"Life Doesn't Frighten Me" By Maya Angelou Reading Response

                           "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" By Maya Angelou Reading Response

  Life can be a very frightening thing, especially when it gives you things that you think you just can't handle. The poem "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" by Maya Angelou proves that life isn't anything to be afraid of. One of the many possible themes is bravery.

  The speaker shows bravery by emphasizing and repeating the phrase "life doesn't frighten me at all". Before the end of each stanza, she would insert this phrase. "Tough guys fight/ all alone at night/ life doesn't frighten me at all." This shows bravery because the speaker repeats the fact that there are many 'scary' things in life, yet none of those things will frighten her.

  The speaker also shows the theme bravery by listing things that most people would find frightening, then contradicting them by saying that she isn't afraid, or proving it. For example, "Don't show me frogs and snakes/ and listen for my scream/ if I'm afraid at all/ it's only in my dreams/" This quote shows bravery because she takes real life examples and inserts them in the poem, proving that she isn't afraid, and that she is brave.

 Lastly, the speaker shows that she is brave by using figments of imagination that most children would be afraid of and still prove that she is tough and can get through anything. "Dragons breathing flame/ on my counterpane, life doesn't frighten me at all." Is an example of this. She shows bravery in this stanza because of the fact that she took dragons, which can be very frightening, and told the reader that she wasn't afraid. Somehow, she has all this power through this one sentence. She can say all these things with that one phrase. And that phrase shows bravery.

  Life isn't anything to be afraid of, as proven by Maya Angelou. Even though life is going to seem scary, you can get through it. You're only human. But Maya Angelou proves that you don't have to be afraid of life's challenges. Life shouldn't frighten you at all.

The little voice, in my head.

She haunts my head, day and night.
I try to fight her, but she is too strong.
"Leave me alone!" I yell.
Sometimes she sings me a sweet lullaby
"Give in to me" She sings.
And sometimes, I almost do.
Bringing the blade to my wrist
Masking my pain, with more pain.
Masking the pain that I don't want to feel.
Let me be
Alone.

She taunts me. Teases me.
Ugly.
Fat.
Discusting little girl.
I try not to listen
but it's pretty hard when you know it's true.
She's louder than any song.
Stronger than any person.
More hurtful than words.
I hear her most when I'm
Alone.

She comes when I wake.
"Lose some weight!"
She comes when I think.
"You're so stupid!"
She comes when I eat.
"Don't eat so much, you pig!"
She comes when I dress.
"No clothes will ever look right on you!"
I'm so full of society's expectations
that I can't really see
that the monster is me
and that I'm
truly
alone.