I Know Why The Caged Bird Sing

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

African tribes which led to the adoption of the parable as a means of passing along information. Parable and storytelling became a teaching tool to pass along cultural and moral values from generation to generation. The slave experience in America transformed the oral tradition but did not destroy it, as African-American slaves adapted the old stories and developed new ones to fit in with the Christian religion to which they were being converted. The legacies of the pre-literate (oral) tradition can still be seen in black churches and music today. Chief among these is the use of storytelling as a means of communicating information, which develops in an oral culture because it is easier to remember information as a story than as a set of facts without context. The oral tradition also gives an added emphasis to the rhythm of the language, with short phrases and repetition used to make the story easier to comprehend and remember. The final characteristic, which also enhances ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

to a wide range of readers. Each episode corresponds roughly to one chapter of the book, although some of the chapters rely on previous chapters for context, and some start fresh with a new scene from Angelou's life. Throughout the book, though, Maya is careful that each story advances the over all plot of the book either emotionally and chronologically. The overall structure of Caged Bird shows Angelou overcoming a series of problems to reach emotional climax of the book where she realizes that she will be a good mother for her newborn son. In general, each episode follows the same pattern: Maya is faced with some issue or problem which she works through and eventually conquers, a pattern ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: