I
Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Written
on 6/1/2015
Maya
Angelou's main characters are just like all of us, they are complex.
They cannot be summed up with a single phrase or idea. Her writing
reveals layers of overlapping identities that make us all who we are.
They highlight the complicated and confusing intersections of our
identities. No one person's identity can fit into a single box, and
Angelou's truthful interpretation of life confusing events is
inspiring.
Marguerite
Johnson, the main character of I
Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,
is complicated. Her trials and tribulations take the reader on a path
of what it was like to grow up as a young black woman in the 1950s.
But its not just that simple, in the 200(ish) pages of this novel,
Marguerite survives a sexual assault, struggles with the confusing
time of puberty, questions her sexuality, lives with a group of
homeless teens for a month...the list could go on and on. I think
every person reading this novel would grasp on to something
different.
For
me, the main idea of this novel was this struggle with identities.
The identities we are connected to, the ones we wish we had, and the
ones that were forced upon us. As the chapters float by, Marguerite
is discovering her identity one page at a a time, and the reader is
right in the confusion of who Marguerite is with her. This novel was
about the inevitable experience of growing up and discovering who you
are.
And,
as we all know, its not all rainbows and butterflies. It takes a lot
of strength and perseverance to grow up and become yourself. Angelou
puts it fairly perfectly into words;
"To
be left alone on the tightrope of youth unknowing is to experience
the excruciating beauty of full freedom and the threat of eternal
indecision. Few, if any, survive their teens. Most surrender to the
vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. It becomes easier
to die and avoid conflicts than to maintain a constant battle with
the superior forces of maturity"
Growing
up, sometimes you succumb to the boxes we are told to put ourselves
in so we make more sense to the world. When, we all know, who are are
doesn't make any sense. But even within the boxes, like a bird in a
cage, we can still find hope to express ourselves. We can still sing.
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