Literary Analysis Of Heather Christle's Five Poems For America

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Dubbed as “The Greatest Country in the World” by god knows who, America is not as awesome and free as some may see. In doing a close reading of Heather Christle’s “Five Poems for America”, we can see how the author uses metaphors to portray a flawed American, specifically within its political system, religion, obsession with technology and basic human rights. Americans have been living with the oppression of these everyday issues, completely oblivious thus creating the America we infamously know today. The first stanza of this poem (or the first of five poems) can be assumed as a metaphor for America’s ongoing struggle for women’s rights. This can already be seen in the first line: “Can-can dancing won’t stop hurting its women.” The can-can …show more content…

Our second poem displays the lost meaning of religion, confusion of love and how our misinterpretations on both lead us to think. Take for instance this line: “No way is [he] bringing me home. He wants someone to fix his religion.” Humans constantly want another human to give meaning to their lives in any kind of way. Some even go as far as interpreting sex and one night stands as actions of sincere love. Our secondary character is trying to find meaning in his religion once more, probably thinking if he finds someone to have sex with, eventually they’ll fall in love and it’ll give his life meaning again, ultimately “fixing” his religion. The character’s self-doubt about his religion and his actions to recuperate that meaning displays the lost meaning of religion. The line “Believe me I love religion, but he’s too quiet when praying” shows the lack of knowledge in America when talking about religion. Praying is a sacred time for people to talk to God and be thankful for them or to ask for guidance. Stating that “he’s too quiet when praying” shows a kind of lost in the meaning of religion, as it’s not a thing that’s enforced as much as it was decades …show more content…

My classmates elected the hamster,” making it clear of her mockery towards politics. “Teacher doesn’t vote and can’t change anything.” This could be interpreted in either two ways: voting for any kind of election is pointless because “nothing changes” or the educational system lacking resources because they’re not able to help or change any of their students. The author’s choice to use a hamster is interesting as well. Hamster, small, seemly innocent prey are used to symbolize students. By the time students are seniors in high school, recruiters start scouting the schools for their next victims. “Hamsters die all the time for good reasons. Once I was a hamster who loved waterparks but no one ever knew.” Many people in America believe that dying for one’s country is an act of nobility. This line even shows readers how no one ever really cares for their troops regardless, as they’re only seen as war machines. The second line can also been seen as a child once being innocent, but now being in the age of adulthood they’ve lost that

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