I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

384 Words2 Pages
PLOT SUMMARY AND THEME OF THE NOVEL: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou begins with a little girl named Marguerite “Maya” Johnson and her older brother, Bailey Jr. arriving in Stamps, Arkansas. They move into a store with their grandma whom they call “Momma”; she takes care of them for three to four years. When they are at age seven and eight, their father comes to get them, and he drops them off at their mother’s house; they stay with their mom whose boyfriend rapes Maya. After that event, Maya moves back to Stamps. Maya moves back in with her mother; she begins to seek male attention and has sex with a boy from up the street of her mom’s house. She finds out that she is pregnant, later she has her baby. Although Maya goes through a lot of struggles, she overcomes them by talking with her family and never giving up. CHARACTER AND POINT OF VIEW: Maya Angelou’s characters are strong, adventurous, caring. This novels protagonist is Marguerite Johnson. She loves her family, especially her brother Bailey. She is the narrator of the story and writes about her journey through her adolescent years. This character is round, because she gets excited, confused, and depressed. This character is also dynamic, because she learns that she needs to get to know people to fully trust the no matter how close they are. The reader will begin to love and understand Maya when reading further on in the story. If there had to be an antagonist of the story, that character would be Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman is Maya’s mother’s boyfriend for awhile and he later rapes Maya. He seems to be a round because he feels caring and nice at first, yet threatening as well. The reader may consider this character to be static, because he doesn’t really change throughout the story. The audience surely doesn’t like this character, considering he forced Maya into uncomfortable situations.
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