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Maya wants to apply for a job as a conductor on street cars. When she goes to apply the lady, who is white, doesn't accept her as worker . Maya is persistent and keeps on asking for the job and eventually gets the job (Angelou 260-266)

Maya, since she's African American, isn't accepted into a job. Maya's limited by her race to get the job she wants, but she doesn't allow it to control her life.

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Personal note: the power of words (paraphrase)

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Personal note: the power of words (paraphrase)

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Mrs. Flowers shows an interest in Maya and tries to get her to speak after Maya has gone into a world of silence. Mrs. Flowers gives Maya a few books and expects her to read them out loud to her (Angelou 96).

To Maya words have a deeper meaning. Words not only bring Maya hope but also comfort. The quote shows that words are powerful to Maya since Mrs. Flowers is able to bring Maya out of silence through reading.

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Personal note: material possessions (quote)

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Personal note: material possessions (quote)

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"her heroes were her friends and her friends were big men in the rackets. They wore two-hundred-dollar Chesterfield coats, Busch shoes at fifty dollars a pair and Knox hats. Their shirts were monogrammed and their finger nails manicured (Angelou 253)."

In the story material possessions define a person's worth, and you need expensive, or nice, possessions to show your worth.

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Maya faces severe racism in Arkansas and it follows her throughout her life. The racism traps Maya and cages her, taking away her freedom. As a cage controls what a bird can do with its life, racism controls Maya's life and restricts her from doing what she wants to do.

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"It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life. It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense (Angelou 178)."

Maya describes the lack of freedom she has as a result of being African American. The quote shows that Maya faced severe segregation in Arkansas.

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Personal note: Maya and Bailey's relationship after Maya goes into a world of silence (quote)

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Personal note: Maya and Bailey's relationship after Maya goes into a world of silence (quote)

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"For a while I was the only recipient of Bailey's kindness. It was not that he pitied me but that he felt we were in the same boat for different reasons, and that I could understand his frustration just as he could countenance my withdrawal (Angelou 90)."

Their relationship stays strong as Bailey shows kindness to Maya. They maintain their relationship through understanding each other.

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Personal note: symbolism of the store (paraphrase)

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Personal note: symbolism of the store (paraphrase)

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The grandma was able to maintain the store through the Great Depression while providing for her family (Angelou 50).

Through her hard work the grandmother manages to keep the store open, even when the economy if failing and people are loosing money at a faster rate. The grandmother stays strong and doesn't lose hope in being able to maintain her store and providing for her family.

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Personal note: Maya and Bailey's relationship (paraphrase)

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Personal note: Maya and Bailey's relationship (paraphrase)

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One time when someone insulted Maya about her physical features Bailey came up to the person and asked them if their son was dying from the uglies (Angelou 22).

In the begging of their relationship Bailey and Maya had a strong relationship, and possibly since Bailey is the older sibling he would feel a responsibility to protect Maya.

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personal note: Bailey's character development (paraphrase)

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personal note: Bailey's character development (paraphrase)

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Bailey becomes rebellious to his mother as he moves out of the house and marries a white prostitute against his mother's wishes (Angelou 253-256)

As Bailey grows older he longs for freedom, and in doing so wants to move away from family; leaving Maya, therefore weakening their relationship.

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Personal note: Joyce's effect on Bailey (quote)

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Personal note: Joyce's effect on Bailey (quote)

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"I noticed the change in Bailey before I discovered that she was gone. He lost interest in everything... (he had nearly given up sarcasm and playing jokes on the country people)... but now that she was gone he rivaled me in being uncommunicative" (Angelou 147)
Joyce takes up most of Bailey's time which forces him away from Maya and other family members. After Joyce leaves Bailey is left empty and uninterested in anything. as a result of being uninterested, Bailey distances himself from Maya and goes into a world of silence.

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Personal note symbolism of the store (paraphrase)

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Personal note symbolism of the store (paraphrase)

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Since the KKK was out that night Maya and Bailey had to hide Uncle Willie in a bin and cover him with onions an potatoes. (Angelou 19)

The store symbolizes safety as Uncle Willie was able to hide in the store and not get caught. The store is trusted as a safe place.

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"In stamps the segregation was so complete that most black children didn't absolutely know what whites looked like. Other than they were different, to be dreaded, and in that dread was included the hostility of the powerless against the powerful, the poor against the rich, the worker against the worked for and the ragged against the well dressed". (Angelou 25)

Segregation heavily affects Maya's life and she describes the degree of segregation there was in Arkansas. The severe segregation causes Maya to dislike white people and have little to no respect for them.

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personal note: the effect of Maya's rape (Quote)

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personal note: the effect of Maya's rape (Quote)

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"The only thing I could do was to stop talking to people other than Bailey. Instinctively, or somehow, I knew that because I loved him so much I'd never hurt him, but if I talked to anyone else that person might die too. Just my breath, carrying my words out, might poison people and they'd curl up and die like the black fat slugs that only pretended." (Angelou 86)

In order to deal with the guilt of Mr. Freeman's death, Maya goes into a world of silence. She fears that if she talks to anyone, but Bailey, she might kill them.

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personal note: the value of names (quote)

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personal note: the value of names (quote)

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"Now the humiliation of hearing Momma describe herself as if she had no name to the young white girl was equal to the physical pain." (Angelou 185)

For Maya it shows respect to call someone by their full name and it shows equality. To call someone by the wrong name means to disrespect them and causes her physical pain.

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personal note: symbolism of the store (quote)

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personal note: symbolism of the store (quote)

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" But just before bedtime, after numerous people had walked in and out, had argued over their bills, or joked about their neighbors, or just dropped in "to give Sister Henderson a 'Hi y'all"". (Angelou 16)

The store symbolizes community as people from the community gather in the store to say hi or to meet up. As people meet up there's a sense of community.