I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1969

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Chapters 19-21

Chapters 22-24

Chapters 25-27

Chapters 28-30

Chapters 31-33

Chapters 34-36

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 19-21Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 19 Summary

Mrs. Henderson's Store is full of families from Stamps, and everyone is listening to a radio broadcast of a boxing match between a Black boxer, Joe Louis, and his white counterpart, Primo Carnera. The visitors listen to the broadcast so attentively, rooting for Louis, that Maya and Bailey don't even dare to ring up sales. When it seems as if Louis might lose, Maya sees his defeat as if "it was [her] people falling" (135). In her eyes, Louis's defeat would confirm the stereotype that Black people are "stupid and ugly and lazy and dirty and, unlucky and worst of all, that God Himself hated [them] and ordained [them] to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, forever and ever, world without end" (135).

However, Joe Louis wins the match, and the people in the Store are jubilant and celebrate his victory as the triumph of a Black man over a white man. When the festivities are over, it is too late for those visitors, who live far from the Store, to go home. Knowing that they will have to leave the Store after dark, they had made arrangements to stay in town because that night it is unsafe "for a Black man and his family to be caught on a lonely country road" (136).

Chapter 20 Summary

Maya attends the summer picnic fish fry, "the biggest outdoor event of the year" (137), and enjoys the communal cooking, singing, and eating. Yet, she doesn't join the activities and instead walks into the nearby woods and looks for a clearing so that she can spend some time alone. Maya leans against a tree trunk and watches the sky with a sensation of falling into it. A girl from school, Louise Kendricks, wanders into the woods and sits next to Maya; she looks up at the sky and has the same experience. The two girls begin to chat and become good friends, giggling and sharing secrets.

One day at school, Maya receives a note from a boy named Tommy Valdon, in which he asks her to be his valentine. Although Maya knows that Tommy is a sensible and earnest boy and not the one to play a joke, she is not sure how to react to this attention. Louise advises her to tear up the note, and Maya does as her friend tells her. The following day at school, when the teacher gives everyone their valentine's cards, there is a letter for Maya from Tommy. In it, he tells her that he saw her ripping his note, but he doesn't think she meant to hurt his feelings and that she will "always be [his] valentine" (146). Maya feels bad for being so insensitive to Tommy's attention and decides to be more friendly with him. However, every time there's a chance to interact, Maya finds herself "unable to form a coherent sentence" (146) and only giggles, so with time, Tommy loses interest in her.

Chapter 21 Summary

Behind their house, Bailey sets up a makeshift tent, where he plans to “initiate girls into the mysteries of sex” (147). At eleven years old, he invites girls “to play Momma and Poppa” (147), while Maya is on the lookout, playing the role of Baby. Once Bailey and one of the girls are alone in the tent, they simulate having sex, although both are fully clothed.

After six months of playing this game, Bailey meets Joyce, a fifteen-year-old girl who lives in Stamps with "a widowed aunt who was even poorer than the poorest person in town" (147). She is "quite advanced physically for her age" (147), and Bailey soon forgets about other girls and spends time just with her. Joyce runs errands for Momma so that she can be around the Store more often, and in return, gets small gifts of food, which she can bring home to her siblings and aunt.

One day Bailey invites Joyce to the tent "to play house" (148), but the girl doesn't want to just simulate having sex and instead takes off her underwear and tells Bailey to do the same. Maya, who is on the lookout, hears their conversation and warns her brother that if he allows Joyce to do that to him, he will regret it. Maya assumes that Bailey will have to go to a hospital afterward as she had to after being assaulted by Mr. Freeman.

Bailey's love affair with Joyce lasts for several months, and during this time, he steals food from the Store to give to her, while the girl does less and less work to help Momma. Finally, one day, without warning, Joyce disappears, and although Bailey tries to pretend like it doesn't affect him, he grows sullen and distant. After some time, they learn that Joyce has run away with a train porter.

Chapters 19-21 Analysis

In this part of the novel, Angelou offers a personal perspective at a historical 1935 fight between two world heavyweight champions, Joe Louis and Primo Carnera. In Maya's narration, the boxing match is not a regular sports event but rather an ideologically charged confrontation between a white man and a Black man. Describing the atmosphere in the Store during the match in every detail, Maya doesn't mention the name of the white boxer until the end of the chapter, because for her, it is not the athletes' personalities that matter, but rather their symbolic significance. At that moment, Louis embodies all Black people who suffer from prejudice and humiliation, while Carnera personifies white dominance and oppression. Thus, people at the Store celebrate Louis’ win as a triumph over the decades-long discrimination, and see it as a proof that their race will prevail.

Maya describes the mood in the Store in great detail, emphasizing the hopefulness and elation people feel when Louis wins. However, as the night draws to an end, the mood in the Store grows somber: The community members need to make their way home, and they realize that they might be attacked by white hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan. Maya foregrounds this fear to provide a stark contrast to the jubilant atmosphere prevailing in the Store after the boxing match. Although for the residents of Stamps, as for many Black people across America, Louis' win embodies the triumph of all Black people, shortly after the match, they have to face the brutal reality of their everyday struggles.

As becomes clear from the following chapters, Maya begins to feel more at ease in Stamps and even attends some community celebrations, such as the annual summer picnic. She describes the food and the activities there in great detail, which testifies to her fascination with them. Nevertheless, her introverted personality is manifest in her decision to walk away from the crowds and into the woods, "escaping the gay spirit" (140). It is there that she meets Louise Kendricks, the girl who will become Maya's first friend. As Maya describes in Chapter 21, Bailey, who used to be her closest friend, becomes too preoccupied with exploring his own sexuality, and the siblings are not as close as they used to be. At the age of ten, deprived of parental love, Maya needs a faithful companion and confidant, and Louise becomes such a person for her. The girls are peers, and together they learn to navigate their first romances and life at school, forming a strong bond that helps both of them enter adolescence with a sense of support and camaraderie.