The writer's use of personal experience

In this excerpt from Glennon Doyle's memoir Untamed, Doyle uses her personal experiences to explore the idea of self-discovery and breaking free from societal expectations. 

Doyle begins by describing a visit to the zoo with her family, where they witness a cheetah run. She observes the tamed cheetah, Tabitha, and feels uneasy about the parallels she sees between Tabitha's life and her own: “I didn’t clap. I felt queasy. The taming of Tabitha felt… familiar.” (l. 32). This personal anecdote serves as a metaphor for Doyle's own journey of self-realization and the pressure she feels to conform to societal norms. She uses the analogy of the caged cheetah to illustrate her own feelings of being confined and “tamed” to express how it feels to ignore your authentic desires. The idea of the cheetah longing for th...