Maya Angelou

In the autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Maya changes many times during her life. Some of which were: when she gets raped by Mr. Freeman, when Mrs. Flowers shows her the beauty of written language, and when she lives in a junkyard. Before she gets raped by Mr. Freeman, she reveals her emotions efficiently and she has self-confidence. "Laughter so easily turned into hysteria for imaginative children" (95; ch 6) she says. Then she gets raped by Mr. Freeman, and "For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible." (93; ch 15). "Then, too, I was well known for being tender-hearted" (92, ch 14) she remarks. She even blames herself for Mr. Freeman's death because she let him get out early (she lies about what he did to her). Then her uncles killed him. Before, she laughs. After, she sops and blames herself for the death of someone. Then, Mrs. Flowers shows her the beauty of spoken words. Before this, she doesn't talk ("No one is going to make you talk…."(93; ch 15)). Now, she cries tears of love for a spoken line. She exclaims, "When I said aloud," It is a far, far better thing that I do…." tears of love filled my eyes at my selflessness." (101; ch 19) Also, she took the initiative to get herself fired by a neglectful boss. She went from mute to loving and assertive. Finally, when she goes to the junkyard, she losses her since of racism. She used to think of whites as "powhitetrash"(30, ch 5) . Then, "The lack of criticism evidenced by our ad hoc community influenced me, and set a tone of tolerance in my life", she says (254; ch 32). She went from hate to tolerance and even forgiveness ("I went further than forgiving the [white] clerk, I accepted her as a fellow victim of the same puppeteer"(261; ch 34)) So if you think that a person's personality doesn't change much over years, you have not understood Maya Angelou the way I do.