#BookReview: I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings By Maya Angelou
Emeka Nwakobi
Like every other autobiography she wrote, this one too reads like an amazing work of fiction, with the sequence of events ordered in such a way that is believable and at the same time slightly unbelievable as with fiction. Little wonder why her works is described in some quarters as autobiographical-fiction.
Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson, gives us lessons in history, in this story that encapsulates her childhood up until she turns 17. She leads us through the living condition of blacks at the time, her struggle to accept the humanity of whites and her grapples with the perplexing issue of race as it relates to skin colour; superficial or inconsequential, but it was the measure which at the time determined what a person got from life, or how ones journey in life ended. It was a bitter struggle between the white supremacist and blacks who were ready to give up anything, even their dignity to have some peace.
A number of racial incidents came up in this story that are capable of evoking a great depth of sadness in anyone. One of such was when Willie, the crippled son of Annie Johnson, had to lay flat in a bin only to be covered with layers and layers of potatoes and onions, just to keep him out of harm’s way. This event been the direct result of a nigger haven messed with a white lady, and some of “the boys,” who are in fact law, would take it upon their shoulders to ensure adequate punishment is meted out to every black person they could find, for whatever unruly behavior displayed by one black man.
Another such incident that immediately sent one into a rage, was the tooth ache incident. Maya plagued with two rotten teeth and unable to lead a normal life owing to the nerve racking pain, is taken by Momma to see the closest dentist; a Whiteman whom Momma had lent money to save him from losing his clinic during the depression. One would expect a man who had been saved from plunging down a cliff to return the favour, but treating a nigger is against his principle, notwithstanding taking money from a nigger isn’t. He would rather put his hands inside the mouth of a dog, than in the mouth of a young black girl writhing in pain. Momma, overly religious, keeps her morality aside and goes for revenge. She makes him pay a ten dollar interest on the money she had lent him, though it hadn’t been the agreement.
At the age of three Maya is shipped by her father, as their parents decided to end their disastrous marriage, alongside her brother Bailey who was then four, all the way from Long Beach California to Stamps, Arkansas. With a only a porter who got off in Arizona as guide and tags on their wrists which instructed “To whom it may concern.” They are traumatized from the obvious abandonment, and this event more than anything else would go on to shape their lives. Her love for pineapples that she said nearly drove her mad, rivaled only by her love for her brother, raw and unscathed is threatened, as their father arrives a year later and carries them away with his charms and his air of condescension to St. Louis, where they meet with their mother and Bailey falls heads over heel in love with his mother dear.
Calamity awaited them in St. Louis, as she is raped at the age of eight by Mr. Freeman, her mother’s boyfriend. Maya is traumatised by the events leading up to the rape and after the rape, she loses the power of speech. The Baxter family tough as always, wouldn’t tolerate an unruly child who wouldn’t talk to or greet anyone. Arrangements are made, and in a short while she and Bailey are returned to Stamps, Arkansas. Bailey’s heart is broken as he loses for the second time his mother dear. It is this heartbreak, coupled with racism and a series of other events that are no less related, that sends him back into the hands his mother dear.
Maya has always been overly concerned and conscious of the physical disparity between her and her family, nonetheless, aware of her mental strength. She drives her drunk father through a lonely Mexican road, even though she had never driven or had any formal driving lessons before. She would go ahead in her exploit and blind courage to become the first black woman (male or female), Conductorette on the San Francisco street cars. It is not these fit that established her eccentricity, it is her sexual awakening, her yawning for self-discovery, her fear of being different, of being a lesbian that led her to the fine young man she had an uneventful sex with, which led to an unplanned pregnancy and unavoidable motherhood.
At once humorous and painful, a number of issues are worthy of reckon, questions raised. Why would any parent have their 3 and 4 year old kids, travel all by themselves? Why would anybody rape an eight year old child? Would this incident have been avoided, but for the divorce? Would one be wrong to say divorce is somewhat evil? Why would the Baxter’s expect an eight year old to so easily overcome the trauma associated with rape? Is their intolerance related to the psychological disposition of the people of that time? One cannot help but wonder why Bailey Johnson never bothered to look for his daughter, after she ran away from the friends’ he kept her after the fight with his girlfriend. What transpired during the month she spent incommunicado in that junkyard? Was she declared a missing person? There seems to be vital loopholes at this phase. But in all, Maya went from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware.
Maya Angelou is one of the strongest voices, to have ever risen against racism, human right and social justice. She died in 2014, at Winston Salem, North Carolina, United States.
