Caged Bird

Through juxtaposing a bird who feels entitled to his freedom and a caged bird who longs for a freedom he has never known, "Caged Bird" presents an allegory for the difference between how white and Black Americans, respectively, experience their lives. While the free bird represents white Americans who are oblivious to their privilege and feel a sense of ownership over the world they move through, the caged bird represents Black Americans whose freedom is limited through systemic racism, economic oppression, and the intergenerational trauma of slavery, segregation, and denial of civil rights. The speaker sympathizes with the caged bird, who sings a beautiful and mournful song of freedom despite oppression.