26
Gabe, Tanay, Anshu
Bibliography
"THE CHILD WHO WAS SHOT DEAD BY SOLDIERS IN NYANGA (poem) - Ingrid Jonker - South Africa - Poetry International." Poetry International. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
"Ingrid Jonker – the Child Is Not Dead." Media Club South Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
"Ingrid Jonker, The Child (read by Nelson Mandela)." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.
SAP 3
The Child Who Was Shot Dead By Soldiers in Nyanga
by Ingrid Jonker
The child is not dead
the child raises his fists against his mother
who screams Africa screams the smell
of freedom and heather
in the locations of the heart under siege
The child raises his fists against his father
the march of the generations
who scream Africa scream the smell
of justice and blood
in the streets of his armed pride
The child is not dead
neither at Langa nor at Nyanga
nor at Orlando nor at Sharpeville
nor at the police station in Philippi
where he lies with a bullet in his head
The child is the shadow of the soldiers
on guard with guns saracens and batons
the child is present at all meetings and legislations
the child peeps through the windows of houses and into the hearts of mothers
the child who just wanted to play in the sun at Nyanga is everywhere
the child who became a man treks through all of Africa
the child who became a giant travels through the whole world
Without a pass.
Sonic Analysis
Artistic Connection
How do the sounds of the words contribute to the tone and meaning?
The words chosen help convey the meaning and theme of the poem. The words sound like someone just died, and there is a lot of sorrow and despair being experienced by the people around the death of the boy. The words, such as "blood" and "bullet in his head," sound intense and remind the reader that someone has just died. The vocalization of the words add to the overall feeling of sadness and heartbreak felt throughout the entire poem.
In what ways do the sounds of the words contribute to the understanding of the poem?
The words used by Jonker help the reader comprehend the main ideas and themes that are present throughout the poem. The words in general evoke the response and feeling of sorrow because a young boy has just died. The words used in the poem create a connection between to the reader, and help the reader imagine the scene. The sound of the words evoke the response of pity from the reader.
What sensory responses are evoked by the sounds?
The words used in the poem make the reader feel sadness and despair, just like the mother is feeling in the poem. The author wrote "the hearts of mothers," which implies that the death of the boy has affected mothers all over the country and assist the reader in being able to picture the scene that is described in the poem. The reader is also able to comprehend the sadness in the poem.
What does the poem make you think of?
Pathos Appeal
The poem makes me think of the sorrow and despair the mother must be experiencing. She just lost her son the the violent protests, when police shot him dead in her arms. The mother probably just wants justice served to the person who killed her son, and see that man punished very severely. The theme of suffering and death is shown in this poem, and is also consistently shown throughout the book Kaffir Boy. Mark suffers a lot and goes through a lot of hardships as a child. He sees a lot of black people die with his own eyes because they were being treated unfairly by white people and tried to fight the unfairness. This poem also makes me think about the book Kaffir Boy and the common themes between the poem and the novel.
"The child is not dead ... where he lies with a bullet in his head." This line conveys a strong message and possibly the most important message of the poem. The boy is dead, but his memory will live on in the minds of the soldier (who shot him) and his parents. Jonker is saying that the memory of the boy will live on forever. Justice will be done to the the people who shot the boy: maybe not immediately, but at some point in the future. The poem is describing the protests of many generations of South Africans for freedom and equality. Jonker wrote, "the child... screams Africa... of freedom and heather..." She is emphasizing the struggles of the black people in South Africa who are fighting for their freedom from the oppressive white people. The author is trying to show how the death of one boy will affect the entire country in its fight for equality.
What other form of art is linked to this theme?
Connection to Vanitas art
A lot of paintings are based on the theme described in this poem: death. Death is something that humans have been obsessed with for a long time, and it is an idea that shows up in art a lot.
Vanitas is a genre of paintings that expresses ideas and concepts about death through the use of just a few symbols. Vanitas art emphasizes the shortness of life and the fact that death is unavoidable and eventually everyone will have to face it. Some common symbols in Vanitas art are:
Skulls: a reminder that death is unavoidable
Rotten fruit: represents decay
Bubbles and hourglasses: the brevity of life
The apparent connection between vanitas art and the poem is that there is death in both. The poem also emphasizes the fact that life can be very short, as in the case of the young boy who died. The poem also shows that death can be very sudden and unexpected, and can happen at a time when nobody is expecting it to happen. Again, the boy was shot by a soldier, and it was a random event that resulted in the death of a young boy. His mother nor his father were expecting him to just die on this random day.
Tonal Analysis
Thematic Connection
Introduction
Examples
Shifts of tone:
"The child raises his fists against his father
in the march of the generations
who scream Africa scream the smell
of justice and blood
in the streets of his armed pride
The child is not dead
neither at Langa nor at Nyanga "
...
At the end of the second stanza and the beginning of the third stanza, the tone changes from somber and depressing to to hopeful as the poem moves from the atrocities dealt to the kid to a more emboldened tone in the middle.
"nor at the police station in Philippi
where he lies with a bullet in his head
The child is the shadow of the soldiers
on guard with guns saracens and batons"
The tone in the poem changes again from hopeful to emboldened as the author makes the reader view the child’s death in a positive light as the child impacts the rest of the world in a positive way in a butterfly effect where he lives on in the mind of the soldiers that killed him and that influences them to not kill again. As well as in the poem influencing people to be more aware of the injustices being dealt in South Africa.
Use a rich and varied tone vocabulary to name each shift in tone, looking up words you do not know.
The first change in tone went from depressing and disconsolate to upbeat and buoyant as the author changed the tone to reflect the optimism in the center of the poem.
the second change in tone went from buoyant and upbeat to joyous lively and mirthful as the author changed the tone at the end of the poem from cautiously optimistic to unbridled optimism
Write instructions to a classmate on how he or she should recite the poem, with evidence to support why this series of tones of voice is correct.
When reciting the poem, it is best to recite the first third of the poem before the tone change in a somber, monotonic, slow voice to best reflect the tone of this part of the poem. The second part of the poem is cautiously optimistic and this should be reflected in your recital with a slightly faster pace and a slightly more upbeat tone. The last third of the poem is borderline happy and this should be reflected sonically with a very upbeat tone and with optimism in the tone.
The poem ends with the words "without a pass". These words directly trigger a predominant theme in Kaffir Boy. Throughout the historical novel Kaffir Boy this similar theme is presented, during this time period of Apartheid in South Africa the Blacks had to keep passbooks much like passports that displayed their basic information. These passbooks were constantly checked by policemen and many Blacks were punished due to their passbooks being out of order.
The poem paints the same background and setting that was visualized within Kaffir Boy. In the novel Kaffir Boy a thorough picture of the poverty and oppression that blacks endured is shown similar to the bloodshed and screaming of pride mentioned in the poem. Both the poem and book speak of injustice against black people, especially the children.
I think that this is a poem to amplify the fact that the memory of the child who died will live on. The memory of his death will live on in the soldiers hearts that killed him. Justice will prevail in the court rooms, out of his memory. The memory stayed with the young as they grew old and their final destinations were forever influenced by what happened to him. I feel it is written to show that as much as someone may seem 'gone' to some, the repercussions of their life will live for eternity. This poem also is a representation of all the kids who died without a reason.