Bibliography
Course Hero. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Study Guide." Course Hero. 13 Oct. 2016. Web. 31 May 2023. <https://www.coursehero.com/lit/I-Know-Why-the-Caged-Bird-Sings/>.
In text
(Course Hero)
Bibliography
Course Hero. (2016, October 13). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Study Guide. In Course Hero. Retrieved May 31, 2023, from https://www.coursehero.com/lit/I-Know-Why-the-Caged-Bird-Sings/
In text
(Course Hero, 2016)
Bibliography
Course Hero. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Study Guide." October 13, 2016. Accessed May 31, 2023. https://www.coursehero.com/lit/I-Know-Why-the-Caged-Bird-Sings/.
Footnote
Course Hero, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Study Guide," October 13, 2016, accessed May 31, 2023, https://www.coursehero.com/lit/I-Know-Why-the-Caged-Bird-Sings/.
Maya visits Daddy Bailey in California. She runs away and stays with homeless teens in a junkyard.
Chapter 30Maya gets a job as the first African American female streetcar conductor in San Francisco.
Chapter 34| Chapter | Summary |
|---|---|
| Introduction | In the untitled introduction of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, young Maya attempts to recite a poem in church for the ... Read More |
| Chapter 1 | At age three, Maya and her brother, Bailey, one year older, travel alone by train from Long Beach, California, to Stamps... Read More |
| Chapter 2 | Uncle Willie, who was disabled in a childhood accident, lives at the General Store with Momma. He has difficulty with wa... Read More |
| Chapter 3 | Maya enjoys helping out at the General Store, taking pride in her accurate weighing and measuring skills. The store is h... Read More |
| Chapter 4 | Maya describes her childhood fascination with a neighbor, Mr. McElroy. He wears suits and allows Maya and Bailey to play... Read More |
| Chapter 5 | Momma is a strict disciplinarian, instilling the values of cleanliness and politeness in Maya and Bailey. These values a... Read More |
| Chapter 6 | Momma is very active in the local church. Every three months, when the presiding district elder visits the Christian Met... Read More |
| Chapter 7 | After Maya's grandfather, Mr. Johnson, left Momma "around the turn of the century with two small sons to raise," she mar... Read More |
| Chapter 8 | The strong racial prejudice in the white section of Stamps creates an attitude of "fear-admiration-contempt" in the Afri... Read More |
| Chapter 9 | When Maya is seven, her father pays a surprise visit. Maya and Bailey had "built such elaborate fantasies about him and ... Read More |
| Chapter 10 | Grandmother Baxter is of mixed race and looks "nearly white." Raised in Illinois by a German family, she speaks with a G... Read More |
| Chapter 11 | Maya decides she doesn't really feel at home in St. Louis: she dislikes the noise, the bustle, and even the packaged foo... Read More |
| Chapter 12 | Months go by, and one spring day Mr. Freeman approaches Maya again, but this time he rapes her. He threatens to kill her... Read More |
| Chapter 13 | Maya is sent to the hospital, where Bailey persuades her to tell him who raped her. Her grandmother and her uncles rally... Read More |
| Chapter 14 | The quiet "barrenness" of Stamps, where nothing much ever changes, is something of a balm to Maya's pain. The locals flo... Read More |
| Chapter 15 | After Maya spends a year in silence and withdrawal, Mrs. Bertha Flowers reaches out to her, throwing her "a lifeline." M... Read More |
| Chapter 16 | Angelou discusses how girls are prepared for adulthood, noting African American girls' training tends to include old-fas... Read More |
| Chapter 17 | Angelou paints a picture of life in Stamps on weekends, when farmers and their children stop at the Grocery Store on the... Read More |
| Chapter 18 | Angelou describes the cotton pickers who come to the General Store at the end of their workday, exhausted, aching, but p... Read More |
| Chapter 19 | The General Store is jam-packed with local families who have come to listen to the radio broadcast of a boxing match bet... Read More |
| Chapter 20 | Maya wanders away from the Stamps summer picnic fish fry—with all of its fabulous foods, music, and fun activities—to fi... Read More |
| Chapter 21 | When Bailey is 11 years old, he sets up a makeshift tent behind the house where he "plays house." Fully clothed, he simu... Read More |
| Chapter 22 | One November night as a storm is blowing up, Mr. George Taylor comes to the General Store after it has closed for the ni... Read More |
| Chapter 23 | Maya is graduating from the eighth grade, and Momma sews a special dress for her to wear to the ceremony. Angelou descri... Read More |
| Chapter 24 | Maya has two very painful cavities, and the nearest African American dentist is 25 miles away. Momma decides to take her... Read More |
| Chapter 25 | Momma tells Maya and Bailey that she's taking them to California because they're growing up, and they need to be with th... Read More |
| Chapter 26 | When Maya and Momma arrive in California, she is struck by the contrast between her mother, Vivian, and Momma as they em... Read More |
| Chapter 27 | With the start of World War II, prejudice against those with Japanese ancestry created major changes in San Francisco's ... Read More |
| Chapter 28 | At her first high school in San Francisco, Maya encounters prejudice and mean, tough fellow students. Then she transfers... Read More |
| Chapter 29 | In San Francisco, Maya's family lives in a 14-room house they share with a variety of boarders. The roomers bring Maya i... Read More |
| Chapter 30 | Maya takes the train to southern California to spend her summer vacation with Daddy Bailey. Because of her father's airs... Read More |
| Chapter 31 | After Maya and her father return, Dolores argues with Daddy Bailey, claiming he's allowing his children to come between ... Read More |
| Chapter 32 | After leaving the unknown couple's trailer, Maya wanders the streets for a while and then spends time at the public libr... Read More |
| Chapter 33 | Maya feels more grown-up when she returns to San Francisco, and Bailey has changed, too. His new friends are "slick stre... Read More |
| Chapter 34 | Needing something to distract her and perk up her life, Maya decides she wants to get a job as a streetcar operator. Bec... Read More |
| Chapter 35 | After reading a book about lesbianism, Maya is confused about how people of the same gender make love. She concludes the... Read More |
| Chapter 36 | Maya tells herself that if she can have a baby, then at least that proves she isn't a lesbian. She accepts that she is c... Read More |
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