the woman who speaks to the man who has employed her son
‘The Woman Speaks to the Man Who has Employed her Son’
Lorna Goodison was born 1947 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her family was a large one comprising nine children. She attended St. Hughes High School and later, studied Art both in Jamaica and New York. Her first collection of poetry, ‘Tamarind Season’ was published in 1980. Several collection followed, as well as two prose fiction works. Her books have won many awards.
Goodison’s themes include motherhood and the female in society. Currently she divided her time between her Jamaican home and the university of Michigan where she is an associate Professor in the Department of English and the Centre for African American Studies.
Summary
A single mother tries to raise her son well but loses him to a man who apparently hires him as an assassin or a bodyguard and presents him with a submachine gun to conduct his duties. The mother grieves for her son and her lost hopes for him. She foresees his imminent death as a criminal and tries to prepare herself for this eventuality. At the same time she condemns the man who is deceiving the boy by passing as a benevolent father figure while using him to do his criminal business.
Commentary
The poem focuses on the very real concerns that plague modern society, that is, the breakdown of the family and the recruitment of the youth for criminal activities. The plight of single mothers and the abdication (neglect) of parental responsibility by absentee fathers are highlighted as integral to this problem.
The poem pens with the woman’s pregnancy and the discomfort it caused her. The “sense of unease” foreshadows the worry he would cause her later on but at the time she carries him under her heart, symbol of her constant love for him. That three stanzas are devoted to her role in raising the child emphasizes the tremendous effort she made to raise him properly and to provide for him. This would explain her acute sense of loss and also her disbelief at how easily
Lorna Goodison was born 1947 in Kingston, Jamaica. Her family was a large one comprising nine children. She attended St. Hughes High School and later, studied Art both in Jamaica and New York. Her first collection of poetry, ‘Tamarind Season’ was published in 1980. Several collection followed, as well as two prose fiction works. Her books have won many awards.
Goodison’s themes include motherhood and the female in society. Currently she divided her time between her Jamaican home and the university of Michigan where she is an associate Professor in the Department of English and the Centre for African American Studies.
Summary
A single mother tries to raise her son well but loses him to a man who apparently hires him as an assassin or a bodyguard and presents him with a submachine gun to conduct his duties. The mother grieves for her son and her lost hopes for him. She foresees his imminent death as a criminal and tries to prepare herself for this eventuality. At the same time she condemns the man who is deceiving the boy by passing as a benevolent father figure while using him to do his criminal business.
Commentary
The poem focuses on the very real concerns that plague modern society, that is, the breakdown of the family and the recruitment of the youth for criminal activities. The plight of single mothers and the abdication (neglect) of parental responsibility by absentee fathers are highlighted as integral to this problem.
The poem pens with the woman’s pregnancy and the discomfort it caused her. The “sense of unease” foreshadows the worry he would cause her later on but at the time she carries him under her heart, symbol of her constant love for him. That three stanzas are devoted to her role in raising the child emphasizes the tremendous effort she made to raise him properly and to provide for him. This would explain her acute sense of loss and also her disbelief at how easily