(FOREWORD: THIS SUCKS SO BAD LMAO SORRY BUT IT WAS FOR MY ENGLISH HOMEWORK WOOT WOOT MORE INFO ABOUT IT AFTERWARDS)

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore -
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings -
I know why the caged bird sings!
( "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar )

Caged Birds

I know why the caged bird sings, ah me.

    Ruth Kayana looked up from her worn poetry book and into the dusty roads of North California, onto the fields covered in a layer of brown and few workers covered in sweat. It was May of 1943. Her raven black hair was tousled by the hot wind, and it breathed down her neck. She turned her head to see her brothers playing basketball outside in the almost 100 degree weather. They shouted and cried as the makeshift ball flew into the air and banged on the metal hoop with no net. She wished she had wings and could fly away.

    When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore -

    Ruth stood up and brushed off her already dirty skirt. The fifteen year old Nisei, or American born Japanese, walked towards one of the fences nearby. She shaded her eyes and gazed towards the blue, cloudless, heat filled sky. A long wooden pole held barbed wires together, something the American government claimed was there for the Japanese Americans' "protection." The captives soon realized that it was for the Americans' protection, not for them. They were trapped and enclosed, just like the Jews in Nazi Germany. How incredibly ironic of the American country.

    Ruth started humming a small tune to herself, a melancholy lullaby her mother used to sing to her as a child. She began to pray, as she did daily, towards the cloudless and blue sky. She prayed for her family, for her friends. Ruth asked for protection from the upcoming winter and for safety for everyone she knew. She prayed for freedom.

    She stood up again and shook her head. Who was she even praying to? The president of America?

Ruth tied back her hair to keep it from blinding her with a small scrap of fabric and began to walk back to her family's cabin.

    When he beats his bars and he would be free.

It was more of a hut than a cabin, to be honest. They shared it with two other families, and it was very cramped. There was a small baby in one of the families, and he liked to cry. When Ruth had first arrived in the place they called "Manzanar," she tried to leave. She would try to break the wires and escape with her brothers. They soon learned it was fruitless. The wires were strong and sharp, and the stern soldiers would always catch them.

Ruth sat down on the wooden steps and watched the bird inside it's metal cage. It was her brother's. He had caught it one day and decided to keep it inside of an old cage he found somewhere. She didn't understand why they wanted to keep it. It was a dull grey, no more than a common bird. It sang sometimes but not as many times as Ruth would've liked. It mostly tried to escape out of the cage. Her brothers liked to call it "the Stupid Bird." Ruth called it "Tori Tori;" tori or 鳥 was the Japanese word for bird.

It is not a carol of joy or glee.

Ruth watched as the bird started to sing a little. It was a croaky melody full of crackling warbles and strange twitters. She always wondered what type of bird Tori Tori was. It sang loudly but not joyfully. It's song was more like the melancholy lullaby from her mother. She wondered if the bird knew what it was singing about, if bird songs actually had meanings.

Ruth looked down at the poetry book in her hand, remembering a certain poem about a caged bird and how it's song was not of joy or of glee, as the poem said. It had said that the bird watched the as nature fell and lifted everyday with a sunset and a sunrise. The caged bird watched as the rivers rushed, as the wind blew, and as the flowers opened. He watched from his cage, and it wished for freedom.

But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core.

The poem said that the bird prayed from his heart. Ruth thought about that. She prayed too. She looked up at Tori Tori, the grey bird with the sad song. Maybe her and the bird were not so different. Maybe they were in the same situations, helpless and lonely. They both sang and prayed for freedom; they both were trapped without their consent.

But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings -

She too pleaded for her freedom. Lots of the Japanese Americans asked the soldiers around if they were to return home soon. Home was places like San Francisco or Los Angeles. Ruth missed home. Maybe Tori Tori did too.

She prayed once again for freedom, prayed from her heart. It was a prayer that she flung to the skies. The bird sang with her, mournfully humming and whistling. The grey bird and Japanese girl didn't seem so different in that moment.

I know why the caged bird sings!

The girl opened her eyes and saw the bird stop singing. It stared at her. She set down her book.

Ruth walked up and opened the hot cage, allowing the bird to be free. It gazed at her for a little moment longer, then raced off into the sky and towards the sun. Ruth smiled. She understood why Tori Tori sang his stormy song. She understood his want for freedom and his need to escape. She understood. So she set him free.

Ruth wondered what would happen if the world could just understand the caged birds. Maybe it would be a different place.

~

OK THE MEANING OF THIS LMAO

so ruth (kinda inspired by spiderlad - i don't really know why but like i looked up popular names from the 40's and ruth came up and so i was like OOOO YASSS RUTH SLAYYY so yep) is in a thing they used to have on the west coast of the USA called "japanese internment camps" but they really were just concentration camps

she is in a certain camp called manzanar in north california and it was horrible there

not as bad as the ones in like germany for the jews, but still really bad

there was a lot of racism towards the japanese americans in the 40's because of WWII because of like pearl harbour which is horrible and should never have happened

the nisei were the japanese born in america so like teenagers and kids, and the issei were the first gen immigrants

the japanese american internment camps were honestly so so so so bad, and it should've never happened

so this is what this story is about :D

the ordinal poem by paul dunbar was written in during like the civil war, and he was an african american man. the poem is actually longer ahaha

it's all about discrimination and that stuff but ill let y'all figure out the meaning of the stanza I picked out for yourselves ☺️

~

sOOOO I HAD TO SOMETHING ARTISTIC ANOUT THE POEM FOR ENGLISH AND THIS IS WHAT I DID AHHHH

QOTD: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS SMALL STORY ISH

ohmyhaylee GroundedBellamy thegreyarea- bowtruckIe Iaufeyson Neffia kalopsiascity ororotchalla teamsophie- The_Insane_Avenger the_talking_sword -AnAngelsGrace Hellcatpat radicaliz cameronsboyce yuerise Queen_Melissa_ @  anyone else!!

AOTD: IT KINDA SUCKS AHAHA WHOOOOOOPS

HERE ARE SOME RANDOM PICS AHAHAHAH

^ i got new gifs of lana 🙃🙃🙃 (a HECKA lot of new gifs like 20 new gifs omg)

^ SO CUTE AHH

^ I LOVE BOTH OF THEM SO MUCH AHHHH

^ *SCREAMS*

^ omg his character was so funny and weird in juno 😂😂😂

^ did i post this yet? 😂😂😂😂

OK BYEE