Read chapters 12-21 and answer the following questions: 

1. Chapter 12 is a difficult chapter to read because of Maya’s rape. What feelings does 8-year-old Maya experience during and after the rape?  
2. Why does Maya become mute? Why does her mother send her and Bailey back to Stamps? 
3. Maya describes Stamps as follows: “The barrenness of Stamps was exactly what I wanted, without will or consciousness. […] Into this cocoon I crept” (89). Explain what Stamps represents at that point that St. Louis could not be for her.  
4. In chapter 15, Angelou relates how she got out of muteness and her relationship with Mrs. Flowers. How did Mrs. Flowers help her? The chapter ends with Momma giving Maya a beating for the words she said. Why did it happen and in what way is it ironic? 
5. Choose a passage that you thought was particularly well written or spoke to you and explain why you chose this passage.