1.

What are the problems that black people had to endure because of racism and racial
segregation?
2. How has race based oppression and segregation affected Maya Angelou’s life and works?
3. You mentioned that the hardships that she had endure because of racism and discrimination
was the driving force behind her successes.
a. Do you believe her achievements would have taken a different path had she not
faced challenges?
b. Can you point out what makes literature that has been shaped by racism which is a
collective struggle so distinct as compared to literature shaped by personal struggle?
4. You mentioned that the incident of sexual assault that she faced had a profound impact on
her life and writing. Can you elaborate how this traumatic experience influenced her
writing?
5. Maya Angelou has written numerous works all of which share a common trait i.e. they
express her struggle with racism and discrimination. Now were these works just an outlet to
express her personal frustration and to describe her challenges, or do you believe Maya
Angelou used her works to inspire a broader sense of awareness and change regarding
racism and discrimination?
6. How has the theme of segregation/racism/discrimination portrayed in the poem Caged Bird?
7. What is the quest for identity that you mentioned? Can you re explain it? Do you think Maya
Angelou was successful in her quest?
8. Symbolism in the poem
a. How is racism expressed in the poem?
b. What do the two birds signify?
c. What is the role of racism in the poem? Is she speaking from personal experience?
d. What is the poet trying to say through the symbolism of the caged bird and the free
bird? Is it merely to show the ways in which black people face racism? Or has it been
done to bring awareness?
e. What is the main idea of behind the poem? / Moral of the poem?
9. Themes in the poem
10. One of the most celebrated lines in the poem is “I know why the caged bird sings”. Doesn’t
singing express happiness? It is associated with a positive action. Why has the poet used a
word that connotes a positive action to describe the traumatic experience of racism?
11. You have mentioned that the poem portrays the different incidents that Angelou faced,
incidents which were motivated from racism; can you elaborate on what these incidents
might be?