I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings :: essays research papers

     Quote      Reaction1     pg. 8 Chap. 1"The sounds of the new morning had been replaced with grumbles about cheating houses, weighted scales, snakes, insufficient cotton and dusty rows. In later years I was to confront the stereotyped picture of gay song-singing cotton pickers with such an inordinate rage that I was told even by fellow blacks that my paranoia was embarrassing. But I had seen the fingers cut by the mean little cotton boils, and I had witnessed the backs and shoulders and arm and legs resisting any further demands."     The enormousness of this quote is real integral to the rest of the book. To be able to criticize something you should have undergo it. This passage shows that Maya has experienced the non-privilege of being a Negro during the thirties, and experienced it at a young age. Maya wrote that she later confronted the stereotype, She had a right to because of her pr evious position.2     pg.14 chap. 2"Bailey and I decided to memorize a scene from The merchandiser of Venice , but realized that Momma would question us about the author and that wed have to tell her that Shakespeare was white, And it wouldnt matter to her whether or not he was dead. So we chose The Creation by James Weldon Johnson "     This excerpt is crucial because it puts yet another facet on segregation. Really the blacks and whiteswere both afraid of each other equally. The only difference was that the whitefolks were in a position to act on those fears.3     pg.25 chap 4."In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didnt really, absolutely know what whites looked like. former(a) than they were different, to be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, The worker against the worked for, and the ragged aga inst the well dressed. I remember never believing that whites were really real."     The first line really does a good job of summing up the situation in Stamps but the key section of this quotation is the very croak line. "I remember never believing that whites were really real." This statement really makes the whole situation clear in that it really brings home how someone jakes think that an entire race of people dont exist.4     pg.48 chap 7"The judge asked that Mrs. Henderson be subpoenaed, and when Momma arrived and said that she was Mrs.