Childhood Trauma Essay

Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, recounts her childhood experiences as she strives to become a successful black woman who can escape the pervasive effects of racism and prejudice. Throughout Maya’s youth, she faced adversity in many ways, from being abandoned by her parents to being sexually assaulted, all while overcoming the hardship of racism in her town of Stamps, Arkansas. Although Maya ultimately had a generally successful career as an author and social rights activist, the same could not be said about the other people in her life, namely her brother. Scholars have debated whether childhood trauma has an effect on a child’s future criminal record. However, this social justice issue is not only limited to

Upon analyzing commonalities among offenders, it has become evident that a significant number have experienced childhood trauma. Scholars have been viewing childhood trauma as a generational problem as incarcerated parents are increasingly leaving more kids abandoned on the streets. In order to address this issue, instead of temporary fixes like jail time, it is crucial to tackle its root cause. Failure to do so may lead to a global resort to violence as individuals become desperate to survive, where trauma will become even more prevalent. A child’s future criminal record and personal life is directly correlated with the quantity and severity of the childhood trauma they experience. However, arguments could be made that there are other factors other than childhood trauma that can influence a person’s tendency towards a life of

This pertains to the “quantity” aspect of childhood trauma. Throughout I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya undergoes a multitude of such experiences. The narrative even starts with her abandonment where her “parents had decided to put an end to their calamitous marriage, and Father shipped us home to his mother” (Angelou 5). Her lack of parental figures leaves her vulnerable to exploitation that will happen later in life. An example of this is seen when Mr. Freeman rapes Maya. She only gets into this shameful situation because of her perception that he was the only person who loved her enough to hold her. The act was described as “a breaking and entering when even the senses are torn apart” (78). Undoubtedly, this has a bad effect on Maya; she becomes mute for several years and carries a constant burden as she blames the incident on herself. On the contrary, the likelihood of such an outcome would have been greatly reduced had she had supportive parents. Aside from her parental issues, there has also been an underlying theme of racism in Maya’s life starting when she was less than eight years old. Upon hearing that individuals associated with the Ku Klux Klan were approaching, Maya and her family were filled with anxiety and apprehension, fearing that they might be subjected to a lynching. The fear was so bad, “every Black man who heard of the