Speaker
This short poem has only one character: its speaker. This speaker describes herself as someone who has overcome a lifetime of obstacles. She is a racial minority and a woman, she says, and was born in a place of exile and oppression. In spite of this, she has managed to build a life of her own. This life may not be grand or seem extraordinary to others, she implies, but the speaker is proud of her accomplishments and invites others to celebrate precisely because she has beaten enormous odds to reach her current state. The speaker begins almost apologetically, but the poem's images grow richer and its tone grows more confident as the speaker reflects on her own life's narrative.
