Writer : Ray young Bear
Summary
“Grandmother” is written in nostalgic tone. In the poem, the poet
has tried to manifest his intimate relation with his grandmother. The
love and affection that she showed towards him in his childhood (it is
obvious she is no more with the poet), is still imprinted on his mind
and heart. To depict the closeness of their relation the poet has
successfully utilized two new tools in the poem –
b) sensuous images.
The poet boasts that he was so intimate to his grandmother that if
he got even a glimpse of her from miles away, his sense of sight would
immediately recognize that it was his grandmother by observing her
purple scarf and the plastic shopping bag. He was so familiar with her
that he could also distinguish that the “warm and damp” hands that were
put on his head were of nobody else but of his grandmother. It was not
that he could only use his sense of sight or sense of touch to identify
his grandmother. His sense of smell and sense of hearing were also
equally capable of recognizing her. He could recognize his grandmother
from “the smell of roots” that her hands gave off.
Most importantly, the words of his grandmother were a source of
inspiration for him. When he used to hear her words, it used to flow
inside his body and revive his lost strength and vigour. He has compared
its effect with stirring the ashes of sleeping fire to regenerate fire.
Fire is the source of energy, light and clarity. Similarly, when the
poet used to hear her words it used to fill him with new energy, hope,
and erase all his confusions. In other words, her advises were a source
of motivation for him.
ALTERNATIVE SUMMARY
In the poem The Grandmother, the American-Indian poet, Ray Young
Bear, draws a picture of his grandmother, all-loving, all-inspiring. His
grandmother would wear a purple scarf round her head for warmth and she
would go to market with a plastic shopping bag in her hand. Her shape
was also quite remarkable. If the poet saw her forma a long distance, he
could tell that she was his grandmother. She would come home working in
the field and wash her hands. They were wet and had the smell of roots.
She would put her hands on his head and caress it lovingly. Although
they were wet, they would be warm out of love. Before he looked at her
face, the smell and warmth-would make him guess that it was his
grandmother.
Sometimes the poet would go to her grave. He would imagine to have
heard a voice coming from the tombstone. He could feel to be his
grandmother. He could feel that her words were moving smoothly inside
him like a stream. They would inspire him. In his sad life he would find
a faint glimpse of hope. He would remember the winter night when they
were shivering with cold. His grandmother would wake up and try to move
the fire which was covered with thick ashes and he would see her from
his bed and hope that he would warm his body by the open fire.
The poem expresses not only poet’s love and respect towards
his grandmother but uses grandmother as an epitome for native America.
The poem has tried to pay tribute to his Native American grandmother.
The poem is rich in use of symbols and images that brings out a picture
of typical Mesquaki grandmother and her native culture. The grandmother
portrayed in the poem appears to be all loving and affectionate. The
poet feels a kind of loss for his grandmother and expresses his strong
desire to be with her.
The poet has used his all sensory perceptions to understand the
greatness of his grandmother. In the first part of the poem, poet uses
his eyes to identify his grandmother’s shape, her purple scarf, and a
plastic shopping bag. In the middle part of the poem, he uses his skin
and nose to recognize his grandmother’s warm and damp hand on his head
and he could get ancestral smell from her. In the last part of the poem,
poet uses his good sense of his ears to hear her words in the land of
his origin. In this way poet has successfully drawn a picture of his
grandmother by various images appeal to all senses.
The verse of the poem “I’d know her words would flow inside
me like the light of someone sharing ashes from a sleeping fire night,”
clarifies the poet’s feelings. He means that wisdom got from his
grandmother helps to search for identity of Native American people. He
finds his grandmother a great teacher for the depth of past and the
lesson of life in the present time. The poet also finds his grandmother
all-loving and all-inspiring. ‘Warm and damp’ shows how deeply, she
loved him and “her words flow inside me like the light” shows how poet
is inspired by her.
INTERPRETATIONS
· The grandmother of the poet is the prominent and highly
regarded women of contemporary America who represent the difficulties in
Mesquaki tribe.
· The poet assumes and senses that he would see the shape of his grandmother from the miles away.
· Poet sees his grandmother from his inner eyes that it is
his merely assumption only and he would recognize his grandmother
instantly who is coming from the long distance. He even assumes that if
he would see from his outer eyes, he would see his grandmother coming
from the long distance or from the mile away by wearing purple scarf and
carrying plastic shopping bag.
· The poet assumes that if he felt hand on his head, the poet
know that those hands were his grandmother’s which are warm and damp
with the smell of roots.
· Again, the poet assumes that if he heard a voice from the
rock, he would know that he words are resounded in his heart with
instant flow inside him like the light of someone stirring ashes from a
sleeping fire at night.
· The poet implies the rigid suppression to the Mesquaki tribe by the Americans, especially the white Americans.
· In spite of suppression, discrimination and contempt, the tribe strongly existed in the American states.
· The poet sustains the cultural ethics, values and norms of Mesquaki tribe.
· The poet reveals the difficulties of women in that tribe,
the poem shows that women in that tribe faces great struggle to sustain
their lives. There is the rustic scene of American countryside where the
tribes reside.
QUESTIONS
Q. 1. What images do you find in this poem written by a member of
the Sauk and Fox (Mesquaki) Indian tribe of North America? To what
senses do these images appeal?
Ans. The poet has used the sensuous images as effective tools in
this poem. As a result he is successful in creating a vivid picture of
his grandmother. These images particularly appeal to our sense of sight
(if i were to see …), sense of touch (if i felt …), sense of smell (with
the smell of roots.), and sense of sound (if i heard …). The poet,
through the use of these sensuous images has tried to express how much
he loved and how close was his grandmother to his heart.
OR
There are various images used in the poem, for example, ‘purple
scarf’, ‘plastic shopping bag’, ‘warm and damp hands with the smell of
roots’, ‘voice coming from the rock’ and ‘a sleeping fire at night’. All
these images are closely related to the activities and life styles of
Mesquaki tribal people. Most of tribal people do not have the
opportunity to enjoy a fairly rich and luxurious life. They buy ordinary
stuff in a small amount. As they have to survive on natural plants, it
is natural that their hands smell roots which they use as food.
Similarly rocks and night flies are also inseparatable parts of tribal
life. All these images used in the poem are very much appealing because
they provide rural and rustic setting to the poem. These images give the
realistic impression and make the poem very much life-like.
Q.2. How does the speaker has feel towards his grandmother ? In what words or lines does he make his feeling clear?
Ans: The speaker has an affectionate and respectful feeling
towards his grandmother. He describes his grandmother in such a way that
she becomes the source of love and inspiration to him. He expresses his
warm and intimate feeling to her through the words like feeling her
‘warm and damp hands’ and ‘her words would flow inside me like the
light’. Here, the grandmother’s words are compared with the light of
sleeping night fire which lightens the darkness when it is recovered by
removing the ashes. This means that her words lighten the darkness of
his life and show the right path to truth, love and goodness.
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