Journal+Entry+3

__** "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" **__ ** By Maya Angelou ** ** Journal Entry 3- 22nd December 2010 (Pages 108-142) ** ** S. Ana Sutherland **

At this point in the story, Maya is very busy helping here Momma at the store. Saturdays are her favourite days, when she can relax and go to the movies with Bailey. One day when Bailey went to the movies, Maya didn't go with him- and when it got dark, he still hadn't come home. Maya and Momma walk out on the road to meet him, and eventually he comes home looking quite shaken. Then he tells Maya that the movie he watched had an actress it that looked just like their mother (although she was white). A few weeks later, he takes her to see another movie with Kay Francis, the actress who looks just like their mother. Later, farmers come into the store talking about God, and how they are lucky to be alive, but Maya feels upset and wonders that if Jesus is truly with these men, why does he not help them. Later that night, a preacher gives a sermon and talks about charity. In the next chapter, the store is filled with people watching a boxing match between a black man and a white man. Maya and all the black people in the store of course want Joe Louis to win, to prove that a black man can be a strong fighter. Joe Louis does win later. Later, Maya is at a picnic and becomes friends with a girl from school named Louise. Then she gets a valentine from a boy named Tommy Valdon, but rips it up. He forgets about her.

Is the setting of the novel important? I think the setting is very important- the town Maya lives in (Stamps, Arkansas) is particularly racist so if she lived somewhere else growing up would have been quite different for her. Unlike many novels, the setting in this autobiography is not something that could have been 'well chosen' or 'badly chosen' by the author- it is real, and because of that the setting is perfect. Of course, the time the novel is happening in (right now the 1930's-1940's) is very important too, because if this was present day then peoples attitudes would have been a lot different.

How does the author hold your interest? This is not really a book where you have to be captivated to read more- the book is kind of broken up, so it is more like just little story fragments rather than a whole plot. You read a chapter, which is one little story, then any time you can pick it up and read the next. I don't even think reading the chapters in order would be completely necessary, but advisable so you can get a sense of the world Maya lives in. But overall, Maya holds your interest by never failing to provide an excellent and interesting story.

Is it easy or hard to follow the events in this story? Yes, overall it is. It is written simply, and is not at all confusing. Like I said in the previous paragraph, each chapter is like a little story, so if something is hard to understand you can always just skip to the next chapter. The events in parts of the book can be slightly unclear in parts, as it is narrated by an eight year old (some of the time). Maya's thoughts are really the whole story, so if she is feeling upset then sometimes the meaning of the phrases can be slightly distorted- but it is mostly very easy to follow. 10/10