Useful for students who want a quick overview is “Maya Angelou: Global
Renaissance Woman,” her official website at http://mayaangelou.com [accessed
16 December 2009]. It provides a comprehensive description of her career, pho-
tographs from different stages of her life, a list of books and films, and links to
videos of recent interviews and readings.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- In the opening passage of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings the narrator fanta-
sizes about emerging “out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was
long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldn’t
let me straighten[.] My light blue eyes were going to hypnotize them... .” Later
in the autobiography, she reveals being jealous of her brother and mother who
both have fairer complexions. Her conception of physical beauty is the exact
opposite of everything she is. Given the choice, she would exchange dark hair,
skin, and eyes for blue eyes and blondeness. How do these prevalent beauty
standards affect the narrator’s self-perception and sense of self? Similar notions
about beauty affect characters in Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye (1970) and Rita
Dove’s Through the Ivory Gate (1992). Students might compare the experiences
of characters in one or both works to Angelou’s, analyzing the effects of white
beauty standards on black identity. Sidonie Smith and the book-length study by
Mary Jane Lupton offer helpful starting points on this topic. - The theme of motherhood appears throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings in Angelou’s representations of her own mother Vivian Baxter, her pater-
nal grandmother Annie “Momma” Henderson, mother-figure Mrs. Bertha
Flowers, and her own role as mother to Guy. Smith describes Angelou’s atti-
tude toward motherhood in positive terms: “With the birth of her child Maya
is herself born into a mature engagement with the forces of life.” Yet, the work
also reveals ambivalence on her part, perhaps directly related to feelings of
abandonment. Students would find it beneficial to look further into the depic-
tion of motherhood. One way to start would be to consider her relationships
with the various mother figures she has throughout the work. How do her
own experiences being “mothered” translate to her feelings and actions toward
her pregnancy and to her son? What must be done to avoid making the same
mistakes her mother did with her children? How might the interactions with
her grandmother and Mrs. Flowers provide alternative models of mothering
for the unwed mother? Lupton (both works), Dolly A. McPherson, and Carol
E. Neubauer all provide insight on this topic. Lupton’s essay also traces this
theme in Angelou’s later works. - The title of Angelou’s first book is taken from an 1899 poem, “Sympathy,” by
Paul Laurence Dunbar, which uses the line at the beginning and ending of
each stanza. “Sympathy” can be found at http://www.csustan.edu/english/
reuben/pal/chap6/dunbar.html [accessed 16 December 2009]. The poem depicts
a bird who persists in beating and thus injuring its wings against the cage even
though it may never be free. Why is this a fitting metaphor for the experiences
depicted in Angelou’s autobiography? Which of the narrator’s actions are akin to