The Social and the Political Influence of Literature in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Abstract

What is literature, but a collection of books that hold inside them a story. A story tells and shares an author‘s world, history, experiences, struggles, passions and desires. Reading such pieces of literature gives an insight about the author‘s mind, and the world as whole. Some written works are forgotten just after reading them but some others linger because their writers played the role of teachers and their literary works were a kind of lessons for many people. Throughout history, many works and books made a great sensation, fanned the flames to call for change and influenced not only people but changed systems, politics, and societies, and this is a strong reason that led me to write about this interesting subject that attracted my concern, being myself influenced by the book of Mary Shelley Frankenstein and later with the latest sensation I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.