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Personification
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is set in America during the early life of Maya Angelou, beginning in the 1920s and touching on multiple historical time periods, including the Great Depression and World War II. Geographical setting ranges from Arkansas to St. Louis to San Francisco. Region and city aside, the general store run by Angelou's grandmother—referred to as Momma—features prominently as a physical place setting in the novel, personified in the young mind of Maya Angelou.
In Chapter 3, Angelou meditates on the general store, observing how its "mood" changes depending on the time of day. In the late afternoon, when many of the sharecroppers and farmhands get off of work, discouraged after a long day, the store reflects that:
Whenever I walked into the Store in the afternoon, I sensed that it was tired. I alone could hear the slow pulse of its job half done.
The Store (capitalized for emphasis and humanization) is a living, breathing entity in Angelou's childhood imagination, tired from a long day of work. This setting serves as a comfort to young Angelou, providing for her dietary needs. In a way, the store is a consistent parental figure in Angelou's life, providing the stability that her biological mother and father cannot.
Related Themes:
