Lacsina, Jerome H.

Eng 22-26

Midterm Examination

January 27, 2015

Life Doesn’t Frighten Me

Fear is a natural feeling every human feels. It is an emotion induced by a threat perceived by living entities,

which results to leading to confrontation with or escape from or avoiding the threat.

However, humans tend to deny this natural reaction. This gives us the feeling of resistance, the sudden

feeling of strength because we cannot feel the fear, and we hide in the fog of ignorant bliss. Whatever the cause of

our fear maybe, once we learn how to successfully ignore it, we feel contented with our current state of mind. This

resistance often uses the defense of denial with accompanying beliefs to accomplish the task of keeping things

hidden away under wraps.

In the prose “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me” by Maya Angelou, this point can be successfully observed. First of

all, the first thing that I’ve observed is the fact that she has pointed out all the things that she is not afraid of, and it

took her 6 stanzas to explain her point by stating the scenarios in life that she is not afraid of. It could also be seen

that the line “life doesn’t frighten me at all” several times. However, there is only one stanza which explained why

she is not afraid, and the reason “I’ve got a magic charm” is not sufficient or a satisfying detail to prove her point.

This perspective leads us to my second observation: why are the scenarios which apparently she is not

afraid of are too many but at the same time it’s quite specific? If you’re trying to prove a point, wouldn’t it be better

to give a reason which can be used in general and not in a case-by-case basis? Plus, when we have conquered a

certain fear, we accept it as a reality, something that we need to accept as a way of life. So if we’re really not afraid

of something, we cannot really single it out as a scenario because we have already accepted it as our daily routine.

Since she is trying to argue that she is not afraid of life, scenarios are not enough to make a good stand, and may

even give doubts to the reader.

Finally, the last thing that needed to be pointed out is the fact that she never gave a good reason why she is

not afraid of the scenarios she stated, besides the last stanza stating that she has a lucky charm which suppose to

solve her general problem about fear. Even if the charm really exists, the apparent ability of this charm stated in this

prose did not answer the question how is she not frightened in life. Therefore, in this prose, there was never a good

reason for her not to be afraid in life.

So let us summarize the following things that make the author’s point weak: first is the fact that she has

stated too many scenarios that she is not afraid of; second, she gave insufficient reason why she is not afraid of life;

and third, the reason she gave does not coincide with the problem of fear. If we sum these up, we can therefore

conclude that she is in the state of denial in accepting fear.

Denial and resistance are multifaceted and may move back and forth as belief systems shift to protect the

fragile state of the self. The refusal to know the truth about one self function in a person's life keeps the person's

shame balloon from being punctured. That is the primary reason why we deny fear.

On the other hand, the strength of the poem is that it delivers message of strength, courage, and faith, that

regardless of the evils in this world, the negativity that can be found around, there will be light beyond the darkness

of these walls, a sign of hope, and inspiration to move forward. Maya Angelou wanted to say that do not let the

stories, the fears, the struggles we have inherited from our past, and those before us be forgotten. Yet, remember we

have the ability to create extraordinary possibilities for our future.

Fear is something that must be accepted, not to be denied or escaped from. It is a natural way of life. As an

old saying once said, "What you resist, persists!". Denial will only lead us in confusing ourselves who we really are.

We will never be able to accept the things that we are really afraid of, and we can never keep the façade of our

bravery and strength forever.