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  • Essay / Freedom as the main message in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou was born according to the Poetry Foundation, "to Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She was an African-American poet, storyteller, activist and autobiographer. His poem "Caged Bird" was written in 1969, and it was his most recognized poem. This poem has many possible explanations, depending on the context you are in. But there is only one theory close to what Maya was experiencing Well, according to Poetry Foundation, "In one of her most evocative (and controversial) moments, Angelou describes how she was cuddled and then raped by her mother's boyfriend while she was there. was only seven years old". In my opinion, her feeling of being constantly harassed by this person explains why she felt so trapped in this atmosphere and how she imagined having a free life. This can be supported by the first stanza of the poem in which she describes how a person, in this case a bird, is free without limits and without any way to stop or go towards the dream. Conversely, a caged bird is one that is trapped in. this small space without being able to steal or express oneself It is also a sign of what African-Americans were experiencing at that time, where white people mistreated the free expression of black people. In other words, the entire context of the poem is based on the term "freedom" and what would happen in life without it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThe contrast of the whole poem, as I said earlier, the difference between a free bird and a caged bird is that the free bird has no limits and is able to express its feelings so that a caged bird is trapped and more isolated or ignored. In this case, the author expresses her own feelings about what she felt growing up with a difficult life and racial supremacy. Another important note of this poem is that it is very symbolic in terms of the "free bird", which is, as I said earlier, a feeling of freedom. It is also similar to the “white dove” which represents peace and tranquility. The author expresses his feelings about what a free bird is capable of doing. Some keywords are "jumps", "hollow", "bright", etc. In another context, she explains the caged bird as something atrocious, like words like "rage", "scary trill", "nightmare", etc. Another important note is that there is a rather ironic term where the author says "The caged bird sings", which is the opposite since the one who is supposed to sing is the free bird. But the caged bird sings a “scary trill,” which in this case sounds more like a frenzied cry for freedom. Another message that the poem may convey, besides all the mistreatment of black people and how the author felt about the abuse of his mother's boyfriend, may be about how women were treated at the time, when they thought women were only allowed to take care of children, cook, clean, a typical housewife. If the woman left the regime, there would be many consequences and her freedom was therefore more limited. This poem can convey many messages since the whole subject of this poem is that there are people who have more freedom than others. Other examples can be the concept of religion, where people are limited to certain kinds of things, or even in the LGBT community, where there are still people who discriminate against them religiously and where people at within this community feel trapped, and there are so many. many other examples that the message of the poem can explain. In conclusion,.