Anton Xue											Xue 1
Mr. Mikalaitis
	Throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Maya steadily gains self-awareness through interactions with strong women in her life. She goes from feeling like a package to a proud, beautiful, grown woman as she grows up with Momma and Vivian, and finds herself through meeting many people.
I. When Maya initially starts the book, she is shipped from California to Stamps.
	A. This is the very first stage of Maya’s search for self-awareness. In this stage, Maya is 	feeling lonely, with only her brother.
		1. “When I was three and Bailey was four, we had arrived in the musty little town, 		wearing tags on our wrists which instructed - “To Whom It May Concern” - that 			we were Marguerite and Bailey Johnson Jr., from Long Beach, California, 				en route to Stamps, Arkansas, c/o Mrs. Annie Henderson” (Angelou 5).
		2. Maya describes herself like she is describing a package being sent from one 			location to another. This quote shows that Maya did not have her parents in her 			presence early in her life. She feels like they had abandoned her, shown when she 			cries upon receiving the Christmas presents from them.
	B. With no parents to look after her, Bailey became very important to Maya.
		1.”My pretty Black brother was my Kingdom Come” (Angelou 24).
		2. Bailey is the only person in Maya’s life who has remained constant with her. 			While her parents had sent her off to Stamps, and Momma was left behind for St.
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		Louis, and later, California, Bailey was the only person who had been with Maya 			for the greatest portion of her early life.
II. Momma and Mother are important figures in Maya’s life that help her find self-awareness.
	A. Momma shows Maya that a strong woman can be strong by just simply being herself. 		She does not need to stoop to a low level to prove her strength.
		1. “Her face was a brown moon that shone on me. She was beautiful. Something 			had happened out there, which I couldn’t completely understand, but I could see 			that she was happy. Then she bent down and touched me as mothers of the 			church “lay hands on 	the sick and afflicted” and I was quieted” (Angelou 33).
		2. By ignoring the Powhite trash girls, Momma shows Maya that she can trump 			over racism by simply ignoring it, while displaying herself as the superior woman. 		Being aggravated by and killing the girls won’t help.
	B. Vivian shows Maya that she needs to stand up for herself to be truly a strong woman.
		1. Vivian does not back down when her business partner calls her a “bitch”. 			Rather, she shoots him.
		2. “In a foolhardy gesture the man relieved himself of still another “bitch” - and 			Mother shot him. She had anticipated some trouble when she determined to speak 			to him and so had taken the precaution to slip a little .32 in her big skirt pocket” 			(Angelou 208).
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		3. “’Bah Jesus, if you ever get into jail for stealing or some such foolishness, I’ll 			let you rot. But if you’re arrested for fighting, I’ll sell the house, lock, stock, and 			barrel, to get you out!’” (Angelou 66).
		4. Grandfather Baxter’s quote is directly portrayed in Vivian’s character. The 			Baxter family highly values self-awareness, shown in the fact that they are willing 		to sacrifice a lot to bail someone out of jail if that person had stood up for himself 			and gotten himself into a fight.
III. Maya’s interactions with other people help her regain her self-awareness
	A. The Junkyard shows Maya that there are good people in the world, and to her, is like a 	home in a world that largely rejected her.
		1. “The unquestioning acceptance by my peers had dislodged the familiar 				insecurity . Odd that the homeless children, the silt of war frenzy, could initiate 			me onto the brotherhood of man” (Angelou 255).
		2. By living in the Junkyard, Maya regained her self-identity as a human. Before, 			she felt rejected by everyone who was close to her.
		3. “After hunting down unbroken bottles and selling them with a white girl from 			Missouri, a Mexican girl from Los Angeles and a Black girl from Oklahoma, I 			was never again to sense myself so solidly outside the pale of the human race” 			(Angelou 255).

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	B. Maya meeting the conmen that her father had brought to talk to her is an important 	stage in her life in because she realizes even though one may be born low, he can still rise 	to be great.
		1. “We are the victims of the world’s most comprehensive robbery. Life demands 			a balance. It’s all right if we do a little robbing now” (Angelou 226).
		2. “By all accounts those storytellers, born Black and male before the turn of the 			twentieth century, should have been ground into useless dust. Instead they used 			their intelligence to pry open the door of rejection and not only became wealthy 			but got some revenge in the bargain” (Angelou 225).
		3. By hearing about the stories, Maya beings to realize that even if she was not 			only born as an African American and neglected, she could still mount to 				something. This gives her confidence in her life.