Review of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou is one of the greatest autobiographies of all time. Detailing her life from her early childhood to becoming a mother, Angelou brings the readers through all the events and circumstances she has gone through that turn her into who she is.

After being born in St. Louis, Missouri, Maya and Bailey, her older brother, are sent by her parents, who recently divorced, to live with their grandmother, who they call Momma, in Arkansas. Soon after, Maya and Bailey return to St. Louis, Missouri to live with their mother. In St. Louis, Maya is raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman silences Maya by telling her that if she tells anyone that he raped her, he will murder her brother Bailey. After Bailey promises her that he will not allow Mr. Freeman to kill him, Maya tells her brother about the rape. Bailey tells the rest of the family what Maya has told him, and Mr. Freeman, after being sentenced to one year in prison, is murdered, most likely by Maya’s uncles.

As a result of this profound trauma, Maya does not speak for five years. When she and her brother were forced to move back with their grandmother in Arkansas, Mrs. Flowers, a teacher, helps Maya recover from her trauma through reading and literature. Now ten years old, Maya works at Mrs. Cullinan’s home. After one of Mrs. Cullinan’s friends tries to rename Maya to “Mary,” Maya attempts to get fired from her job by purposely breaking Mrs. Cullinan’s china. Mrs. Cullinan verbally insults and attacks Maya and is fired. Then, at her eighth grade graduation, Maya gets a terrible toothache. When Momma tries to take her to see a doctor, the closest Black doctor they can find is all the way in Texas, so Momma decides to see Mr. Lincoln, a white doctor, to help with Maya’s toothache. Mr. Lincoln turns down service to Maya because she is Black, and Maya and Momma instead have to travel to Texas for help.

Maya and Bailey then move to California, and there Maya and her father, Big Bailey, bond much more than they have before. Dolores, Maya’s father’s girlfriend, becomes jealous of Maya and feels that she is getting in the middle of their relationship. Dolores calls Maya’s mother, Vivian, a “whore,” which causes Maya to slap Dolores, who then stabs Maya with scissors. After recovering, Maya lives in San Francisco, where she gains a valuable education, gets a job, and gains a deeper sense of resilience and self-worth. Finally, she becomes pregnant at sixteen, but, taking Bailey’s advice, hides her pregnancy until she is able to graduate.

The novel ends with Maya becoming a mother. Maya is initially afraid to become a mother, but she comes to love her role. The birth of her son changes Maya. She is given a chance to regain all the love that she never felt as a child. Truly a must-read, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is a beautifully written book where Angelou tells her life as she was never before allowed to tell it.