i know why the caged bird sings
...nflict or a problem with a white person, the black person would have to apologize or get harassed or even killed by a white person. In the book after a black man messed with a white woman, a friend of Maya’s grandmother goes to her house and says, “Annie, tell Willie he better lay low tonight. A crazy nigger messed with a white lady today. Some of the boys’ll be coming over here later.” Racial problems and segregation made young Maya feel very caged in the town where she spent a lot of her childhood. Another thing that made Maya feel caged like the bird in “Sympathy” was her terrible family situation and because she felt like an outcast among her peers. She was born into a broken family where her parents sent her and her brother Bailey to their grandmother and uncle in Stamps. At her grandmother’s house, Maya’s relationship with Bailey grew and they were moderately happy. Many things happened and they kept going back and forth living with their mother, their father, and their grandmother. None of them seemed to be too interested or concerned with the children and they did not feel like they had a real home. Maya also did not have many friends and she even wanted to commit suicide at times. Maya’s family and social situations were both nightmares during her childhood and adolescence. Finally, Maya Angelou feels caged by the unfortunate incident that happened to her at the age of only eight years old. Mr. Freeman of St. Louis raped her at her house and he threatened that he would kill her brother Bailey if she told anybody. She felt a horrible pain and she became very sick after and she had no choice but to tell. Mr. Freeman was caught and tried but he got out of jail the night of the trial because his lawyer rescued him. The next day, he was found dead and nobody knew who killed him. Maya did not understand what was going on at the time but she felt guilty anyway. She felt that it was her fault for lying and telling the judge that she had not engaged in sexual activity with the man before when she actually had. Maya felt even worse about the rape when she got older and she...