I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Dr. Maya Angelou
In life, we all have many obstacles that we encounter.
We can either allow them to entrap us or we can use what we learn from them to change the world. It’s this notion that Dr. Maya Angelou highlighted in her best-selling autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
With Dr. Angelou’s recent passing, we here at RIZZARR wanted to recognize her life and dedicate our next inspiring read to this beloved book.
Angelou wrote this book at the age of 40. In it, she captivates readers as she recounts going from being in a life full of sadness, struggle and heartache to living a life full of peace, understanding and love.
It is when she is sent away to live with her grandmother in Arkansas that Angelou gains life lessons, which she notes as inspiring her throughout her lifetime. They especially helped her when she visited her mother and when she lived in California, where she experienced an unwanted pregnancy that she says forever imprinted her life. Throughout the book, she also highlights issues around identity, rape, racism, and literacy.
One review on Amazon.com noted this about the book: “We can all learn from Maya’s honest account of her childhood journey. We can all try on her experiences and live vicariously through her for a while, and see how it changes our own perspective on what it means to be a human being… It helps them to see how much we actually do have in common with those who at first seem very different… Beyond the darkness of some of those experiences (discrimination, rape, humiliation and fear) lies a powerful sense of hope, dignity, determination and resilience. One of my favorite aspects of the book is its emphasis on the power of education, language and literacy. Throughout Maya’s life–books, poetry, impassioned voices have all inspired her. Her autobiography is a moving tribute to a literate way of life and an enduring legacy to that tradition.”
So why do we think that the caged bird sings?
Because it realizes that although someone can try to cage it, it can still has power, especially through its voice. Being caged does not prevent it from singing; from being happy; from embracing its life despite being locked away; or from having a ‘caged’ mindset.
On the contrary, it’s being caged that somehow sets it free.
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