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Jealousy In Maya Angelou's Caged Wolf

161 Words1 Pages
Some feel free to live their lives, reveling in freedom, “But the caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream” (lines 26-27). The use of an oxymoron when placing dreams and nightmare in close vicinity adds significance to lost aspirations. Dreams, filled with light and hope, and nightmares, bursting with darkness and menace, strictly oppose each other. The caged bird once dreamed of freedom, but the interpreted connotation of “grave” implies that the dream died. His shadow – highlighted by the consonance in “shadow shouts” – restricts him, for envy blossoms within him in its presence, ever following him as he seeks to exist as the sole superior bird. Angelou reveals the theme of how jealousy can overcome
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