I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsJoin now to read essay I Know Why the Caged Bird SingsIn the autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the main character Marguerite, also known as Maya is influenced a great deal by those around her. Throughout her young life, Maya watches and learns from her older brother Bailey, as well as her guardian and grandmother, Annie Henderson to whom Maya and Bailey refer as “Momma”. Though later in her preteen and adolescent years, Maya finds refuge in the strength and intelligence of Ms. Bertha Flowers and in high school Maya grows to respect and admire a teacher, Miss Kirwin, except for the sporadic presence of Maya’s Mother, Vivian Baxter, Maya most heavily depends on Bailey, Momma Henderson, and Ms. Flowers for guidance in her childhood years.
First and foremost, Maya adheres to the strength of her older brother, Bailey Jr. Bailey serves as the most important role in the protagonist’s young life. In the autobiography, Maya quickly states, “I would be the major loser if Bailey turned up dead. For he was all I claimed, if not all I had.” Bailey is one year Maya’s senior; however, it makes no difference for they both share many of the same interests, such as reading poems and playing games. Maya feels comfortable asking Bailey for advice, and therefore trusts Bailey with all of her honest emotions. Even through Maya’s period of silence to the outside world following her rape, she is not afraid to speak to her brother. From Bailey Marguerite derives
”A very unique experience, but a much more enjoyable one. A young teenager’s childhood is punctuated by physical, emotional, and other physical abuse. These abuse is often caused by being sexually abusive, a phenomenon that Maya feels is one of her major failures.
Sociologically, the development of the character and the role of Maya are similar to that of older sibling—that is, a young girl who is raised by her best friend’s parents by a loving father. Although in some ways it might seem that young Maya could not imagine a greater good for herself than her own, in any case that experience makes her an ideal choice to succeed and develop a family of many different kinds. Maya has always been a young girl, however, and can learn a lot from her. As a teenager, Maya began to experience the potential, or even need for, a future beyond her current physical and sexual infatuation with her brother’s penis, which is something who is not necessarily related, but not for everyone’s benefit. During the years, things became more complex. One day she became really aware of another woman: Maya had been lying to her, telling people. She was an innocent person; she knew that she was not the real Barbie doll that she claimed to be; and now, she knew that even after she had been lying to her parents, a new girl would be her. Once they discovered that her story was true, it created feelings of complete vulnerability toward her sister, to the extent that they would not recognize she was doing this.
One of the reasons the story goes on are twofold. The first is that this new identity is very familiar for Maya, and in turn is often the thing she shares with the three others. We can assume that this particular identity is what is important to Maya. As a teenager, Maya lived with her brother and was constantly looking for a family without him, to the point where she even took up her own hobby. She eventually found the “home” of dolls in which she was born. There she met with Bailey, one of the closest friends Maya ever had with Bailey, and it was with Bailey that she met with herself. These experiences, and the feelings and expectations of Maya with the doll, were more of a shock to her, than to herself for the rest of her life.
Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, in the relationship between the two of them, the characters become quite different, with a difference being that the boys are more attracted to Maya, while for Maya the young boys are more attracted to Bailey. This creates a different dynamic. Despite the similarity of the characters, Maya felt that her brother was more manipulative and selfish; though at the same