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Caged Bird Sings

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As I was reading the autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou in an archetypal perspective, I realized the story actually really resembles an archetypal plot. Marguerite starts off as an innocent young child and therefore representing the ‘child’ archetype. Marguerite is often singled out and made fun of, but Bailey, her older brother, sticks up for her no matter what making him the ‘hero’ of the story. Although he’s the complete opposite as he’s outgoing, sporty, and loved by all, the two siblings are still very close. The two live in Stamps,Arkansas with their Momma (who’s actually their grandmother) who represents the ‘mentor’ archetype with her wisdom and love for the children. Her personality is very similar to Bailey’s from Grey’s Anatomy as the two don’t show emotion often, but teach their children right from wrong and love them no matter what. In their black community in the 1960s, the family is seen as upper class although they are all very poor. Then suddenly, everything changes when their parents rise from the dead and take them away to California. You’d expect leaving Stamps, Arkansas would let the children escape poverty and struggle, but it’s where Marguerite loses her …show more content…

For instance, Angelou writes, “looking straight up at the uneven circle of sky, I began to sense that I might be falling into a blue cloud, far away,” (137). A circle is the archetypal symbol for perfection, Heaven, and oneness, but because it is described as uneven, it shows that Marguerite’s life is the opposite. Angelou also includes the use of archetypal colour by describing the cloud as blue. Everybody knows blue shows sadness, so this description tells the readers that Marguerite is falling into a deep depression. After reading the first half of the book, I can see clearly that the autobiography has an archetypal plot, characters, and

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