Character Analysis Of Maya Angelou - 1420 Words

The first and main character is Maya Angelou who is a young black girl displaced by her birth parents who grew up in Stamps. Growing up known as the â€Å"ugly† child, she keeps to herself and is closest to her older brother Bailey. Maya faces the difficulties of being black and female in America. She is important to the novel because she is smart, likes to learn, and strong for her age. 2. The second character is Maya’s brother Bailey. He is her closest companion and they share everything with each other. Bailey is important to the novel because he is protective over his sister when it comes to insults and racism. He cares for her more than anyone else. He is the most important in Maya’s life and as they travel place to place, they†¦show more content†¦She battles with the society around her and her own self. Maya faces huge challenges against society from racism and being treated differently against white folks. She was abused by her mother’s boyfriend Mr. Freeman. Being raped and molested at the age of eight, then threatened to be killed if she spoke of it was one of the many conflicts in the story. This affected her life and her relationships with others. On top of this, at the age of fifteen, she gets into a physical altercation with her father’s girlfriend Dolores from jealousy. Dolores was extremely jealous of her relations hip with her father which led to being abused by Dolores. The climax of the novel is when Maya runs away from her father. She wants to prove her maturity and learn her own lessons. She spends the night in a car in the junkyard and soon realizes she regrets her decision. Maya wanted control of her own life and took matter into her own hands. Once she realizes she does not like this lifestyle, she moves in with her mom. Maya eventually comes to the conclusion that she is worth living and needed in life. She goes back to school and graduates, battles racism, and has a baby which was the highpoint of her life. Being sixteen and pregnant does not stop Maya from living her life even though many people were unhappy about this. Maya gets her self confidence back and keeps moving forward. 1. One theme from this novel is racism. This isShow MoreRelatedI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings1482 Words   |  6 Pages Maya Angelou tells of her life experiences and struggles in her book â€Å"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings† that gives us insight about Maya’s life as a young black girl growing up in a time of racism. The novel discusses various forms of oppression that she had to face as well cope with them. Robert A. Gross wrote an analysis for Newsweek about the book and claimed that Angelou’s book is not only an interesting story of her own experience, but also a portrayal of a Southern black communityRead MoreMaya Angelou: A Model Woman Through Influential Literature Essay1708 Words   |  7 Pagesinfluence on society itself. Maya Angelou is a great example of the model woman. She has beaten the odds and has become one of the most well known African American women of today. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, d ancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. Her most influential work comes from her extraordinary books and poems. Her literature has influenced the young and old with their contents. Maya Angelous literary significanceRead MoreI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings1004 Words   |  5 PagesSings is a book that speaks solely on the upbringing of Maya Angelou, and on the accomplishments, yet struggles that make Maya the woman she is. It begins in California in the 1930’s. Maya and her brother Bailey lived with her parents at a very young age, but after their divorced they were shipped to Arkansas to live their grandmother. They called their grandmother Momma, because she was a parental figure to both of them. In her young years Maya struggled with the absence of her parents and that neglectRead MoreLiterary And Non Literary Works1721 Words   |  7 PagesTruth By: Maya Angelou Music Keep Holding On By: Avril Lavigne, 2007 Film Patch Adams, 1998 The Brave and Startling Truth This poem was written by Maya Angelou in 1995 Summary In this poem that paints a picture of how it can be when the fight is over. When we lower our weapons and stop reaching for them and look at the outcome of the fight. This poem is telling us to stop looking at war but to look at the peace that we can have and brings us hope. Maya Angelou Maya Angelou wrote bookRead MoreMaya Angelou’s Unique Self Essay2562 Words   |  11 Pageschildhood (Angelou, 2009, p.20). In Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, she recounts her early years as a young girl growing up in Stamps, Arkansas who faces displacement, trauma, and prejudice. It is through her character and artistic expression that she is able to overcome the trauma of her childhood and evolve into the distinguished and unique individual that has captivated millions through literature. In her book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Angelou reflects onRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Post Colonialism 1742 Words   |  7 Pagesimplemented on them and the career of Maya Angelou, a black woman born in the height of racism in America, is a testament to the colonised population s vigour and power to endure.    In many of her protest poems Angelou expresses the overwhelming oppression of the black culture and cries out against a system that supports the economic oppression of blacks by the white majority. Born in 1928, Angelou s own parents would have experienced slavery, and, as a child of slaves, Angelou herself experienced the afterRead MoreThe Year 1978 By Maya Angelou1883 Words   |  8 Pages2.) This poem was published in the year 1978 by Maya Angelou. Maya lived between the years of 1928 and 2014. 3.) During Maya’s teenage years she won a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labor school. This exhibits the tremendous talent that was possessed by her at a young age. Also Maya was active in the Civil Rights Movement with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout her life she has won many awards. Such awards include the Pulitzer Prize for her book and also threeRead MoreI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou6502 Words   |  27 PagesAnalysis: Chapters 1–5 The lines from the poem Maya cannot finish, â€Å"What are you looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay . . .† capture two of the most significant issues she struggles with in her childhood and young adulthood: feeling ugly and awkward and never feeling attached to one place. First, Maya imagines that though people judge her unfairly by her awkward looks, they will be surprised one day when her true self emerges. At the time, she hopes that she will emerge as if in a fairy-taleRead MoreI Know Why The Caged Bird Sings And Still I Rise By Maya Angelou1517 Words   |  7 PagesPoems of Color The poems â€Å" I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings† and â€Å"Still I Rise† by Maya Angelou are both poems that speak on the issues of the mistreatment of African Americans, and how these challenges were created simply by the color of one’s skin and overcome. While the poems â€Å"Mother To Son† and â€Å" Dreams† by Langston Hughes refer to the hopes of African Americans for a better standard of living, and the consequences of departing from these dreams of bettering themselves. This comparison ofRead MoreHot and Cold: Warmth in Poetry Essay1234 Words   |  5 Pagesimplied, as the disabled veteran talks of the old days in which he was the town’s pride and joy, very handsome, and a soccer player to boot. The light of glow-lamps, the warmth of happiness and life itself pervade the middle of the writing. This character is full of warm, joyous life, but once he makes the decision to go to war all this is soon taken from him as Owen writes  "half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race / And leap of purple spurted from his thigh.† (19-20). at the end the poem returns