Beginning of Essay
"A baby's love for his mother is probably the sweetest emotion we can savor." (Angelou) By consistently weaving the theme of motherhood into her literature, Maya Angelou creates both personal narratives and poems that the reader can relate to. Her exploration of ....

Middle of Essay
.... Caged Bird Sings, Angelou tells the story of her childhood. She also makes the reader keenly aware of her close connection with her grandmother. Stephen Butterfield says of Caged Bird (in his Black Autobiography in America, 1974): "Continuity is achieved by the contact of mother and child, the sense of life begetting life that happens automatically in spite of all confusion- perhaps also because of it." Annie Henderson is a God-fearing, independent woman whose firm hand leads Maya throughout many rough spots in her childhood. It is through Mrs. Henderson's values of self-determination and personal dignity that Maya's idea that she is "shit color" ....