I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

“Then they would face another day of trying to earn enough for the whole year with the heavy knowledge that they were going to end the season as they started it. Without the money or credit necessary to sustain a family for three months.” 

Angelou refers to the cotton pickers who come into her grandmother’s store before starting the day’s work. The sight of these weary workers leaves a profound impression on Maya, and inadvertently shapes her attitude toward racial discrimination for the years to come. Even as a child, Maya rebels at the injustice she witnesses and refuses to accept it as a norm.

“He must have tired of being crippled, as prisoners tire of penitentiary bars and the guilty tire of blame.”

Uncle Willie, who had to live all his life with a muscle dysfunction, is seen by his fellow Stamps residents only through the optics of his disability. Yet he wants them to see his personality, and not his disease. As a Black man, he has to suffer from double oppression from how others perceive his race and his disability. Thus, he feels trapped in his body, just like a bird is trapped in its cage. 

“Of all the needs (there are none imaginary) a lonely child has, the one that must be satisfied, if there is going to be hope and a hope of wholeness, is the unshaking need for an unshakable God. My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come.” 

Deprived of parental care from an early age, Maya satisfies her need for love in her relationships with Bailey. Handsome and quick-witted, Bailey is the pride of the Johnson family. Maya, too, adores her brother, and he remains her best friend and confidante throughout the years.