Angelou, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is a novel which tells the story of the first seventeen years of Angelou’s life. It begins when Angelou is 3 years old and is sent with her brother to the city of Stamps in Arkansas and ends when she is 17 years old and is already a mother. As the novel progresses, Angelou transforms from a racism victim to a proud and self respecting young woman who has the ability to stand up and answer prejudice.
Angelou was challenged by two of her friends to write an autobiography. In the book, she has used many techniques that are common to fictional novels and therefore, numerous critics say that it falls in the autobiographical fiction genre. However, the contemporary view visualizes the novel as an autobiography because it is widely known that, over the years, Angelou has attempted to revolutionize the art of writing autobiographies. The novel touches numerous controversial topics that are commonly seen in books written by African-American women in the time that followed the Civil Rights Movement. These include importance of a family, the quest for independence, dignity and self-definition, antagonistic views of racism and African-American motherhood. Angelou speaks about volatile subjects like identity, literacy amongst African-Americans and rape. Her character in the book is visualized by many as the ideal character for every single African-American girl growing up in the United States. In her book, Angelou declares that she was raped as an eight-year old by Mr. Freeman, her mother’s boyfriend. Freeman is later killed by Angelou’s uncles and she is completely devastated. She is later revived by Mrs. Bertha Flowers, who gives her some books to read in order to encourage Maya’s passion for reading.
When Maya is sent away from Stamps by Momma to shield her from the horrors of racism, she attends the George Washington High School. In her last year of high school, Angelou ponders whether she is lesbian and therefore, has sex with a teenager from school. She gets pregnant and hides it from her family till the end of her education. She later gives birth to her child and accepts the role of motherhood to move forward in life.
