Maya Angelou's 1969 autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings details her life up until age 17. The book begins with Angelou being sent from her parents to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, feeling displaced. She struggles with racism and develops a sense of inferiority. Over time, through education and the support of family, Angelou gains self-possession and dignity. She transforms from a victim of racism into a strong, self-assured young woman capable of responding to prejudice. The book provides insights into Angelou's small-town southern upbringing and the struggles she faced as a black woman coming of age in the 1930s-40s.

1. I Know Why The
Caged Bird Sings
Umm-e-Rooman Yaqoob

2. Maya Angelou
Marguerite Annie Johnson also known as
Maya Angelou, born April 4, 1928 – May 28,
2014 was an American author, poet, dancer,
actress, and singer. She published seven
autobiographies, three books of essays, and
several books of poetry, and was credited with
a list of plays, movies, and television shows
spanning over 50 years.

3. She received dozens of awards and more
than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best
known for her series of seven
autobiographies, which focus on her
childhood and early adult experiences. The
first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
(1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and
brought her international recognition and
acclaim.

4. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a 1969
autobiography about the early years of African-
American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The book
begins when three-year-old Maya and her older
brother are sent to Stamps, Arkansas, to live with
their grandmother and ends when Maya becomes a
mother at the age of 16. In the course of Caged Bird,
Maya transforms from a victim of racism with an
inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified
young woman capable of responding to prejudice.

5. Foreshadowing
The opening scene in the church foreshadows
the struggles Maya will have to overcome in
her life; when she cannot recites the poem and
flees the church while crying and peeing,
Maya notes her fear of the people laughing at
her and her sense of displacement and
inferiority even among other blacks; she also
leaves the church laughing, however, which
foreshadows her ultimate success.

6. Chapter 1
Chapter 1 introduces Maya’s early life, her brother
Bailey, her grandmother Momma Henderson, and
her Uncle Willie. Because their parents are getting
divorced, Maya and Bailey are sent to Stamps,
Arkansas to live with their grandmother. The move
away from her parents and to a new place accounts
for some of Maya’s sense of not belonging. She
also has little chance to interact with other children,
for she is expected to work in the general store that
her grandmother runs.

7. Momma Henderson has transformed her place of
business from a lunch counter to a general
merchandise store, which serves everyone in town.
Many of her customers are labourers, such as cotton
pickers. When they come into the store in the early
morning hours, they are smiling and hopeful; when
they return in the evening, they appear the be defeated
souls. Even as a child, Maya realizes their level of
poverty and the injustice of their hard work. As a result,
the adult Maya rages against the stereotype of happy,
song-singing cotton pickers.

8. Chapter 2
Two years later Maya and Bailey are studying at
the Lafayette County Training School and work
hard on their studies. This chapter develops the
character of Uncle Willie, a proud, but unlucky
cripple. Uncle Willie was not born paralyzed;
when he was a baby, a lady taking care of him
dropped him. Although he is a strict
disciplinarian whom Maya and Bailey regard
with fear and sympathy, he is really a sensitive
man.

9. The chapter also gives more information about
Maya and Bailey. They attend a county school.
Maya is a good student who has developed a
love of literature. She thinks about memorizing
some of Shakespeare, but decides against it,
for Momma would not approve since he was a
white man. Instead, Maya and Bailey decide to
memorize the poetry of James Weldon
Johnson, a black writer.

10. Chapter 3
From a very early age, Maya reveals her values.
Even though she is tempted, she will not take a
can of pineapple, which she dearly loves, from the
store, for she would consider it stealing. She is also
very hard on herself, striving to do a perfect job
and punishing herself when she makes mistakes. It
is clear that Maya’s values have been influenced
by her grandmother, Momma Henderson. She is a
religious woman, who comfortably turns to God to
answer her prayers.

11. Maya is also capable of recognizing evil. When the
old sheriff refers to "the boys," Maya knows he is
talking about the Klan, which she finds abhorrent.
She resents that the law enforcement officials in
town do nothing to stop the dreaded hooded men.
Seeking protection from the Klan, Willie hides in the
vegetable bin, and Momma prays for his safety.
Although the Klan never arrives at the house, Maya,
after many years, still remembers the sound of Willie
moaning in the bin and the sense of fear that
pervaded the store.

12. Concluding Thoughts
The lines from the poem Maya cannot finish,
“ What are you looking at me for?
I didn`t come to stay…..”
Captures two most significant issues she struggles
with in her childhood and young adulthood: feeling
ugly and awkward and never feeling attached to one
place.And this thing is also seen in her
autobiographical book
“ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings ”

13. Thank You
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