I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

88 pages • 2 hours read

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Maya AngelouNonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1969

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Introduction

Before Reading

During Reading

After Reading

During Reading

Reading Questions & Paired Texts

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Introduction-Chapter 3

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Reading Check

1. What kind of business did Momma run before she opened the Store?

2. Where does Uncle Willie hide?

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Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Briefly describe the anecdote Angelou relays in the Introduction. Why does she begin the book with this scene?

2. What is the nature of Uncle Willie’s disability, and how did he acquire it?

Paired Resource

“Maya Angelou’s Childhood Places in Stamps, Arkansas”

In this 3-minute video, Rebecca Beech explores Maya Angelou’s childhood town of Stamps, Arkansas. Escorted by the city’s mayor, Rebecca visits Angelou’s church and the home where Angelou grew up, among other sites.
Stamps, Arkansas, was essential in creating Angelou’s Identity and a Sense (or lack thereof) of Belonging. For better or for worse, Stamps shaped the woman she eventually grew up to be.
What strikes you about the sites Rebecca tours in this video? Does the church look as you expected?

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. What does Angelou notice about Mr. McElroy that is unusual compared to other Black people in Stamps?

2. Why do Angelou and Bailey dislike Reverend Thomas?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Momma has Angelou and Bailey adhere to strict rules while living in her house. What’s an example of one such rule?

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. Angelou and Bailey are forced to eat which two powdered foods to save money?

2. When Bailey is reunited with their biological mother, he is enchanted with her beauty and charm. What is the term of endearment he uses when referring to her?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why doesn’t Angelou know much about Momma’s ex-husbands?

Paired Resource

“How the New Deal Left Out African Americans”

This video from The Smithsonian explores how unemployment among Black Americans was twice that of whites during the Great Depression.
This piece zeroes in on the profound Race and Racism that affected American history during this period and how Black Americans, like Angelou and her family, were even more devastated by this already crippling national crisis.
How are Angelou and her family “left out” of the New Deal benefits?

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. Who does Mr. Freeman threaten to kill if Angelou tells anyone he sexually assaulted her?

2. Vivian mistakenly thinks that Angelou has no appetite due to what illness?

Short Answer

1. Why is Uncle Tommy Angelou’s favorite uncle? What advice does he give her?

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. How long is Mr. Freeman’s prison sentence?

2. After Angelou helps Mrs. Flowers bring home groceries, they drink tea and read the first pages of what novel?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What do the residents of Stamps think is Angelou’s reason for not speaking?

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. What job does Angelou take in Stamps when she is 10 years old?

2. How much does Momma give to Angelou and Bailey as allowance each weekend?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Angelou look upon the cotton pickers with disdain when they stop by the Store at the end of a workday?

Chapters 19-21

Reading Check

1. What are the families in the Store listening to on the radio?

2. Who asks Angelou to be his Valentine?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What effect does Bailey’s exploration of sexuality have on his relationship with Angelou?

Paired Resource

“The Legacy of Joe Louis’ Loss to Max Schmeling on Juneteenth”

This piece from the Guardian reflects one of the most famous moments in boxing history: when Joe Louis bludgeoned Germany’s Max Schmeling in 1938.
Discusses how this moment was deeply symbolic as a triumph against fascism and Race and Racism.
What did you learn in this piece that helps expand your knowledge about why Joe Louis is a key figure for Maya Angelou?

Chapters 22-24

Reading Check

1. What novel is Angelou reading when Mr. George Taylor comes into the Store to tell Momma that his wife died?

2. What does Bailey give to Angelou as a graduation present from Lafayette County Training School?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the ordeal Angelou endures when she develops two painful cavities in her teeth. What meaning does this experience hold for Angelou and her development?

Chapters 25-27

Reading Check

1. Which two book characters does Bailey emulate with his English accent?

2. What population is forced out of San Francisco, making room for Southern Black people like Angelou and her family to move there?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. When Angelou thinks about returning to California, she feels a surge of guilt and describes it as a “much-missed friend” (201). Why does she feel guilty, and why does she refer to guilt as a “friend”?

Chapters 28-30

Reading Check

1. At 14 years old, Angelou receives a scholarship to what school?

2. What card game does Daddy Clidell teach Angelou to play?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Angelou sees an entirely different side of her father when they travel to Mexico together. How does her perception of him change?

Paired Resource

“Guy Johnson on Being Dr. Maya Angelou’s Son: ‘I Grew Up in Her Light’”

Maya Angelou’s son briefly discusses his relationship with his mother in this short video for Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday program.
Relationships between parent and child, particularly strained and challenging ones, arise in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as Angelou struggles to find her Identity and develop a Sense of Belonging within her community.
How does Maya’s relationship with her son compare to her relationship with her father? What does Guy Johnson mean that he “grew up in her light”?

Chapters 31-33

Reading Check

1. Angelou spends a month living with a homeless community in what location?

2. Why does Vivian order Bailey to move out of the house?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does Dolores attack Angelou with a hammer? Why doesn’t her father take her to the hospital?

Chapters 34-36

Reading Check

1. What does Angelou want to do for work when she decides to get a job?

2. In what state does Vivian open a nightclub when Angelou is six months pregnant?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. What prompts Angelou to believe that she may be a lesbian? Describe the book she reads that inspires this notion and her logic for thinking that this could be so.

Recommended Next Reads

Gather Together in My Name by Maya Angelou

This book is the second installment of Angelou’s seven-volume autobiography series that picks up where the first book leaves off. It recounts a three-year period following World War II.
Shared themes include Identity and a Sense of Belonging and Race and Racism.
Shared topics include loneliness and overcoming hardship.
Gather Together in My Name on SuperSummary

Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou

Published in 2009, 40 years after I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou looks back at her life through short essays and poems, this time focusing her recollections on the powerful female relationships in her life, particularly with her mother and grandmother.
Shared themes include the Power of Words and Race and Racism.
Shared topics include maternal relationships and sexism.
Letter to My Daughter on SuperSummary

Reading Questions Answer Key

Introduction-Chapter 3

Reading Check

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1. A mobile lunch counter (Chapter 1)

2. A vegetable bin (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

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1. The Introduction is a vignette of Angelou reciting a poem during Easter service at church. She forgets the lines of the poem and flees the church, soiling herself with urine as she runs away. The Introduction sets the stage for one of the book’s primary themes: Identity and a Sense of Belonging, particularly the pain of feeling different from one’s community. (Introduction)

2. The left side of Uncle Willie’s body is paralyzed, so he uses a cane to walk. He became paralyzed when his babysitter dropped him when he was three. (Chapter 2)

Chapters 4-6

Reading Check

1. He wears a suit. (Chapter 4)

2. Because he never remembers their names, and he is obese and “ugly.” (Chapter 6)

Short Answer

1. Momma ensures they wash themselves daily because dirtiness is the “inventor of misery” (28). She also insists that the children always be respectful. (Chapter 5)

Chapters 7-9

Reading Check

1. Powdered milk and powdered eggs (Chapter 8)

2. “Mother Dear” (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Momma is secretive about her ex-husbands. She never answers any questions directly unless they’re questions on religion. (Chapter 7)

Chapters 10-12

Reading Check

1. Bailey (Chapter 11)

2. Measles (Chapter 12)

Short Answer

1. Uncle Tommy is her favorite because he tells her not to worry about her looks. He advises her that it’s better to have “a good mind than a cute behind.” (Chapter 10)

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. A year and a day (Chapter 13)

2. A Tale of Two Cities (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. They assume she prefers the glamorous world of St. Louis to the country life of Stamps. They also believe her to be “tender-hearted” and delicate. (Chapter 14)

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. Working as a maid at Mrs. Viola Cullinan’s house (Chapter 16)

2. 10 cents (Chapter 17)

Short Answer

1. She regards them with disdain because they’ve allowed themselves to be worked “like oxen” (121). Even more shameful is that they pretend things are not as bad as they are regarding racial discrimination and poverty. (Chapter 18)

Chapters 19-21

Reading Check

1. A broadcast of a boxing match between Joe Louis and Primo Carnera (Chapter 19)

2. Tommy (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. Bailey used to be Angelou’s closest friend, but his preoccupation with exploring his sexuality causes a rift between them. They grow distant, and Angelou seeks friendship and camaraderie with Louise Kendricks in his place. (Chapter 21)

Chapters 22-24

Reading Check

1. Jane Eyre (Chapter 22)

2. A leather-bound copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s poems (Chapter 23)

Short Answer

1. Momma attempts to convince a white dentist to treat Angelou, to no avail. The white dentists in Stamps do not treat Black people. As such, Angelou must be taken to Texarkana for an appointment with a Black doctor. This entire ordeal underscores for Angelou the deeply entrenched racism in Stamps. (Chapter 24)

Chapters 25-27

Reading Check

1. D’Artagnan and the Count of Monte Cristo (Chapter 25)

2. The Japanese (Chapter 27)

Short Answer

1. Angelou feels guilt over Mr. Freeman still. She has typical survivor’s guilt, as though she somehow brought on the attack, but she also still feels the sting of guilt that she may have been responsible for his death. She describes guilt as a “friend” because it’s been a longstanding feature of her life. Even though it pains her, it comforts her because it’s familiar. (Chapter 26)

Chapters 28-30

Reading Check

1. The California Labor School (Chapter 28)

2. Poker (Chapter 29)

Short Answer

1. She saw him as a glamorous and pompous figure, but she begins to see him as a lonely man who feels entirely out of place wherever he goes. She detects a mismatch between his aspirations and his social standing. (Chapter 30)

Chapters 31-33

Reading Check

1. A local junkyard (Chapter 32)

2. He breaks curfew. (Chapter 33)

Short Answer

1. Dolores attacks Angelou because she hates her for being the daughter of Bailey Senior’s ex-wife. Dolores calls Vivian a “whore” before attacking Angelou. Bailey Senior opts not to take Angelou to a hospital after the attack because he does not want to jeopardize his reputation. (Chapter 31)

Chapters 34-36

Reading Check

1. Streetcar operator (Chapter 34)

2. Alaska (Chapter 36)

Short Answer

1. Angelou reads A Well of Loneliness and (mistakenly) concludes that “lesbian” is synonymous with “hermaphrodite.” Looking at her own changing body, which is not as feminine as other girls’ bodies, she begins to believe that she might be a “lesbian.” (Chapter 35)