Maya Angelou as a Caged Bird Essay -- Biography Biographies Essays

Maya Angelou as a Caged Bird The graduation scene from I acknowledge Why The Caged Bird Sings illustrates how, living in the midst of racism and poor access to opportunity, Maya Angelou was able to surmount the obstacles that stood in her way of intellectual split up and find higher ground. One of the largest factors responsible for Angelous academic success was her trueness to and capacity for hard work, My work al angiotensin converting enzyme has awarded me a top place...No absences, no tardinesses, and my academic work was among the best of the year (Angelou 13-14). Angelou worked hard and read a great deal in order to be able to run on such a level, in spite of the fact that she had lots less access (or none) to the quality of teachers, school environment and otherwise resources lendable to whites because of her color. Another way Angelou surmounted the disadvantages of being black in a racist white controlled school district was to view her brother as a role model. She is proud that she can recite the preamble to the piece of music faster than Bailey, she is proud he will see her graduate at the top of her class, and he provides her with literature which fuels her desire to read. Maya also used other assimilators in her class who were intelligent as role models and a account stick of her avouch performance. She admires the class valedictorian, Henry Reed, because he has been her most contest academic competition among her peers. However, another reason Angelou is able to overcome obstacles and moot higher ground is that she is not jealous or mean-spirited about academically competing with others. Instead, she is happy that others are developing towards higher ground. As she says about Henry, I had admired him for years because e... ...race (Angelou 21). Angelou knows she would let down all those who have struggled and presumptuousness her encouragement if she did not rise above the limitations of her own time and place. fiddle CITED Ange lou, M. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. In Eastman, A. M. The Norton Anthology of Expository Prose. (3rd edit.) W.W. Norton & Co., NY 1973. The student may wish to begin the paper with the following quote I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such moving wonder, such a luminous dignity. I have no words for this achievement, but I know that not since the days of my childhood, when the people in books were more real than the people one saw every day, have I found myself so moved. Her delineation is a Biblical study of life in the midst of death. pack Baldwin