PhyreBards

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is both a coming of age tale and an autobiography of Maya Angelou’s childhood. The book begins with Maya describing her residence of Stamps, Arkansas in the 1930s, but it isn’t until later that we find out why she is there. At age 3, Maya and her brother Bailey (4) are abandoned by their divorced parents and sent to live with their grandmother (Momma). For Maya, Momma becomes her moral guide, and it is under her care that Maya sees the favorable and unfavorable treatment of her race by community members of both white and black races. During the novel, Maya struggles with her identity as an ugly black girl who could never stand up to her white peers. She also goes through several tragedies and suffers during racist occurrences throughout the novel. At age 8, Maya is raped and sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend during a short stay in St. Louis and later in the novel she is demeaned by a white dentist, put down by a white speaker at her graduation and sees an insensitive white man take pleasure at the sight of a decomposing black body. Through all of these encounters, Maya grows as an individual, and the novel ends with her graduation from high school and her feeling confident as a new mother.

This novel, though highly controversial because of the racial and sexual undertones can be taught in the classroom. I was taught it in the 9th grade and I would suggest teaching it to a mature 8th grade or high school students. It is a novel that should only be taught to a class after you as the teacher know your students and know what is appropriate for them. For example, if you are teaching in a class where you suspect you have a child who has been victim to sexual abuse or a class that is not ready to handle racial issues then maybe you should consider teaching a different novel. However, if you can get past the controversy, this book can teach your students a lot about several different issues. It is a great novel to look at a different culture (as these teaching demonstrations are supposed to show), to look at a different time period, and to explore the themes of racism and segregation, displacement, resistance to racism, strong black women, and a love for literature. It would also be a great novel for an interdisciplinary unit with a history class when looking at America in the 1930s. Another advantage of this novel is that it lends itself to so many forms of writing and presentations. It can be used to inspire debates, personal journals, memoirs, and argument papers as well as many others.

Having read this novel in my 9th grade English class, I personally gravitated toward the story. However, my younger brother who is now in 11th grade and also read the novel in 9th grade found it hard to appreciate the story for anything other than an Oprah book club choice. He said it was like reading the script for a Lifetime movie and he simply wasn’t inspired by it. He is certainly not the authority on the book but it does show that this book can either be a success or a failure in the classroom. I loved it and if the curriculum allowed (I begrudgingly write that conditional) I would certainly teach it. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest it!