<P> The main character , `` an unlikely heroine '' , from whose perspective the story is told . She has been described as `` a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America '' . The book covers most of her childhood , from the age of three , when she and her older brother Bailey are sent to their grandmother in Stamps , Arkansas , until she was sixteen , when she gives birth to her son Clyde . Through the character of Maya , Angelou uses her own childhood to demonstrate how she was able to survive as a black child in a white - dominated world . Maya is resilient , highly intelligent and loves literature . She goes from feeling shame about her race and appearance to feeling pride , in spite of experiences of racism and trauma . She is raped at the age of eight by her mother 's boyfriend and responds by choosing not to speak for five years . She is brought out of her muteness by Mrs. Bertha Flowers , who introduces her to great literature . </P>
<P> The main character , `` an unlikely heroine '' , from whose perspective the story is told . She has been described as `` a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America '' . The book covers most of her childhood , from the age of three , when she and her older brother Bailey are sent to their grandmother in Stamps , Arkansas , until she was sixteen , when she gives birth to her son Clyde . Through the character of Maya , Angelou uses her own childhood to demonstrate how she was able to survive as a black child in a white - dominated world . Maya is resilient , highly intelligent and loves literature . She goes from feeling shame about her race and appearance to feeling pride , in spite of experiences of racism and trauma . She is raped at the age of eight by her mother 's boyfriend and responds by choosing not to speak for five years . She is brought out of her muteness by Mrs. Bertha Flowers , who introduces her to great literature . </P>
main character in i know why the caged bird sings
main character in i know why the caged bird sings
Maya
Maya