THE DYING CHILD (FREEMAN PETER LWAMBA)
Thin and red,
Skinny and balb,
The boy groans on the ground.
Swollen stomach
Full of waste,
Thin legs,
Thin arms,
Twitch
As the boy fights with flies
Over the empty place.
Ten years old,
He looks older than ten,
And the younger than young,
And so small
As he wriggles,
Prisoner
Of his unproportional body.
“Mother” shouts the boy
“When I grow up
I will carry a gun,
And not a pen.”
“My son”, shouts the mother
“My son” cries the mother
“You will never live to carry a gun
There is no meat for us”
ANALYSIS OF THE POEM
1. What is the poem about?
The poem is about a boy and his mother who are experiencing hardship of life. This hardship has been caused by the ruling system, in the poem the boy is expecting to revenge for all those who have caused that kind of poor and miserable life.
2. What is the type of poem?
This is free verse or modern type of poem, because there is variation in the number of syllables in the verses, variation of verses in each stanza and there is variation in the length of verses in the stanzas.
3. What is the form of the poem?
i. Structure of the poem
The poem has five stanzas, whereby the first stanza has three verses, the second has eight verses, the fourth has four verses and the fifth has four verses.
ii. Language used or diction
The language used in the poem is simple, clear and straight forward. However the choice of the words by the poet help the readers to reflect poverty, miserable life, hardship of life and anger of the persona towards those causing such kind of poor life.
iii. Figures of speech used in the poem
a) Hyperbole
Is shown in stanza 2, when the persona says
“…. As the boy fight with flies
Over the empty plate”
The boy cannot fight with flies over the empty plate, it is possible that the plate had little food
b) Personification
Personification is shown when the persona says that
“…..as the boy fights with flies
Over the empty plate”
Here the flies have been given human qualities. It is obvious that the flies cannot fight with human being.
iv. Tone or voice
The tone of the persona is that of anger, sad, unhappy and seriousness.
4. What is the main theme of the poem?
The main theme of the poem is poverty in the society.
5. What are the possible themes found in the poem?
a) Poverty
In the poem it is shown that people in the society are poor to the extent that they cannot afford to eat sufficient and balanced diet and because of this, people are likely to have poor health.
This is shown when the persona says
“Swollen stomach
Full of waste,
Thin legs,
Thin arms
As the boy fights with flies
Over empty plates”
b) Poor diet
This theme is well explained by the boy who has not been taking balanced diet as a result he became thin, red, skinny and bald. Also he has swollen stomach because not having balanced diet.
c) Social stratification or classes in the society
In the poem is shown that there are two classes existing in the society, the class of the poor people who cannot afford having balanced diet and live very poor and miserable life and the class of the rich people or ruling class who eat balanced diet and enjoy all the sorts of luxurious life.
d) Vengeance
In the poem the boy has promised to revenge to all those who have caused poor and miserable life to him and his mother. He wants to revenge to the exploiters and oppressors that is the ruling class.
This is shown when the persona says:
““Mother” shouts the boy
“When I grow up I will carry a gun
And not a pen”
e) Illusionment
The boy has illusion to fight against all people who have caused poor and miserable life. He believes that he will be able to carry a gun and fight for the revenge, but in the reality he is very thin, skinny and always groans on the ground, hence if his mother’s life will not change, he will not be able to carry a gun and fight.
f) Awareness and consciousness
The boy is aware that poverty of the family and the society in general has been caused by the ruling class and that why the boy has promised to revenge against the ruling class.
MESSAGE OR LESSONS FORM THE POEM.
i. The excessive poverty caused by the ruling class in the society cannot be tolerated, otherwise people will revenge or fight against it.
ii. Awareness among the people in the society is very important because will make those people to be in position of understanding the sources of the problems existing in the society and how to deal with such kind of problems.
iii. Poverty in the society should be eradicated because it causes many problems such as poor health to children as shown in the poem.
iv. The ruling class in the society should help all the people to solve all the problems such poverty in the socity instead of exploiting and oppressing them.
Relevance of the poem to the society
The poem is relevant to many African societies as it reflects the social realities of those societies through themes presented in the poem such as poverty which is found in many African societies.
Prepared by:
Emily A Mwambola
Tel: 0757290816
Email: emilyam016@gmail.com
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