critical thinking questions for caged bird

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Caged Bird analysis+ completed

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English III Name: _______________________________________________________________ Date_________________ Period______

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Analysis questions.

Directions: Please answer the following questions in complete sentences or ten points will be deducted. 1. In 4-5 complete sentences, summarize the passage. In the prologue Marguerite is at church on Easter, performing in a play. She is wearing a dress that she hopes will make her feel respected and pretty like she is a white girl in those movies. She dreams that one day she will wake up white, and her blackness will have been a curse put on her by a mean fairy stepmother. Marguerite stumbles over her lines and then runs from the church because she must go to the bathroom. She runs, peeing and crying, back home. 2. How does Angelou begin her story? Why is this effective? She begins her story with a story about a girl at church who wishes she were white and pretty, so she would not be picked on by the kids at church or pitied by the old ladies. It is effective because it lets the reader relate to the character and introduces us to her a little bit. 3. Angelou says in her first paragraph that she couldn’t remember the lines because “Other things were more important.” What do you think was more important to her? I think that her nervousness and having to go to the bathroom were more important to her than remembering her lines. 4. What two things are being compared in the second paragraph (beginning with “Whether I could remember”)? What type of figurative language is she using? The two things that are being compared are the truth and a wadded-up handkerchief, sopping wet in her fists. The figurative language she is using is a simile. 5. How long has she known these people? Include textual evidence to support your answer. She is known these people since she arrived in the town at three years old. "When I was three and Bailey four, we had arrived in the musty little town, wearing tags on our wrists" 6. Why is she “breath[ing] out shame”? Explain. She is "breathing out shame" because she was embarrassed that she forgot her lines and is nervous standing up there with the children giggling at her forgetfulness. 7. What effect does the image of the hearse have on the reader? (Hint: What do we associate with a hearse?) The image of the hearse affects the reader of a sense of dread or despair. We associate a hearse with death. 8. According the Angelou, what is the world’s image of right? Include textual evidence to support your answer. The world's image of right is whiteness and being pretty and dainty like a lady. The

character often dreamed about waking up and being white and everyone apologized to her for treating her badly. 9. How does Angelou think wearing the dress would affect her? What power does she give the dress? She thinks that wearing the dress will make her feel like a movie star and everyone will love her like they do the white actresses in Hollywood. The power she gives the dress is confidence. She wants the dress to give her confidence. 10. In Angelou’s eyes, what is wrong with the dress? Use textual evidence to support your answer. The dress was plain, ugly, and long. "But Easter's early morning sun had shown the dress to be a plain ugly cut-down from a white woman's once-was-purple throwaway." 11. What is the setting of the story? Include all details of place and time. The setting takes place on Easter morning at church. 12. Is everyone at church staring at her legs? Yes, everyone at church is looking at her legs. 13. How is Angelou different from the others in her community? She is different from others in her community because her eyes are small and squinty, she does not have a southern accent, she did not pick up the common slang, and she had big feet. 14. Why does she say that she has “a cruel fairy stepmother”? To what story is she alluding? She says she has a cruel fairy stepmother because everyone thinks she is different, and she believes that she must have been a white girl before. The story she is alluding to is Cinderella. 15. To what does she compare the children’s giggles? What type of figurative language is she using? She compares the children's giggles to melting clouds that hung in the air waiting to rain on her. The figurative language she is using is a simile. 16. Why does she stumble? Use textual evidence to support your answer. She stumbles because she tripped over a foot that was stuck out from the children's pew. "and I tripped over a foot stuck out from the children's pew." 17. What is the meaning of the word “speeding” in the context used? In the context used, the meaning of the word "speeding" is spilling or peeing. 18. Why do you think she chooses to go to her house instead of the toilet out back? I think she chose to go to her house instead of the toilet out back because when she reached the church door, she knew she could not hold her pee in anymore, so she ran out into the yard. 19. What point does she make in the last two paragraphs? What metaphor does she use? Explain. The point she makes in the last two paragraphs is that growing up black in the south is as painful as rust on a razor that threatens the throat, an unnecessary insult.