with maya angelou's recent death, i sadly realized, i had never read any of her works. i did have a copy of i know why the caged bird sings in high school, however, i never read it. in fact, i'm pretty sure that it is packed away somewhere, i knew it was an important book which makes my deal in reading it even disappointing. i truly regret not reading it though, i think a better age to have read it would have been 18, considering the episodes of her life that she shared. but i must add that it is a truly amazing and interesting book, and if you haven't read it, you should.
i have to add that this is the first book that my friend julianna, who is in new york, and i have read together as part of our "long distance book club". she also admitted to have never read it before either. our plan was to skype about it last sunday but since skype wasn't working on my computer, we have yet to "meet". but we will! i promise.
i was really shocked by what occurred in i know why the caged bird sings and consequently angelou's life since it is an autobiography. in my head, she was this proper elderly black woman with a great sense of humor (as seen in the chris rock documentary good hair). due to this image, i imaged her with this very proper (sorry for the lack of an additional adjective, but it is what fits best) upbringing, with access to a education that was uncommon due to the era she was raised in and the color of her skin. however, this was not the case. and though shocking angelou's life was to me, it did make sense, the wisdom she had could not have been gained with a silver spoon in her mouth, but rather by the suffering that one has the unfortunate luck of having to encounter in life.
angelou did have a proper upbringing, due to her grandmother, momma, and her devotion to the church. momma was so devote, in fact that she beat angelou for her use of the slang phrase "by the way" which turned out to also a phrase used to refer to christ. i was very confused as i read this episode, not knowing that "by the way" was taking the lord's name in vain. momma was strict but it was just this type of structure that helped make angelou the great woman that she was. momma was, in my opinion, her saving grace since both her parents were unable to be proper parents (i will get to this later) to angelou and her older brother, bailey. angelou and bailey were raised by their grandmother and their disabled uncle and given their dedication to the church and hard work, provided a stable home for the two of them. this is not to say that angelou and bailey did not get into trouble, they did but it was the trouble typical of kids (though bailey's sexcapedes ,when they were older, behind the store are not included here. lol)
angelou's living with momma proved to be the best situation for her and her brother. when given to the care of her parents, angelou experienced traumatizing incidents that strengthen her will as a person but would have destroyed a weaker person. i, being an example of such weaker person, as i read what angelou encountered, i thought to myself, i would have never been able to survive.
the first traumatizing experience that occurred when angelou and bailey went to live with their mother. i was surprised to discovered that she was raped by her mother's boyfriend at the time. angelou's recounting of the episode was completely honest, sharing how she even longed for the comfort that being held by him provided her. being a child, she had no idea the intention of his hugging, simply wanting to be held by a father figure. it makes her raping even more heartbreaking because she was simply looking for love, not knowing how she was going to be taken advantage of. luckily and thankfully, her family discovered what had occurred and the mother's boyfriend was put on trial, though he only served a year and a couple of months. outrageous considering that he raped her! but he ended dying, by angelou's uncles, i am assuming, as how the episode is shared. though she did suffer a bout of depression and withdrew from the world, and stopped talking. she ultimately overcame it, thanks to mrs. flowers, a family friend, who shared books with her and helped her find her voice again.
the other traumatizing experience that occurred was when angelou went to live with her father. his girlfriend at the time was very young, and disgustingly jealous of angelou. they ended up physically fighting and as a result, angelou ran away and lived with a bunch of homeless teens in a junk yard. i was impressed by angelou's ability to survive on her own. i mean there was no way that i could have ran away from home and taken care of myself. i mean she was part of a little community but still.
the last thing that surprised me was that i had no idea that angelou was a teen mother. as angelou shared, she became determined to lose her virginity. since she did not have a boyfriend, she decided to ask her neighbor to have sex with her. he consented, they had sex, and she ended up pregnant! she had the child, a son, and i know why the caged bird sings is dedicated to him.
i always knew maya angelou was an amazing woman, but she truly was! to endure all that she did and to grow and become a better person from it as a opposed to become a victim, demonstrated what a strong heart she had.
