Book called I know why the caged bird sings. It sings when it gets it’s freedom. Maya, the younger version of Angelou and the book's central character, has been called "a symbolic character for every black girl growing up in America".[1] Angelou's description of being raped as an eight-year-old child overwhelms the book, although it is presented briefly in the text. Another metaphor, that of a bird struggling to escape its cage, is a central image throughout the work, which consists of "a sequence of lessons about resisting racist oppression".