I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou








I had heard of Maya Angelou's book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, mostly referred to as classical American and African American literature, and I was familiar with much of her poetry due to American literature classes in high school. What I did not know is that I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is an autobiography that was written on a dare. After hearing her life story, writer James Baldwin and editor Robert Loomis challenged Angelou to write it as a piece of literature. Angelou succeeded so exceptionally that some reviewers do not categorize it as nonfiction. Indeed, I was a quarter of the way through the book when I learned this, and had assumed that it was fiction.

Angelou's story begins in the deeply segregated Stamps, Arkansas, where she and her brother live with her paternal grandmother and her uncle. She speaks powerfully to her and her brother's feelings of abandonment as she describes how they were treated as baggage during their journey. A longing for love and acceptance from both of her parents laces throughout the work, and perhaps even intensifies during the periods where she lives with each of them, separately.

A second theme that Angelou weaves throughout her text is the effect of racism on herself and her brother. When Angelou gets a maid job in a white woman's house, she is re-named Mary by the housemistress, who seems to think it is a compliment. She only regains her name by breaking a favorite dish, then being abused and thrown out. The hurt and fear visited upon the child Maya is apparent through her silent defiance, although it becomes more intense as she talks about her brother, Bailey.

The third theme that Angelou's work engages is the misogyny and sexism which deeply impact her childhood. At the age of 8, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend. The fear and confusion she felt is conveyed by her abuse being intensely connected with death. With this connection Angelou draws a powerful parallel known intimately to rape survivors: namely, that rape is a waking death that will always be a part of you. The fear associated with womanhood follows Angelou through the book and this, combined with a lack of education about her own body - in those days talking about women's reproductive parts was considered indelicate for women - results in her becoming pregnant at 16. The book ends as she passes from naieve, fearful childhood to a womanhood where she can trust herself and her body.

I very much enjoyed reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou not only wove her three themes together masterfully, but did so with lyric, humor, frankness and percipience. When I finished the book I was eager to learn what happened next, and I may dig into the sequels soon, although I have heard this particular volume was her pièce de résistance.

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time

by Greg Mortenson and David O. Relin







In 1993 Greg Mortenson expected to summit K2 in honor of his late sister, Christa. What he didn't expect was to fail his attempt, get lost on the mountain twice, and fall in love with a small village named Korphe, impoverished and forgotten by its own country. Mortenson promised the village leader, Haji Ali, that he would return to build a school for Korphe. Thus began Dr. Greg's school-building saga.Mortenson's mission is to breathe life into the forgotten, poor and wor-torn villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan by educating their children, both girls and boys. Not only does he build schools, but he also builds whatever is necessary for the students to thrive in their education, be it bridges, wells, or women's centers. Mortenson helps the villages to build these structures for themselves, a monument that they can put to immediate use and be proud of as a community. Mortenson builds these schools in the face of kidnapping, fatwas, death threats, loss of funding, 9-11, and war. His is an amazing and inspirational story of kindness, learning, and understanding. While the writing was a bit choppy, journalistic and, at times, cheesy, the story drew me in and captured my attention. You can learn more about Mortenson's campaign at the website for his foundation, the Central Asia Institute.

Finding Angela Shelton

Finding Angela Shelton: The True Story of One Woman's Triumph Over Sexual Abuse

by Angela Shelton







Finding Angela Shelton is a quasi-memoir written documenting the making of the documentary Searching for Angela Shelton. The idea behind the documentary was that she would travel around the country to survey women in America by meeting those that share her name, Angela Shelton (I had originally wanted to see the documentary but had a hard time getting my hands on it, so I read the book instead; now I'm more determined than ever to find the documentary). She thought it would be a fun and quirky documentary, however the film soon took another path as she learned that over 70% of the Angela Sheltons she talked to had been sexually or physically abused/assaulted in their lifetimes. A victim of childhood sexual abuse herself, Angela is mired in flashbacks. When she learns that one of the Angela Sheltons tracks sexual predators for a living and lives in the same town as her molester - her father - she knows that she needs to confrot him. When a broken bone has not been treated, it must be rebroken and set in order for it to heal properly. Similarly, Angela must delve into her personal history of sexual abuse and confront her abuser in order to heal both herself and others.

This book really hit me in the gut. While the author's childhood sexual abuse was both similar to and different from mine, many of her feelings and thoughts on her trauma reflected mine. As I sit here, I still cannot say what happened to me and am blushing with embarrassment whenever I write about the subject. But her message is that silence only allows abuse to continue shrouded in a shame that should be felt by the perpetrators but is all to often only felt by the victims. It is a call to action for people to open their eyes to the abuse that is epidemic in our society, for victim/survivors to shout and scream and make ourselves known, because what has been seen cannot be unseen and only when we force people to believe yes we ARE HERE yes we DO EXIST and we are NUMEROUS, will real change occur. Until then, the abusers will have the power through denial, blame and shame.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death

by Jean-Dominique Bauby







The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was a delightful, quick read that I would reccommend to anyone. It is an autobiography, but it's more than just an autobiography. French Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a stroke at the age of 43, leaving him with locked-in syndrome, in which he was paralyzed everywhere except for his eyelids. He likens this to being trapped under a diving bell. He learns, however, to escape his prison by letting his mind travel wherever he chooses to go: "My diving bell becomes less oppressive, and my mind takes flight like a butterfly." Bauby weaves his daydreams and memories together with his day-to-day therapy, visits from friends and family, and the process of writing his memoir, often giving a bitersweet contrast of joy and frustration, of companionship and isolation. Bauby tells each tale, mundane or extrordionary, with rich imagery and wit that draws you in to his every word. Take, for example, this passage where he explains how he communicates:

ESARINTULOMDPCFB
VHGJQZYXKW

The jumbled appearence of my chorus line stems not from chance but from cunning calculation. More than an alphabet, it is a hit parade in which each letter is placed according to the frequency of its use in the French language. That is why E dances proudly out in front, while E labors to hold on to last place. B resents being pushed back next to V, and haughty J-which begins so many sentences in French-is amazed to find itself so near the rear of the pack. Roly-poly G is annoyed to have to trade places with H, while T and U, the tender components of tu, rejoice that they have not ben separated. All this reshuffling has a purpose: to make it easier for those who wish to communicate with me.

It is with this voice that Bauby draws us into his life: into his memories, into the hospital where there are those who are kind and those who wish to forget him, and into his effusive imagination. His story ends as frankly as it begins, and left me with the same bittersweetness that peppers this memoir, knowing that its author died just two days after his book was published in France.