Analysis Of Ambiguity Over The Confederate Flag

Ambiguity Over the Confederate Flag by Frank X Walker tells the story of life in the South during slavery. The narrator, speaks in first person for one part of the poem, while the other half is spoken from an omniescent on-looker. Through both of these perspectives readers are given two separate accounts of what slavery was like during that time. By using the principles of New Criticism readers are able to fully understand the context of the poem. Furthermore, through this technique, readers draw conclusions in response to the text. From this analysis and through close reading it is clear that there is a major tension regarding how whites viewed slavery verses how African American’s viewed slavery.
The first sign of this tension is seen through

the structure of this poem. The poem is broken into two columns in which one person is speaking in first, and states all the positive things. The person, even refers to slavery as “good ole days”. Although the person, is referring to slavery as happy times, it is almost as if they were unaware of what is actually taking place. For example, the person states “how they would sit on the veranda/look out over the horizon at/ the young who happily played behind.” Through this wording, you imagine children playing outside enjoying life. However, when you read it from the slave’s perspective you see that in actuality times were far from “happy”. The plantation owner, viewed everything they did as something peaceful and cooperative. Which shows that there is either some miscommunication between the slaves and their masters, or the master was reading the poem sarcastically. Whatever the reason, through this contradicting lines it is clear there is some sort of hostility from the slave’s perspective.

Furthermore, like the title most of these words are forms of ambiguity. For example, when the speaker stated the “horizon” to them they viewed it as an open field of fun and relaxation. However, from the slave’s perspective they viewed it as all the work they must complete. What looks like a beautiful amount of land to one speaker, is the other speaker’s misery. Another form of ambiguity was seen when the author stated the “children played behind.” According to the slave owner, she made it seem as if the children would play in the horizon with their friends while their parents carried on with their lives. However, from the slave point of view what was actually taking place was that because the children were so young, they struggled keeping up with parents who have been in the field for years. Lastly, the slave owner mentioned “sang rapturous spirituals” but from the slave’s perspective they were singing the blues. Which again shows how wording can change how a story is portrayed. For those reading the slave owners perspective they would imagine a woman singing spirituals thanking the lord. However, she is actually singing because she is in so much pain. From these words, it is very clear that they have two totally different meanings. One word paints a picture of happiness, while the other paints a picture of pure misery.
Lastly, the mood of this poem is clearly shown through the structure.

Because the poem is written in two different formats it causes readers to want to know more from both perspectives. If reading the poem from the slave owners perspective the mood of the poem, revolves around happier times. Slavery is showcased to be a time of possibility and better times for everyone involved. But when reading it from the slave’s perspective, it is told from the business element. Although it is clear, they do not enjoy their job, you also see that they are overly dedicated. In the beginning, they state that they work from sun-up to sun-down doing the same thing every day. And although, they are doing the same thing every day their determination and hard work is clearly shown. Furthermore, it is also shown that even at a young age they started working as slaves. From the slave owner’s perspective, we see that they are content with how things were during slavery. But from slave side they are fed up with being viewed as a profit. Therefore, the two separate moods are clearly shown. However, one thing that is interesting is that both poems end with the same word “slavery”. The fact that both poems ended using the same word, show how although they are living in two separate worlds somehow they still will collide. It also shows, that although they have two different moods it all ties back to the word

slavery.
In conclusion, because these two worlds do collide the tension of this poem is escalated. The main reason is, clearly they do not see eye to eye on “slavery”. This hints at an ongoing battle between the two races. Will this fight of slavery continue to dominate years to come? Will whites ever admit to the harsh lifestyles that slaves live? Or will these two perspectives never agree. This poem doesn’t not answer these questions, instead it keeps the tensions extremely high throughout the entire reading. For every argument there was a different perspective brought to the table and it added tension to the story. Therefore, through the structure, use of ambiguity, and the overall mood, this all adds to the major tensions between Whites and African Americans when it comes to the argument of slavery.