Caged Bird Sings Figurative Language

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Maya Angelou wrote I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings in 1969. In her book, she uses a several rhetorical devices to help us better understand her perspective on how poorly black peoples lived and were treated during this time. One theme in this book is race, the reader gains more knowledge on the subject of living life as a black young woman. Maya also applies imagery in her book to give the reader context and to bring them in while reading the story. Another strategy this author uses is symbolism, such as The Store. She used a lot of figurative language to help us feel what she is feeling and see what she is seeing. One of Maya Angelou’s themes is race. The book is called I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Maya uses symbolism when saying ‘caged bird’. This is a symbol of racism and inequality. It explains how blacks were perceived as caged and held back by white people. An example of this is when Maya shared that black people could not have vanilla ice cream but only on special holidays. Maya utilizes the words ‘caged bird’ by showing the reader or audience how tough it was to be an African American female during this period in time. …show more content…
She often talks about ’powhitetrash’ people. She uses imagery to describe the girls to have “...greasy uncolored hair hung down, uncombed”(Angelou 51). Imagery is used a lot in this book. It helps the reader to have a better understanding of what her life was like being black and also being a women. It also helps place things into perspective so the reader can imagine the smell, sights, noises, etc. Maya shares another piece of imagery, “...a plain ugly cut-down from a white woman's once-was-purple throwaway...made my skin look dirty like mud, and everyone in church was looking at my skinny legs”(Angelou). When she describes her dress like this, Maya exuded her self-conscious and discomfort as she feels others were staring at her legs and ugly dress the entire time while at
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