I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Chapter Summary

Angelou begins the twenty-fifth chapter of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings describing how her mother plans to send her and her brother off to California again, but then Angelou theorizes that it is due to Bailey’s devastating experience. Angelou then gets into the description of how Bailey told the family about how he saw a dead body. The part that seemed the most significant to me is when Bailey says, “Uncle Willie, why do they hate us so much?” (Ch. 25, pg. 197). This was very impactful to me because it must be hard for a child to think that a whole other race of people hates them. Seeing this made me glad that our society has come a long way from this point and this problem is not as prevalent as before. The other part of this chapter that stood out to me was when the white man said, “This

197). The man may simply mean that the black man is dead when he says this, but I took the statement that all black men need to be worried about. This was very depressing to read because this white man said this racist statement in front of all the other black workers without being confronted. This chapter demonstrated to me the severity of racism in Stamps when Angelou was growing up. The next chapter details the move to the West Coast for Angelou, Bailey, and their grandmother. I did not take too much away from the chapter, but I did think the section about Vivian’s conflict with her partner was very interesting. The whole situation was a great demonstration of strength and willpower for Vivian, but I think it is odd that the two partners continued to respect one another after the incident. Then the chapter ends with the announcement that World War II has begun. Angelou recalls the event saying, “I ran all the way home. Not too sure I wouldn’t be bombed before I reached Bailey and Mother.” (Ch. 26, pg. 208). This part of the chapter just showed by how different people’s mindsets are about war now. It also showed me how oblivious children are to the reality of