Mothers Become a Symbol of Hope
During times of violence and chaos, it is those victims remaining hopeful that influence and impact later generations. Maintaining a sense of optimism is difficult when it is inevitable that “Past events cannot be erased: one cannot undo what has been done, nor prevent what has happened.” (Bert, Parmentier, Haers, and Segaert 45). The mass-murder in Rwanda that took nearly one million lives is proof of this unnerving fact of the mind’s inability to forget traumatic events. In her poem “Mothers Sing a Lullaby”, Dr. Susan Kiguli does not suggest erasing the damaging past, but rather encourages a resurrection of the collective victims in a way that will defy pain and suffering. The poem itself serves two purposes:
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As a poet, she is best known for her 1998 book The African Saga, a collection of poetry in which she explores the severity of female oppression throughout the entire African Continent. Her poem, “Mothers Sing a Lullaby”, which she wrote immediately following the Genocide, is not a surprising addition to her literary work taking into account her interest in advancing overall feminist assertion in her native Africa. As a founder of Femrite , she had a clear determination to give oppressed women a voice through the art of writing. During an address given at the Library of Congress, one distinguished professor said of her work: “Dr. Kiguli uses her art to promote global understanding and awareness.” (Library of …show more content…
Haunting images of the impending nighttime darkness increase the anxious tone of the poem. Kiguli’s use of “shadows” is important to consider because they act to represent the complete invisibility of females which was exacerbated during the increasingly violent nighttime hours. Throughout the poem, the act of hiding becomes synonymous with silence: a blatant reference to the countless voices that will never be heard whether because of death or because of a preordained gender status. The possibility of these profound voices remaining unheard buried beneath Hutu-extremism, pains Kiguli’s soul. As horrifying as the situation is, the horror is elevated by the description of “the souls of children who have never known the taste of morning porridge.” (Kiguli 13-14). Not only are the mother’s sexual identities being stripped away, but their innate maternal duties are undermined by destitute living conditions. The free-verse form of the poem suits the subject well because it grants Dr. Kiguli the necessary literary freedom to express emotion through an unrestricted lens. Her ability to capture pictures with fitting informal language provides the reader with tangible images to contemplate rather than muddled historical information which would disable all empathetic aspects of the writing. Details
The feeling of fear and sadness is further portrayed by the crying of the village women, ". . . a woman's anguish pierced the still, early morning, followed by yet a duet of wails, and then a full chorus of cries." Clearly, these w...
In this poem, there is a young woman and her loving mother discussing their heritage through their matrilineal side. The poem itself begins with what she will inherit from each family member starting with her mother. After discussing what she will inherit from each of her family members, the final lines of the poem reflect back to her mother in which she gave her advice on constantly moving and never having a home to call hers. For example, the woman describes how her father will give her “his brown eyes” (Line 7) and how her mother advised her to eat raw deer (Line 40). Perhaps the reader is suggesting that she is the only survivor of a tragedy and it is her heritage that keeps her going to keep safe. In the first two lines of the poem, she explains how the young woman will be taking the lines of her mother’s (Lines 1-2). This demonstrates further that she is physically worried about her features and emotionally worried about taking on the lineage of her heritage. Later, she remembered the years of when her mother baked the most wonderful food and did not want to forget the “smell of baking bread [that warmed] fined hairs in my nostrils” (Lines 3-4). Perhaps the young woman implies that she is restrained through her heritage to effectively move forward and become who she would like to be. When reading this poem, Native American heritage is an apparent theme through the lifestyle examples, the fact lineage is passed through woman, and problems Native Americans had faced while trying to be conquested by Americans. Overall, this poem portrays a confined, young woman trying to overcome her current obstacles in life by accepting her heritage and pursuing through her
I was in the grips of genocide, and there was nothing I could do. Operation No Living Thing was put into full effect (Savage 33). The R.U.F., however, was not alone in servicing children as their own messengers of evil, the military group countering their acts of violence also had children fighting their battles. A Long Way Gone and The Bite of the Mango are eye-opening books because they give people all over the world a glimpse into the horrors kids in Africa face on a daily basis. However different Mariatu Kamara and Ishmael Beah’s experiences were regarding their journeys and disabilities, they both exhibited the same extraordinary resilience in the end to better themselves, create futures they could be proud of, and make the best of what the war left them.
Through diction, the tone of the poem is developed as one that is downtrodden and regretful, while at the same time informative for those who hear her story. Phrases such as, “you are going to do bad things to children…,” “you are going to suffer… ,” and “her pitiful beautiful untouched body…” depict the tone of the speaker as desperate for wanting to stop her parents. Olds wrote many poems that contained a speaker who is contemplating the past of both her life and her parent’s life. In the poem “The Victims,” the speaker is again trying to find acceptance in the divorce and avoidance of her father, “When Mother divorced you, we were glad/ … She kicked you out, suddenly, and her/ kids loved it… ” (Olds 990). Through the remorseful and gloomy tone, we see that the speaker in both poems struggles with a relationship between her parents, and is also struggling to understand the pain of her
The poem, Then and now written by Oodgeroo Noonuccal; an aboriginal woman. cleverly tells the audience a story about her struggles through changing to the ‘white’ way and living without aboriginal culture and identity in her adulthood. Noonuccal skilfully uses emotive, evaluative and figurative language to create a strong poem that represents what it was like before white civilisation, how life was based on their culture and how they prefer to live that way.
Mukamana, Donatilla and Petra Brysiewicz. “The Lived Experience of Genocide Rape Survivors in Rwanda.” Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 40:4 (2008): 379- 384. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
In “Out of the Dust,” a story told by 14-year-old Billie Jo, she describes her grief and feelings of lost hope including guilt from the accidental death of her mother and her mother’s unborn child. The accident crushed Billie Jo’s hope and her spirit, as well her father’s. It is a story of remarkable struggle where Billie Jo tries to find inner strength. She seeks the light through the Oklahoma “dust”. The “dust” is symbolic as it signifies a lack of life, dreams, and hope. Billie Jo takes the reader through her emotional of the journey that evokes compassion and empathy. The reader becomes part of the story and part of Billie Jo’s persona. Her journey embraces whom we are in the most profound sense of sadness and loss of her beloved mother. The story also guides us through the powerful enlightenment that defines the clearest explanation of the human spirit. In “Out of the Dust” Billie Jo demonstrates the power of forgiveness in herself and her father. These acts of forgiveness allowed her to move past the darkness and into the light. Her story gives the reader details on how the human spirit is philanthropic by nature and a lifelong process. “Out of the Dust” captures the essence of forgiveness including the transformations that occur during the process.
Lullaby, by Leslie Marmon Silko, is a story about and old, Navajo woman that is reflecting on some of the saddest events in her life. Lullaby shows how the white people have damaged the Native American life style, culture and traditions. Loss and symbolism are two major themes in this story.
Brooks was the first child of David and Keziah Brooks. She was born on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. Brooks wrote her first poem when she was 13 years old and was published in the children’s. Moreover she was the first black author to win the Pulitzer prize. magazine. In 1938 she was married to Henry Blakely and had two children. After a long battle of cancer Brooks died in December 3, 2000.
Analysis of The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks. For this assignment, I chose the poem "The Mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks. This poem is generally about abortion and the feelings a mother has. It's about the remembrance of the children aborted and the little things children do that the mother will miss.
The poem contains the central idea that many of these children never understood what home really means. In Native American culture the people venerate earth and it is referred to as mother nature which we see in the poem. The rails cut right through their home but they don’t view them like the average person. They view the tracks as if they are scars across mother earths face and her face is the Native American’s homeland. She is scarred for eternity but she is perfect in their dreams. This symbolism is ironic because the children try to reach home using the railroad that ruined natural life for them and many other Native Americans. In the second stanza the speaker says “The worn-down welts of ancient punishments lead back and fourth” (15-16). Which can be talking about the marks on the children’s bodies after getting caught while running away. But the “word-down welts” can also symbolize the welts that were put on mother nature throughout history. The last five lines of the poem sums up the symbol of hope through their memories and dreams. The last line of the poem says, “the spines of names and leaves.” (20-24). The “spines” symbolize the physical strength of the children and their ability to maintain hope individually “names”, and for their tribe
Arguably, the effects which Europe’s global colonialism have had on women of the African diaspora can be most easily seen on the African continent. Kenyan feminist and environmental activist, Wangari Maathai, explores the legacy of colonialism and oppression in her native country through her moving 2006 memoir, Unbowed. Maathai explains that over t...
In the passage by Amy Tan ,” Mother Tongue”, she tries to show or emphasize the fact or theory that we all speak differently even if it is the same main language such as English. The author is considered a fictional writer that is “fascinated by language in a daily life”. Throughout the story through her experiences she realizes or notices there are different types of English or different ways people use it. The first time she realized it was when she was giving a speech about one of her books called “The Joy Club” and her mom was there. She realized that she could not talk to her mom the same way she was talking then. Another time was when she was talking to her family and realized she was using broken English and would
As with many surface readings I have performed as a student of literature, however, my perspective on The Joys of Motherhood began to evolve. First, I realized and accepted Nnu Ego's failure to react against oppressive forces in order to bring about change for herself and the daughters of Africa; I consoled myself, reasoning that the novel still deserves the feminist label because it calls attention to the plight of the African woman and because its author and protagonist are female. Rereading the novel, however, also triggered the silencing of my initial response. I focused on such passages as the dying wish of Ona, Nnu Ego's mother, who implored Agbadi, Nnu Ego's father, ...
Barrington M. Salmon. “ African Women in a Changing World.” Washington Informer 13 March 2014: Page 16-17