Summary of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Essay -- Maya Angelou Liter

summary of I Know why the C mount upd Bird SingsMaya recalls an Easter Sunday at the Colored Methodist apostolic Church in Arkansas. Her m new(prenominal) ferments her a special Easter habit from lavender taffeta, and Maya thinks the dress will ramp up her look akin the blond-haired no-account-eyed(a) movie star that she wishes, deep down, to be. But, the dress turns out to be regretful and ugly, as Maya laments that she is low-spirited, and unattractive as well. She leaves her church pew to go to the bathroom, and doesnt make it she runs from the church, ashamed, but glad to be out of church and away from the children who curse her, and make her childhood even harder than it already is. AnalysisOne of the important themes of this chapter is race and appearance Maya already establishes that she wanted to be a movie-star facial expression white girl as a child, and tried to deny her certain appearance. Connected with the idea of race is beauty, as Maya describes images of b lond hair and blue eyes as the paragon of beauty, and says her appearance is merely a black ugly dream that she will wake out of. Maya seems to have been an inventive child, as she envisions her head bursting like a dropped watermelon from trying to take a crap her bladder. Angelou shows a talent for using images to explain and clarify feelings, and employing her descriptive sources to make even mundane incidents very vivid. This autobiography, which covers Mayas life from age 3 to age 16, is often considered a bildungsroman since it is primarily a tale of youth and exploitation into young adulthood. However, unlike a typical, novel-form bildungsroman, the story does not end with the deed of adulthood Angelou continues to write about her life in four other volumes, all addressing her life chronologically from her childhood to the accomplishments of her adulthood. It is important to keep in mind that this is an autobiography, rather than a novel, and that the narrator and the au thor be and then one and the same, and the events described in the book are intended to mend a very personal portrait of a persons life. Chapter 1SummaryMaya says that when she was three years old and her brother was four, they were sent from their father in California to their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. They were eventually embraced by the town, and lived at the back of the store that their grandmother and uncle owned and ran. ... ...al and flawed. The images and words chosen to constitute St. Louis tell of the childrens business organization of this new place, and their apprehension at being interpreted to live with someone they dont know. The crowded-together, soot-covered buildings are completely alien, and a bit gross(a) to them. They may have been driving to Hell for all the children knew, with their uncertainty and fear coloring the strange landscape. She begins to believe in Grownups Betrayal, as again they are being let down by their father her tone re veals her scandalize and bitterness at being reclaimed by their father, only to be sent away once again. Angelou describes her mother as being like a hurricane in its perfect power, or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow these metaphors convey that Mayas mother is a flawless work of nature, vibrant, powerful, and very beautiful. Maya seems to admire her from afar, too, like you would admire a rainbow from afar but the instant power of the childrens live for her is encapsulated in the two cliched phrases struck dumb and love at first sight. Although Maya might feel a bit yon from her mother, nevertheless the love she feels brings them a little closer.