Life in Stamps, Alabama is very difficult and callous for the Negro people. The Negroes must work long hours at ridiculously low pay just to survive, and often it just was not enough. Angelou explains in the early chapters of I know why the caged bird Sings, just how hard life in Stamps is and how her people are able cope. Angelou conveys this so that the reader will have a greater understanding of what the times she lived in were like; she is also trying to teach us about the circumstances in which her people worked and the spirit...
quiet subtle way. Angelou's diction is also very effective, her usage of powerful adjectives aid the reader in understanding the passage and the conditions in Stamps.

In closing, this passage is written almost like a waltz, it flows smoothly and begins and ends on the same note. The feeling of the passage is one of calmness and mellowness, which are usually associated with the morning, when the sun rises and a new day begins. Philosophically speaking, the lamplight in itself is a metaphor for the sun; it slowly rises or gets brighter, and then begins to set or dim.