Journal+Entry+5

__** "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" **__ ** By Maya Angelou ** ** Journal Entry 5- 12th January 2011 (Pages 248-281) ** ** S. Ana Sutherland ** Maya returns from staying with her father to her mothers house and find it more boring than she remembered, Bailey is grown up and different too- he is more indifferent toward her, and doesn't pay her much attention. Bailey, after fighting with their mother, leaves home. Maya was hired as the first female black person to work as a street car operator in San Francisco. After a bit, she begins to think she is lesbian, which she thinks means a hermaphrodite. She feels she has to get a boyfriend, but she gets pregnant, and at the end of the book gives brith to a baby boy.

What is the climax of the novel? I think the climax of the novel is when Maya becomes pregnant. Even though it's near the end, it's a life changing event that could really hurt her future options. Her parents could have thrown her out, been cruel and harsh, and she could have been pregnant, homeless, and hungry, which would make it much harder to survive her preganacy. Instead the climax is resolved when her parents are kind and supportive, and they help her through it and Maya's mother tells her at the end that if she has good intentions, she will never hurt the baby (Maya is afraid of handling him).

How are the conflicts solved? Like mentioned in the previous paragraph, the conflicts were resolved by Maya having a supportive and loving family. Many other conflicts were resolved- by the end of the book, Maya is no longer living in the harsh town of Stamps, where there sometimes insn't enough food and the white people are cruel toward the black. She managed to get a job, when no other black person had ever held that post, and she made amends with her father before leaving him to live with her mother, the better choice.

What message did you get from this novel? The message I got from this novel is to be strong and to try and overcome the adversities in your life. Maya has strength that she uses to help her cope with many different situations. She managed to last until she was 17, when she got pregnant- a fate that could have destroyed her in religous Momma's house. Even though at times it didn't seem like it, Maya had a good sense of who she was that helped guide her. Therefore, if an autobiography can have a message, I think it would be the cliche 'stay strong and be true to yourself'.