We Alone Can Devalue Gold Poem

In this free verse poem that starts with “We alone can devalue gold…” Alice Walker wants us to wake up and realize that we are the makers and choosers of our destiny. We should stop putting value on tangible things. Making the theme of this poem “Overcoming the need of things that are not beneficial to our lives and start caring about that have meaning or adds to our lives naturally.”

This poem sets out to expose the fact that we have the power to change the economy. We have the power to change how we think about money, making this poem a didactic poem. This means that it’s intended to teach, but in particularly having moral instruction as an ulterior motive. Walker’s poem also has no rhyme scheme, but uses imagery, alliteration, metaphors,

and irony to get her point across, this what you call a prose poem.
In the first four lines Walker starts off letting us know how to overcome this need of wanting materialistic things, by simply telling us to stop caring. Stop putting so much of you time into maintaining these things: “We alone can devalue gold by not caring if it falls or rise in the marketplace” (1-4) She uses line breaks throughout the poem so that we can get a clear understanding of how this can be done. Walker is enunciating that if we stop caring long enough about these tangible things such as money, cars, clothes, and etc. and start caring more about love, family and world peace we can become a better people. In other words the things we hold in high standard are the things that we will value most. So if we build a disregard for these tangible possessions and in the place of make love, family, and the simply things in life primary, the bondage that we have these nonessential things will lose its grip. Thus allowing is to become exceptional human beings.
The next lines she’s explaining why we should free ourselves from the bondage we have created to our worldly possessions: “Where there is gold there is a chain, you know if your chain is gold so much worse for you” (5-10) these lines uses metaphor and just like the definition, she is opening up communication between the known and the unknown parts of our lives.

The poet is using irony when talking about gold. In this world gold is thought to be superior and divine and if you have acquired gold then you’re also looked at as being superior, but in this poem Walker turns it into something that is insignificant and repulsive. She’s telling us if we indulge in these things then we don’t know the difference between what’s important in our lives from what’s not at all important and what can also potentially destroy us. Many of us don’t understand or just don’t want to realize that we are destroying our souls worrying about these things that have no substance. There’s this rap song that came out in the 90s called “Mo Money Mo Problems” produced by a Black American man named P.Diddy, one of America’s biggest music producers and in this song he says: “Know you’d rather see me die then see me fly.” What he is saying is, because I’m now successful and rich instead of applauding me success you rather see me fall. Making this song title a very true and interesting statement. This is what Walker is saying about the gold chains. Wherever money (gold) is involved, most of the time there is

chaos right corner. And if one has lots of it the situation gets worse. How many happy rich people do you know?
In the next stanza she uses imagery and alliteration to give us a deeper perspective of what she trying to convey: “Feathers, shells and sea-shaped stones are all as rare” (11-13) the imagery used in this stanza helps us to see the beauty and vitality of these significant effects. She’s telling us that if we have these things then are just as wealthy if as we would be if we had money. The alliteration used (lines 12-13) helps emphasize the imagery, it makes it even more glamorous to us the reader. Walker is basically advertising what we could have if we stop and recognize the beauty of which these things reflect and although these things can be obtain quite effortlessly, because we don’t view them as being useful to over life’s existence they become rare.
The final stanza reveals the benefits of letting go such insignificant things: “This could be our revolution to love what is plentiful as much as what’s scarce.” (14-17) what she is saying is this could be the collapse of the social order. Instead of cherishing the things that can be taking away created by the government to keeps us structured, let’s start cherishing the things that come to us naturally, the things that can’t never be taken away, like love. Love is a God given attribute that can’t be removed because it’s internal. If you start cherishing these things the (gold) chains of greed and capitalism will break for the betterment of this world.
The poet’s awareness of this world demise is conveyed in an urgent, PSA (Public Service Announcement) type tone.

The lines are filled with the “Wake Up!” call Lawrence Fishburn shouted at the end of “School Daze” a Spike Lee Joint. The voice sounds demanding but reassuring that this would the best decision we will ever make. This seems to be reflected in the meter less lines. The stanzas with its nonconformity, no established pattern of rhyme, can be looked at as an ode to our souls. Walker gave an elaborate and enthusiastic emotion throughout this poem which brought the poem to life and gave meaning. She quoted “This is a wonderful planet, and it’s being completely destroyed by people who have too much money and too much power and no

empathy.