Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

Maya Angelou

            Maya Angelou was an American poet and an activist. She fought for the rights of the black people in America. All her poems and novels centre on themes such as racism and identity.  In her poem Life Doesn’t Frighten Me she lists out the things which one should not afraid of.

            The narrator of the poem is a young girl. She may be Maya Angelou herself. She says that she is not afraid of the shadows cast on the wall by the moonlight spreading strange figures. The noises heard by her in the hall also do not frighten her. She can hear the dogs barking down the street.  In the big cloud close to the moon she can see the figure of a ghost. Generally, children are frightened by these terrible figures and scaring noises but not the young girl.

            The young girl is lying on a bed and the bedspread has the image of a dragon breathing flame. But the girl is not afraid of it and rather says boo to it. Outside her window there are guys fighting. They are tough and violent. This doesn’t frighten her. Even panthers in the park and strangers in the dark frighten her little. She takes even the boys bullying her in the class by pulling her hairs or by showing frogs and snakes in a lighter way.

            The girl convinces herself that nothing can frighten her as she has a magic charm – a mantra which is powerful enough to let her walk on the ocean floor. The magic charm is nothing but fearlessness. This sums up the whole message of the poem that anything is possible if you can conquer fear.