I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

Chapters 24-28

1. If you could talk to Dr. Lincoln, what would say?
I would treat the doctor with respect, not putting my capacity as low as his is. I think Momma act the right way by asking the doctor for some money to go to the black dentist, if Momma wouldn’t lend him the money when he was in crisis his office would not survive. He deserves to be call the worst insults in the dictionarybut what good would that make if anyway the result was going to be the same or worst for Momma. Everything goes by its own way, and justice would come sooner or later.


2. How does Marguerite’s imagined version of Momma’s conversation with the dentist differ from what actually happened?
Momma’s confrontation with Dr. Lincoln introduces the important idea of the ethics of necessity in Maya’sautobiography. Maya imagines that Momma battles Dr. Lincoln and brings him to his knees, but in reality Momma compromises her own sense of ethics in order to extract money from Dr. Lincoln. Momma admits that it is wrong to demand interest on a loan retroactively. To a certain extent, Maya’s dire situation spurred Momma to demand the interest.
The ethics of necessity, however, applies more to thefact that Momma wants Dr. Lincoln to pay for his evil, racist refusal to treat Maya, and for his ingratitude toward the humane and generous black woman (Momma) who saved his practice with her money. Momma does not really consider her compromise to be a bad thing, for she and Willie laugh about the incident while discussing it. The ethics of necessity by which blacks justify lying or even illegalactions to achieve retribution toward whites continues to operate in the autobiography, particularly in San Francisco, when Maya meets Daddy Clidell’s con-artist friends. It differs greatly, however, from the type of serious criminal activity exhibited by Maya’s family in St. Louis.


3. What incident prompts Momma to get the children’s out of stamp? Do you think she made the right decision?Momma’s decision to take Bailey and Maya to California exemplifies her practical nature as well. This time, however, Momma does not laugh while making this sacrifice. In this case, she shows her quiet bravery. She loves her grandchildren so much that she decides to part with them. She chooses to save them from further ugly encounters with racist Southern whites. Although she has never beforetraveled more than fifty miles from her place of birth, Momma leaves Willie and her business to live in Los Angeles for six months while her grandchildren settle into their new life. The calm with which she makes the abrupt change shows a steely, resourceful character.


4. Considering what you know about Momma and the children’s mother, Vivian Baxter, how do you think the two women got along? Doyou image Momma was relieved to get back to Stamps-or did she wish she could stay in California?
Maya's mother meets her and Momma at the train platform, the two women contrasting as greatly as two women can. For the only time in the book, Maya's two mother figures come into contact, with the worlds they represent contrasted. Momma is the "hen" from the old world, Maya's mother the "chick" fromthe new; the metaphors suggest a sense of age for both women, but also an outlook on the world, suggested by either the past or the present. There is also a sense that Momma is the more bedrock-like of the two; she is "large, stolid," unchanging and strong. Maya's own mother is not weak, but is quicker, more adaptable, more flexible, as a modern woman had to be.

5. Why did San Francisco change somuch at the beginning of World War II. Why do you think the Blacks were so willing to profit from the displacement of the Japanese?
The greatest irony about the black community in San Francisco is certainly how it ignores the oppression of the Japanese. One might think that one repressed minority might be free from prejudice against another, but this is not the case; the situation of the...