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Maya Angelou is the narrator of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and the memoir tracks her life from the early years of her childhood, when she was called Marguerite Johnson. Maya has always been a smart, inquisitive person with a passion for spoken and written language. She tells the story of how racial and sexual discrimination and violence shaped her childhood and young adulthood. These experiences come to incite and inform her interest in literary studies; in many ways I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the story of how and why Angelou became a poet.
Maya Angelou Quotes in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings quotes below are all either spoken by Maya Angelou or refer to Maya Angelou. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Quotes
If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl, being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat.
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Chapter 3 Quotes
It seemed that the peace of day’s ending was an assurance that the covenant God made with children, Negroes, and the crippled was still in effect.
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Chapter 4 Quotes
When I was described by our playmates as being shit color, he was lauded for his velvet-black skin…And yet he loved me.
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In Stamps the segregation was so complete that most Black children didn’t really, absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than that they were different, to be dreaded.
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Chapter 7 Quotes
Momma intended to teach Bailey and me to use the paths of life she and her generation and all the Negroes gone before had found, and found to be safe ones.
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Chapter 11 Quotes
He held me so softly I wished he wouldn’t ever let me go. I felt at home.
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Chapter 15 Quotes
It would be safe to say that she made me proud to be a Negro, just by being herself.
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Chapter 17 Quotes
The Black woman in the south who raises sons, grandsons, and nephews had her heartstrings tied to a hanging noose.
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I laughed because, except that she was white, the big movie star looked just like my mother…and it was funny to think of the whitefolks’ not knowing that.
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Chapter 18 Quotes
Let the whitefolks have their money and power and segregation and sarcasm and big houses and schools and lawns like carpets, and books, and mostly—mostly—let them have their whiteness. It was better to be meek and lowly…than to spend eternity frying in the fires of hell.
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Chapter 19 Quotes
“It looks like Joe Louis is going down.” My race groaned. It was our people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped. A Black boy whipped and maimed. It was hounds on the trail of a man running through the slimy swamps. It was a white woman slapping her maid for being forgetful.
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It wouldn’t do for a Black man and his family to be caught on a lonely country road on a night when Joe Louis has proved that we were the strongest people in the world.
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Chapter 23 Quotes
The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos and Madame Curies and Edisons and Gauguins, and our boys (the girls weren’t even in on it) would try to be Jesse Owenses and Joe Louises.
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We were on top again. As always, again. We survived. The depths had been icy and dark, but now a bright sun spoke to our souls.
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Chapter 24 Quotes
“Annie, my policy is I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in a nigger’s”
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Chapter 25 Quotes
I wouldn’t miss Mrs. Flowers, for she had given me her secret world which called forth a djinn who was to serve me all my life: books.
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Chapter 27 Quotes
The Japanese were not whitefolks…since they didn’t have to be feared, neither did they have to be considered.
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Chapter 28 Quotes
Miss Kirwin never seemed to notice that I was Black and therefore different.
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Chapter 29 Quotes
The Black man, the con man who could act the most stupid, won out every time against the powerful, arrogant white.
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Chapter 34 Quotes
The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste, and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance.
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Chapter 36 Quotes
I patted my son’s body lightly and went back to sleep.
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Maya Angelou Character Timeline in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The timeline below shows where the character Maya Angelou appears in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
The prologue tells a story about Marguerite in church on Easter, performing in a play. She is wearing a dress that she’d...
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Chapter 1
Marguerite and her brother Bailey arrive in Stamps, Arkansas when Marguerite is three and Bailey is...
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Marguerite and Bailey’s grandmother, whom they call Momma, has owned a store for 25 years. The...
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Chapter 2
...he is especially dark skinned and crippled, and is victimized by both blacks and whites. Marguerite can only remember one time where Willie, usually sensitive and honest, pretended not to be...
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During these early years in Stamps, Marguerite “met and fell in love with William Shakespeare.” She feels as though Shakespeare understands her,...
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Chapter 3
Marguerite loves the store—it is her favorite place to be as a child. She is intelligent,...
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...“the boys” would be in town tonight. “The boys” are actually the Ku Klux Klan. Marguerite is filled with loathing for the sheriff, who rides away jauntily as though he has...
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Chapter 4
Bailey, Marguerite’s brother, is the “greatest person in her world.” Where Marguerite perceives herself to be ugly...
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...know, though, that white people are powerful and dangerous and associated with feelings of dread. Maya can remember not really believing white people were real. She thinks they can’t be real—their...
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Chapter 5
...follows certain rules of decorum, except for “powhitetrash” children, who behave in ways that astound Marguerite. They are unkempt and dirty, and they call Uncle Willie by his first name even...
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...a degrading kind of monkey dance. Momma keeps singing. They call her Annie, which makes Marguerite furious. One of the girls does a handstand in her dress, and her skirts come...
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Chapter 6
...Reverend often comes to visit Momma at the house, and she always welcomes him, but Marguerite hates him. She doesn’t know why exactly—she just hates him in the irrational way that...
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...seat, evades the ushers, and pursues the Reverend again. Bailey keeps whispering “preach it!” to Marguerite, and she can barely contain her laughter. Sister Monroe finally reaches the Reverend, and in...
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Chapter 7
Marguerite sees Momma as one of the strongest and most powerful people in Stamps. She was...
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Chapter 8
...differences between blacks and whites in Stamps regards how each group elects to spend money. Marguerite perceives whites to live grotesquely lavish lives—blacks do not tend to spend money on readymade...
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Chapter 9
One year later, when Marguerite is seven years old, Daddy Bailey comes to town. He is a huge, exceptionally handsome...
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...Vivien, the children are blown away. She is light skinned (“butter colored”) and wears lipstick. Marguerite thinks she is too beautiful to be a mother, and Marguerite bitterly notes that she...
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Chapter 10
...by the fact that the schools in St. Louis are full of relatively uneducated children. Marguerite and Bailey knew how to count because of their work on the register, and they...
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One of their mother’s brothers tells Marguerite one day that it doesn’t matter if she isn’t pretty, because she is smart. He...
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Chapter 11
Marguerite begins sleeping in her mother’s bed because of nightmares. One morning she wakes up after...
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...tells her that if she ever tells anyone what just happened, he will kill Bailey. Marguerite is frightened, and struggles to understand but agrees to keep the incident a secret from...
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After a while Marguerite becomes lonesome, and longs to be held gently again. One evening she sits on Mr....
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Marguerite starts to spend more and more time at the library—books are a refuge for her....
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Chapter 12
One afternoon when Vivien and Bailey are out for the day, Mr. Freeman calls Marguerite over to him. She resists—she has found happiness in the library and doesn’t feel she...
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Marguerite wanders to the library but finds the seats are too hard and painful for her...
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Chapter 13
In the hospital Marguerite says if she tells who attacked her, Bailey will be killed. Bailey tells Marguerite no...
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...outside town. It is likely that Vivien’s brothers killed him. Meanwhile, Vivien also decides that Marguerite and Bailey would be better off in Stamps. Marguerite becomes withdrawn and sullen, and believes...
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Chapter 14
Momma and Willie treat Marguerite gently upon her return from St. Louis. She wanders about Stamps almost in a daze....
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Chapter 15
After a difficult year, in which Marguerite becomes more and more withdrawn, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a neighbor whom Marguerite has always admired,...
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After this visit, Marguerite comes home and tells Bailey all about it. Then she says “By the way,” and...
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Chapter 16
Momma decides that Marguerite should learn refined manners, and therefore sends Marguerite to work as a servant in a...
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Chapter 17
...away from his mother yet again, doesn’t come back from the movies before sun down. Maya, as narrator of the memoir, explains that to be the caretaker of a black boy...
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Later Bailey explains to Marguerite that he’d seen Mother at the movies—a white actress that looked exactly like Vivien was...
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Chapter 18
The family—Momma, Bailey, Marguerite, and Uncle Willy—attends a revivalist meeting—no one ever misses the revivalist meeting, and every congregation...
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Chapter 20
...is one of the most well attended community events of the year. However, during it, Marguerite grows weary of the crowds of children, and goes into a small grove of trees...
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That winter, Marguerite receives a love note from Tommy Valdon, who is asking her to be his valentine....
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Two days later Marguerite receives another note from Tommy. He says he’d seen her tearing up his last note,...
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Chapter 21
...tent in the backyard. During these sessions, he brings a girl into the tent, instructs Marguerite to keep watch, and then imitates sex with the girl. It is innocent enough—neither of...
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Later Bailey proudly tells Marguerite that Joyce has hair between her legs and under her arms because of how many...
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Chapter 22
Marguerite hates ghost stories and desperately wishes Mr. Taylor would stop talking. She remembers Mrs. Taylor’s...
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Chapter 23
Marguerite is graduating from the eighth grade. It is a very special occasion, and she enjoys...
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...or Jesse Owens but says nothing of academic achievement or of possibilities for girls. As Maya Angelou describes it: “The white kids were going to have a chance to become Galileos...
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Next the valedictorian of Marguerite’s class, a boy named Henry, speaks. He delivers a carefully prepared speech called “To Be...
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Chapter 24
Marguerite’s love for sweets has finally taken its toll—she has two horrible cavities and the pain...
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Dr. Lincoln emerges. Momma explains that Marguerite has two rotten teeth and needs them pulled by a dentist. Dr. Lincoln, choosing his...
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Momma and Marguerite catch a Greyhound to Texarkana where they can see a dentist for blacks. Momma is...
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Chapter 25
One day Momma tells the children it is time for them to move to California. Marguerite is fairly certain this decision came about because of an incident involving Bailey. He had...
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Momma has to organize the transportation. She will ride with Marguerite on the train about a month ahead of Bailey, so as to spread out the...
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Chapter 26
Momma and Marguerite and Bailey live in Los Angeles together while the children adjust to life in California....
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Bailey and Marguerite drive to San Francisco with their mother (Vivien). They live in a dingy Oakland apartment....
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Marguerite hears that America has declared war on Japan when she is walking home from the...
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Chapter 28
Marguerite attends an integrated high school, where she is one of only three black students. Here...
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Chapter 29
...Clidell is a wily con artist who uses white people’s prejudice against them. He teaches Marguerite how to play cards and tells her stories of how he and his associates play...
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Chapter 30
Marguerite goes to visit Daddy Bailey in southern California, where she meets his live-in girlfriend Dolores...
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One night Marguerite goes with her father to a fiesta across the border in Mexico with several of...
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...world, until she crashes into another vehicle. At first the police officers are suspicious of Marguerite, but when they understand the situation, are sympathetic. During the commotion Big Bailey comes to,...
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Chapter 31
That night, Marguerite feels bad for Dolores when she comes home. Dolores had waited all night for Big...
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Marguerite is bleeding from her side, and when her father sees her, she explains (with some...
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Chapter 32
Maya (who begins to identify herself as such—this new name comes from a nickname Bailey gave...
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Chapter 33
...each other away only to apologize and reestablish good relations and restart the whole process. Maya knows that eventually Bailey will leave, and one night she overhears a great fight during...
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Bailey moves to a motel. After a while, Maya goes to visit Bailey in his dingy motel room to offer him support. He insists...
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Chapter 34
Maya decides that she can’t stay at home all day with nothing to do over winter...
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When Maya’s high school classes resume in the spring at California Labor School, Maya becomes disenchanted with...
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Chapter 35
Maya, as it typical of a teenage girl, becomes interested in sex and sexuality. One night...
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However, some weeks later, Maya has a friend sleep over and catches sight of her breasts while she is changing....
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Chapter 36
Maya hides her pregnancy from everyone, though she avoids lying outright about it. Though her body...
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...be okay, and buy her maternity clothes. Three months later, after a rather easy labor, Maya’s son is born. She is terrified to touch him, afraid she will hurt him. After...
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