Maya Angelou's I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

All across the United States, schools ban books that are sexually explicit, blasphemous, or contain racial content. These challenged books are called “banned books”. The supreme court ruled that books could not be banned because of social taboos in the Pico v.s. Island Trees school board of education trial. The school board called for any “Anti-American, anti Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy, be removed from high school and junior high school libraries.” Maya Angelou’s, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is one of those banned books. It is banned for its sexual content including rape and homosexuality. The book is in itself depressing and sad. It seems to realistic, too graphic. The book begins in Arkansas, where Maya

In the end, she has a baby boy at only sixteen years old. There are many other disturbing themes explored in her autobiography. The lack of care that Maya had as a child could seem to promote neglect and abandonment. Parents have also said that the book promotes underage sex and pregnancy as being positive things. The treatment of white people to blacks in the book is often violent and upsetting. There is also the unhealthy relationship of the mother with her brothers, a gang like mantra. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings should not be read to young audiences. It should be read to high school aged children when it becomes appropriate. The fact of the matter is this, children should be protected until they know how to defend themselves. A high school level is the time in a child’s life when he or she begins to make personal opinions. Maya Angelou’s autobiography isn’t bad, it is an accurate portrayal of life. That doesn’t mean that everyone is on the level to read it at that moment. Some people avoid such illicit content through their entire life. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings should not be incorporated into any school curriculum. However, it shouldn’t be