42 pages • 1 hour read
Maya AngelouA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
While touring with the cast of Porgy and Bess, a George and Gershwin opera, Angelou felt immense guilt at spending so much time away from her son, Guy. Desperate to be with him again, she worked extra nights, taking blues gigs and staying in hostels until she could afford a ticket home. Upon being reunited with her son, she felt anxiety about his future. Angelou wondered how she could raise her son to be happy and liberated within a racist society. Suddenly, she felt the urge to grab him and jump out the window. She immediately took herself to a psychiatric clinic, fearing that she might hurt her son. Seeing that her doctor was a young white man, she began to cry: “How could this privileged young white man understand the heart of a black woman who was sick with guilt because she left her little black son for others to raise?” (25). She composed herself and left.
Angelou decided to speak with her voice teacher, Wilkie. He asked her to write down all of her blessings on a yellow legal pad. When she resisted, he told her to thank God she could hear symphonies, see the yellow pad in front of her, and see beautiful waterfalls.
By Maya Angelou
A Brave And Startling Truth
A Brave And Startling Truth
Maya Angelou
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
Maya Angelou
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
Maya Angelou
Caged Bird
Caged Bird
Maya Angelou
Gather Together in My Name
Gather Together in My Name
Maya Angelou
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Mom & Me & Mom
Mom & Me & Mom
Maya Angelou
Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me
Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me
Maya Angelou
On the Pulse of Morning
On the Pulse of Morning
Maya Angelou
Phenomenal Woman
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
Still I Rise
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
The Heart of a Woman
The Heart of a Woman
Maya Angelou
The Lesson
The Lesson
Maya Angelou