In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou uses the settings and people of her childhood to illustrate the development of her moral outlook and social on life. During this period of his life, he moves from place to place and from one family to another. It is this exposure to different ways of life that helps Maya decide what kind of person she will be. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Religion is an important aspect of Maya's development in Stamps. Reverend Thomas, the presiding elder of the district in which Momma's church is located, comes to visit Stamps every three months. When he comes to town, his mother always puts him up for the night and feeds him. Even if the family doesn't care much about him, mom is still forced to. It is her Christian duty, so Mom never questions the fulfillment of this obligation. Mother is the most direct source of Maya's spiritual education. She is the guardian of divine law for the Henderson family. Whenever he witnesses a spiritual infraction, his punishment is swift and complete. These punishments are not meted out out of spite, but out of concern for Maya's eternal soul. Mama's lessons are intended to keep Maya on the narrow path to the afterlife, the only true way for the black man to overcome his oppression. Mom teaches with her actions, as well as with her punishments. When Mom refuses to show any kind of reaction to the powhitetrash girls, she teaches Maya an important lesson about strength, through her stoic refusal to be fazed by these girls. Maya knows that “Whatever the race was, I knew Mommy had won.” (Angelou 33.) During her time at Stamps, Maya learns the harsh realities of racial inequality and from an early age, through the majority of the book, Maya follows the examples and lessons she was taught there. The stamps consist of two separate parts of the city, the white and black communities. These two communities developed through the strict segregation found throughout the South, not just Arkansas. “In Stamps, segregation was so complete that most black children had absolutely no idea what whites looked like” (25). Through this segregation Maya learns many of the racial standards that exist and must be followed in the South, during the Depression. Uncle Willie teaches Maya the dangers of breaking social mores. Unlike mothers, she punishes children only when they break a social taboo. The best example of this is when Uncle Willie whips them for laughing in church. This infraction was serious enough that Uncle Willie felt he had to punish. Uncle Willie teaches his lessons in other ways, sometimes without even knowing it. He was paralyzed as a child, but he never let it hurt his pride. When Little Rock teachers stop at the store, he stands without a cane and talks to them. This shows Maya that even the worst adversities can be overcome, even if just for an afternoon. After Maya moves to St. Louis with her mother and Mr. Freeman, her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman molests and rapes her. When he molests her she doesn't know what was happening and thought he was being nice to her. Later, Mr. Freeman rapes her and tells her never to tell or he will kill Bailey. When Maya has to testify at the trial, she says she “couldn't say yes and tell them how she had once loved me for a few minutes and how she had held me close” (85). Maya feels she has been bad and this leads her to make a moral decision, to lie on the stand or to.