Making Connections pg 161
“Hanging Fire” by Audre Lorde and “From the Diary of An Almost-Four-Year-Old” by Hanah Mikha’il Ashrawi are two powerful poems in which life and death is discussed. In “Hanging Fire” the girl being depicted is fourteen years old and in high school. You can tell by the reading that this girl is extremely insecure and is trying very hard to measure up. In the first stance she says “and my skin has betrayed me…how come my knees are so ashy” She is going through and pin pointing all of what she sees as “flaws” on her body. She then goes on to say “what if I die before morning and momma’s in the bedroom with the door closed.” The feeling I get from that line is not that she is afraid of dying but that she is afraid she will have been forgotten, or as though no one would even notice. Throughout the rest of the poem she states other things that she needs to fix or get done, always trying to impress someone, yearning for that approval to fit in. The attitude that she has towards life as a fourteen year old, is a fairly typical one. I think that as a teenager your main focus in life is to fit in, to be liked, to make sure you have all the right things. I believe that this girl is seeking some kind of attention and that is why she uses the door being closed to describe the idea of nobody being there, no one paying attention to her. This poem has a very sad tone to it. Then their is the poem “From the Diary of An Almost-Four-Year-Old,” this poem has a tone of strength, love, and wisdom. This poem depicts a girl who has been shot in the head but a soldier, because of this injury she has lost one of her eyes. This girl stays optimistic throughout the poem, when she starts to think about her life with only one eye she says, “it could be that inside our heads we have one spare set of eyes to make up for the ones we lose.” It is that optimism and strength that set the tone for this poem. The girl in this story is only four years old however, she is not afraid of dying, or only having one eye, she is however considered for others. She hears of another girl who also list an eye, a 9 month old, she then says “ I’m old enough, almost four, I’ve seen enough of life, but she’s just a baby who didn’t know any better.” Even though this girl is only four and had just lost an eye, she was able to empathize for someone else instead of feel sorry for herself. I think that this little girl is a pillar of strength and it goes to show just how innocent a child is.
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Wow!! These poems are very powerful, just by reading a short summary of what you have written about them I can just feel the serious tone of them. I think the message you got from the poems is very insightful and you understood what the author was trying to get across. Death is never a joyful thing to talk or write about, it is a very deep and sometimes dark subject to talk about. The older girl in the first poem you wrote about, is very typical behavior of a girl her age. All they want to do is fit in and if they don't it is the end of the world, but the really sad thing is that she feels like her own mother doesn't even notice her. In the second poem this little girl sound so strong, and sounds like she is just a selfless person. That is so rare to see in a child so young but it just shows me that there are some pople out there no matter thier age that are truley strong, kind people.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read these poems, I read them over and over again because they were really good and they were so powerful. I do not know why but I re-read these poems like about five times because they were really good haha. I agree the girl in the poem sounded like she was very insecure and I agree also on the part where you say she feels like she will be forgotten by everyone in her life. She trys to impress everyone, but I think she does it because she wants to fit in. I do not think we should be fitting in, you are who you are. If someone does not get to fit in, they start to think oh my god my life is over, I am not the center of everyone’s attention. She is seeking attention from her friends who are her age and she should not do that to herself. The other poem was great too lol. It is true the girl was not afraid to die. Both these poems were great. I like your blog. You had some good points and I think this blog you did made me think real good about the poem “Hanging Fire”.
ReplyDeleteI read the poems and all that you described is what I felt. You did a grea job going into detail with the 14 year old. I like how you recognized what teenagers usually go through in that time of life and related to it. This I think allows us to feel a little better when we feel that way and read the poems. It helps us relate to it knowing that you openly relate to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you said that the girl thinks that the mother won't recognize her when she's dead. I believe that is what that verse meant, or at least that's how it was supposed to make us feel. I think it is rather dramatic for my tastes but I'm a male with testosterone. Can't change that. I didn't understand how you thought the poem about the missing eye girl had love in it. I mean I'm not bagging on the fact that you said that, I just don't see it. She lost her eye and doesn't want it for 9 month year old. She is positive about the situation but I don't see the love. I think that if you elaborated on this then it would make your blog perfect. Nothing bad, just something I noticed. Other than that I think you did a great job and if this were a paper to be turned in it would get an A most definitely.