I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (pages 1-55)

Summary

The book " I Know why The Caged Bird Sings" starts off with Marguerite the protagonist is at church and reminisces about how she and her brother Bailey ended up in Stamps, Arkansas in around the 1930's. when Marguerite was 3, and Bailey was 4 their parents sent them packing from California to Arkansas to live with their grandmother Annie Henderson or Momma as they called her. Momma also took care of her other son who was crippled ever since he was a child and was known by the name of uncle Willie. Momma owned a store in Stamps which was a town filled with racism and segregation being a part of the south. Momma was a very strong believer in religion and had both children and her son go to church every Sunday. In the beginning of the story Marguerite mentioned that her and her brother Bailey hated Reverend Taylor, reasons being that he only came to their house to eat and was disappointing when they were done eating before he got there. The discrimination in the book shows through the Caucasian females making fun of Momma or trying to arrest any Negroes that they thought has sexual relations with a white female. The father that both Marguerite and Bailey thought was dead shows up to Stamps and connects with his family.

Quote

" when I was a child I spake as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things" (Angelou 34).

Reaction

When I read this line it immediately clicked to out topic of becoming of age. The quote speaks for itself because it is basically saying that there comes a time when we all have to grow up and act like the mature adults that we are. I actually agree with the quote because if it wasn't true we would act like children and no one would want to grow up.