I wanted to read “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” for multiple reasons. One of them being because I looked up background on the author: Maya Angelou. Angelou was a poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist with an empowering story. Growing up as a marginalized outcast, Angelou was treated essentially as though she was worth nothing. I was fascinated by the idea that someone who had gone through so much had still been able to persevere and amount to the incredible women that Maya Angelou was.

In just the first four pages, I had a strong feeling I would love this book. Hearing about Angelou’s everyday life as well as her life story was very interesting. I am so intrigued by this book because it offers an entirely new perspective that I would otherwise have had no idea about. Living with two happily married parents, going to school at Fremd Highschool, and being treated as an equal in society, I would never be able to imagine the pain that comes from those who live in impoverished and dangerous conditions, as well as segregated from the rest of society simply because of the color of their skin. So far this book has given me insight into a life with struggles entirely different than mine. Some of the stories are very hard to read knowing that these unfortunate circumstances actually happened to someone. People treated them as though they were worthless. People were cruel. Life was insanely difficult. As hard as these situations may be to read about, I am very glad that this book has given me the opportunity to take a new perspective.