I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

The calmness and bareness of Stamps soothe Maya, and she feels as if "nothing more could happen, for in Stamps nothing happened" (89). The residents of Stamps come to the Store to hear stories about the siblings' travels "up North" (89), and Bailey gives in to his vivid imagination and peppers his anecdotes with sarcasm and exaggerations. Momma Henderson notices the change in his diction and comments that now he has "a silver tongue" (91), which makes him more like his father.

Maya, on the contrary, is quiet and withdrawn. She wonders if Uncle Willie knows about the rape and if he now thinks of her as "sinful and dirty" (92). Before their move to St. Louis, Maya used to remember all the Store's customers, but now their names and the details of their orders escape her memory. Residents of Stamps assume that Maya's unwillingness to talk results from her reluctance to come back to Momma Henderson because she prefers the glamorous bustle of St. Louis to the simple life of their town. They also perceive Maya as "tender-hearted" (92) and therefore treat her as someone who is constantly "a little sick or in delicate health" (92). 

Having spent almost a year in quiet isolation, Maya gets to know Mrs. Bertha Flowers, who offers the girl her “first lifeline” (93). Mrs. Flowers is an educated and cultured woman, and in Maya’s eyes, she is “[their] side’s answer to the richest white woman in town” (93). Whenever Momma Henderson, with her imperfect grammar, spoke to Mrs. Flowers, Maya always felt ashamed, but as she grew older, she realized that the two women were “alike as sisters, separated only by formal education” (94).

Mrs. Flowers, with her manners and air of refinement, reminded Maya of elegant women from English novels she had read, and the girl secretly admired her. Therefore, when one day, Mrs. Flowers asks Maya to help her carry groceries home from the Store, Maya is very flattered and happy to help. When they get to the house, Mrs. Flowers treats Maya to some lemonade and cookies and offers her advice about learning from "the collective wisdom of generations" (100).

After they drink tea, Mrs. Flowers reads aloud the first pages of A Tale of Two Cities, and although Maya had read the book before, she is surprised how different it sounds. Mrs. Flowers gives Maya a couple of books and encourages her to read them aloud at home. She also asks Maya to recite a poem for her the next time the girl comes over for a visit. On her way to the Store, Maya is ecstatic, and she can’t wait to share all the details of their interaction with Bailey.