Refugee mother and her child by Chinua Achebe Essay

Explain what the song is about and how the poet conveys the emotions he feels. The poem is about Achebes encounter with a pose and sister in a refugee camp. This m early(a) was different from the other catchs as she still cherished and loved her male child. The other acquires had already stopped caring for their children as endurance was not the approximately important thing and on that point wasnt any hope of survival for their children anyway. In business concern 9 Most mothers there had long ceased to consider The poets tang was varied, in the first stanza he used long, downy vowels such as the vowel o and words such as tenderness.In breeze 4, Achebe chose to used the word odour alternatively of the word smell or stench because it sounded softer and much rounded. The softness act until the beginning of credit bourne 5 where Achebe used hard-sounding words such as diarrhoea and blown. The fact that the child will die is hinted repeatedly. From overseas telegram 7 to line 14 of the southward stanza, he seemed to be admiring the mothers love for her child in even those circumstances. At the end, his tone was sad and regretful. In the brave out three lines homogeneous putting flowers on a tiny grave. There was alliteration in line 5 of the second stanza behind blown empty bellies The poet used the work tracing as a metaphor in lines 8 and 9 of the second stanza. In ghost smile, he meant the softening of the mothers expression as she looked at her boy. There was repetition of ghost and in ghost of a mothers pride, it represented what the mother used to feel and here there was only the tiniest left of it. The last 2 lines were a smilie, hes saying that her combing her sons hair is like a final goodbye because she would in all likelihood never get to do it again.In the first line, Madonna and tike, this is the scene when Christ was taken from the cross and placed on bloody shames knees. Achebe is saying that even this scene could not h ave been more touching than of the refugee mother and her child. In line 3 for a son she soon would have to lay to rest. Here he means that after the boy dies, the mother will have to concentrate on survival for herself, forcing her to forget her son. This will not be able to mourn her child. In line 4 The air was heavy with odours The air was thick with the stench.The air was so dense that it seemed it had a weight and was more than just gas. In lines 7 and 8 Struggling in laboured steps Even move is difficult for them. Walking is hard work. Achebe doesnt know the mothers name, so he refers to her as she and her. Rust-coloured is the colour of a dark-haired persons hair when he or she has an inadequate diet. The hair signals that the child is incredibly unhealthy and on the verge of dying. In line 11 hair left on his skull The child is in such sad health that his hair has fallen out.Achebe used the work skull because it showed how poorly the boy was and because it represen ted death. In line 12 - Singing in her eyeball The hyphens surrounding this phrase outlined its significance. This was probably because the mother remembers singing to him, when they were happy. From line 15 act of no consequence Combing her sons hair would unremarkably be something a mother wouldnt envisage twice about. They were probably quite a well off before they were in this situation. The punctuation Achebe used were little. At the end of the first verse he put a flow rate.This is because he was finalizing a statement. At the end of line 5 of the second stanza, theres another period. This is because hed finished describing about the surroundings and was moving onto the mother. In line 7, there was a semi-colon, which indicates a pause. There is another one in line 16. In line 13 there are three periods together. This is usually used to signify that something will eventually continue. At the end of the poem he put another period. This is because he is ending the poem a nd in like manner because he is once again finalizing something.Since the child is dying, death is final, so the period was suitable. In lines 13 to 16, Achebe introduced the possibility that the mother and child were probably quite well off before they were in this situation. However, their lives had changed and it was no longer that sluttish lifestyle. I thought the poem was sad. It showed how disasters could change the feelings and lives of normal people like you and me. It was an eye-opening poem, and it made me realise that if I werent living this lifestyle that boy may well have been anyone I know or me.