The Hiding Place and Caged Bird Essay by Jack Marr

Caged Bird is a poem written by Maya Angelou. It is about a bird who is trapped inside a cage. He is irritated and enraged at being stuck and longs for freedom. He dreams of being able to fly through the skies. Even though he is tied up, he sings every day about better days. 

The Hiding Place is a memoir written by Corrie Ten Boom. Corrie is a watchmaker who lives in the Netherlands with her family during World War Two. Her family harbors jews in their home to keep them safe from the Germans. When the Nazis raid her house, Corrie and her family hide the jews in a special hiding place in their house. Though they are taken to prison, they thank God for keeping the jews safe. Corrie and Betsie, her sister, are then transferred to a concentration camp where they face the horrible conditions of the disgusting camp and the grueling work it comes with. There they seek God more than ever and also long for freedom. 

These two compositions are similar in that both Corrie and the bird are confined in somewhere they do not want to be in. The bird is trapped inside a cage, and Corrie is imprisoned in a concentration camp. They both envision a better life ahead of them, and they both long for liberation. A difference in these works is their main themes. The main theme of Caged Bird is wanting freedom, while The Hiding Place is about Corrie’s life and how she sought God in her times of trouble. 

The bird obviously yearns to be free from the cage. The poem says a lot about freedom. “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still” – quote from Caged Bird. This passage says that freedom is exploring what you don’t know. The second half of The Hiding Place, where Corrie is in prison and concentration camps, also says a lot about freedom. “How can the soul prosper if it is always kept indoors?” – quote from The Hiding Place. This passage says that it is hard to grow, physically and spiritually, if you are not outside in God’s creation. 

2 Corinthians 3:17 – “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” God is always with us, and, according to the Bible verse, God brings freedom with Him. If you have a relationship with God, then you can have freedom. Even though Corrie was in a concentration camp, she still found joy and a sense of freedom through God and His Word.