To Kill A Mockingbird By Maya Angelou

Furthermore, to the Black race they’re sickening leading to their isolation caused by cultural and racial rejection. In “I know why the caged bird sings”, Angelou confronts the challenges of segregation and isolation from a very young age, “His victory means everything to them; they pin their hopes for dignity and equality on it... If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings.” (5) Maya’s perception of her race and even herself is dangerously influenced by the attitudes around her and especially the views of men in her life.

Maya Angelou is one of the most distinguished African American writers of the twentieth century. Writing is not her only forte she is a poet, director, composer, lyricist, dancer, singer, journalist, teacher, and lecturer (Angelou and Tate, 3). Angelou’s American Dream is articulated throughout her five part autobiographical novels; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in my Name, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas, The Heart of a Woman, and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes. Maya Angelou’s American Dream changed throughout her life: in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya’s American dream was to fit into a predominantly white society in small town

Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is the story of two children coming of age and learning about their hometown and the whole world. The two children in the story are Jem and Scout Finch. Jem and Scout live with their father, Atticus, in Maycomb County. Throughout the story, many problems arise which teach both children about bravery. The three bravest characters in the novel include their neighbor Mrs. Dubose, a convicted black man named Tom Robinson, and their father Atticus.

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird says, “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what” (Lee 149). Atticus is the best example of what courage is this book for three major reasons. First, he is a single parent, secondly he defended Tom Robinson, and finally because he was willing to spare Mr. Arthur suffering by allowing his son, Jem, to take the responsibility of Mr. Bob Ewell’s Death.

(2) “Buna is a very good camp. One can hold one’s own here. The most important thing is not to be assigned to the construction Kommando.” This may not seem like much, but this affects the story a great amount. It affected Elies life, and whoever was near him a great deal. It would be different if the inmate’s hadn’t brought this up because Elie wouldn’t have known to avoid it, what if Elie thought it was a good idea to get into the construction Kommando? Then he might have not survived. It could have made a grave alter. The Inmate who had said this is a life saver. He probably wasn’t around to even find out.

Everyone is biased. That is the truth that no one can deny. However, it is how we react to the biases fed to us by society that truly exemplifies how much sympathy, compassion and intelligence we possess. Scout, the protagonist of Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, lived in Maycomb County, Alabama as a child. Maycomb’s predominantly Caucasian populace always trusted the words of the trashiest white man above the words of the kindest black man. Scout bluntly states to her older brother, Jem, that, “I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks” (Lee 304). She believes that whether they are black or white, rich or poor, people are all people and they are created equal. Scout displayed multiple times throughout the book that she did not agree with the townspeople on the subjects of race and class; she befriended individuals that were of lower status, she was raised and influenced by people who also disagreed with the townspeople, and she trusted African Americans.

Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, AL. Recently, she died on February 19, 2016 in her hometown. One of her most famous books published, To Kill a Mockingbird, occurred on July 11, 1960. It instantly became a success and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. The novel received positive reviews and achieved bestseller status. The plot and characters loosely resemble the author’s observations of her family and neighbors along with an event that occurred near her hometown around age 10. Many people look at To Kill a Mockingbird as autobiographical of Harper Lee’s life. Lee’s father is similar to the character Atticus Finch, being an attorney who defended two African Americans accused of murder. Also, Lee had a brother who like

Everyone grows up hearing elders saying how “back in their day”, things were done differently. Although it often makes people roll their eyes when they hear that saying, it tends to be true. Each generation has its own pros and cons, and each time period is unlike the previous one. This is especially true for the 1930s, where discrimination was at its peak since the Civil War, and the majority of the United States was in extreme poverty. This sets the scene for the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, where the young narrator, Scout, tells the events that happen in the small town of Maycomb. The plot of the novel, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, has a more profound effect since it is set in the 1930s.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a novel written by Harper Lee. It is a novel that addresses issues of race, class, gender roles and destructions of innocence. The title is symbolic to the plot of the novel. Moreover, it serves as a metaphor which in turn serves as a warning for people to judge their own souls, rather than what is seen by the eyes. The mocking bad is used as a symbol of innocence, yet people are hurt throughout the novel. As a metaphor because, initially, the author writes, to kill a mocking bad is a sin, and as the story progresses, there is no scene where a mockingbird was actually killed, and in reality, but Tom Robinson, an innocent person was brutally struck down due to bigotry and prejudice.

“If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat” (Angelou, 4). In the novel, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, the readers see a six-year old Southern Black girl who hopes to fit into society and to be a “long and blond” (Angelou, 2) haired, “light blue” (Angelou, 2) eyed, White girl, transform into a mature adult who is proud to be an African American. From a shy and insecure little girl, she transforms into a self-confident young woman who despite going through many struggles, triumphs. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, one sees Marguerite Johnson’s ability to mature and grow by dealing with the matters of prejudice, rape, and abandonment.

Maya Angelou was a phenomenal writer. In her novel, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, she wrote about the situations that she experienced from childhood to adulthood. In the novel, she expressed that she experienced racism at a very young age. Maya talks about the fact that she had to live on one side of town with the black people, and white people lived on the other side. As a child she had the idea that straight, blonde hair was beautiful. In the story she says, “Wouldn’t they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream,

Maya Angelou’s classic novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a tale of an African American family facing racism, oppression and prejudice acts in the deep south of Stamps, Arkansas in the 1930’s and 1950’s. Throughout Maya’s early childhood she suffers from traumatizing events, that leads to her powerful voice of inspiration that challenges the dominant ideology of racism. Throughout Maya’s novel her tone can be summarized as personal, scorn, and serious. Her purpose of writing I know Why the Caged Bird Sings was to tell her and her family's story of survival; resilence. To grace the world with enlightenment on how strong the African American community could be if we were to work together.

In today's society, it is possible for a woman to achieve nearly anything; however, for a woman of yesterday's society, bringing world-wide recognition to the many faces of prejudice is an accomplishment of its own. Author Harper Lee has had the honor to accomplish just that through her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a moving and inspirational story about a young girl learning the difference between the good and the bad of the world. In the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926. Growing up, Harper Lee had three siblings: two sisters and an older brother. She and her siblings grew up modestly. Even though money was not as much of a problem for her family as it was for others of their time, her father never did spoil her and her siblings. Lee and her brother attended a public grammar school in Monroe County, and Harper Lee continued to further her education after her high school graduation. She attended Huntingdon College for a year and then transferred to the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa where she studied law from 1945 to 1949. While she was at the University of Alabama, she was also an exchange student at Oxford University in England for a year.

Though Harper Lee only published two novels, her accomplishments are abundant. Throughout her career Lee claimed: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fiction, and Quill Award for Audio Book. Lee was also inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This honor society is a huge accomplishment and is considered the highest recognition for artistic talent and accomplishment in the United States. Along with these accomplishments, her novel To Kill a Mockingbird was voted the best novel of the twentieth century by Library Journal. With her first book, Lee shattered the cliche of what a first time author accomplishes. However, because of the major success Lee faced with her first novel, she had high standards to meet with her second novel. Go Set a Watchman was the heavily anticipated second novel of Harper Lee, and to many, the heavily disappointing novel. Many critics have noted on the changes in Lee’s works and have questioned her reasoning for releasing a second novel. Even with the slight falter due to her second book, Lee still generates a large fanbase, and continues to captivate the world with her novels.

The poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou tells the story of two birds: one bird has the luxury of freedom and the second bird lives its life caged and maltreated by an unknown tyrant. Maya Angelou wrote this poem during the Civil Rights Era, the period when black activists in the 1950’s and 1960’s fought for desegregation of African Americans. This poem parallels the oppression that African Americans were fighting during this time period. In “Caged Bird”, Angelou builds a strong contrast that shows the historical context of discrimination and segregation through the use of mood, symbolism, and theme.