Friday 20 January 2012

ANGELOU, Maya , I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings(2008) Penguin Readers, C1 3000 Headwords
Álvaro Conesa Vidagany, 2º Bachillerato EFL

It’s the autobiography of Maya Angelou, a black woman who was born in Stamps (USA) in the 1930s. Maya explains her childhood, which was really difficult and full of bad experiences because she faced two main problems, family life conflicts and racism. She thought her parents were dead because she had never known them. She lived with her grandparents and worked in the family store in Stamps (Arkansas). This small town had lots of conflicts between Whites and Blacks.

I think Maya’s behaviour is an example for everyone. She had had a bad life but she didn’t give up. She went on along her life path looking optimistically for the new future, which she knew was waiting for her. These days we are always complaining about things but we don’t realize how lucky we are. When something goes wrong we often surrender fast, we aren’t brave, we don’t set ourselves challenges, and we wait until someone helps us to overcome our troubles. We must start thinking about taking our problems seriously and control them; we can’t let them control us.

I would strongly recommend this book to people who are interested in 1940s America and the problems that racism and segregation caused, especially in the Southern States. Moreover, I think it would be a good book for people who think that their lives are full of unluckiness. I’m sure that once they read Maya’s biography they will change their mind and notice how fortunate they are. 

This book has been recommended before. See March posts

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