I Beg You Brother Do Not Die By Yosano Akiko

Death is inevitable, yet all people deal with it differently. The poems “I Beg You, Brother: Do Not Die” by Yosano Akiko and “The terrorist, He Watches” by Wislawa Szymborska are about people who are going to die in soon. The impending death that the people in the poems face, is a death known to the speakers soly. The people who face death are unaware of the upcoming destruction. The speakers know the people in the poems will die soon and know it for certainty. Both of the speakers in the poem watch people face this impending death, yet they themselves are not in harms way, this means the speakers are not going to die, but simply watch others die. The speakers have no control over the situations of the people dieing. The lack of control both

The title of the poem “The terrorist, He Watches” explains what the narrator does in the poem, he observes a terrorist placing a bomb. The speaker in “The terrorist, He Watches” is solely a bystander, thus making the perspective one of someone who is not in harm's way, yet the speaker obtains knowledge that others will die. The speaker describes watching the terrorist walk across the street, but then sees people enter, leave and miss the bus (10-20). The way the speaker describes viewing the people, is one of someone who is far away. The far away viewing point of the speaker further shows that the speaker has no control. The speaker can not control or warn those who face the impending death from the bomb, because the speaker is so far away. means Since the speaker must not be in close proximity, but a far and safe distance away, waiting and watching until the bomb goes off and inevitably killing the people, the speaker is a bystander. The title of the other poem “I Beg You, Brother: Do Not Die” also shows that the narrator will not die, but her brother will, meaning she is not in harm's way. The speaker in “I Beg You, Brother: Do Not Die” repeatedly asks her brother not to die. By the speaker repeatedly asking her brother to no go to war

The speaker watches people who are in close proximity to the bomb and describes their actions, yet the way the speaker describes them is dehumanizing. The speaker describes a man as a “fat baldy” (23) and a girl as “dumb” (19). These descriptions used by the speaker to describe those who are about to die, shows an uncaring and dehumanizing tone. The characteristics used were negative and cause a lack of empathy for those who are about to die, thus an uncaring tone from the speaker. Another time when the speaker has a uncaring tone was when throughout the poem the speaker counts down the time of when the bomb will go off. The focus on the countdown of the bomb not any emotions about the impending death of others expresses how the speaker does not care about the people who are about to die. The speaker treats the time left on the bomb like the time of day, even though it is the time left some people have to live. The over dramatized time telling of the bomb expresses a dehumanizing tone towards the people because the speaker treats the inevitable death of others as an everyday occurrence, and rather focuses on time. Besides the speaker repeating the time left the bomb has to go off, the speaker also does not describe when the bomb actually goes off. The speaker says, “should be any moment now, Not yet. yes, this is it (29-31). The