1 / 12

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe - A Mother In A Refugee Camp

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe - A Mother In A Refugee Camp. Who is Achebe?. He is a Nigerian writer interested in African politics. He wrote the influential novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ which sold 12 million copies. A Mother In A Refugee Camp No Madonna and Child could touch

kalin
Télécharger la présentation

Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe Chinua Achebe - A Mother In A Refugee Camp

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Chinua AchebeChinua AchebeChinua Achebe - A Mother In A Refugee Camp

  2. Who is Achebe? • He is a Nigerian writer interested in African politics. • He wrote the influential novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ which sold 12 million copies.

  3. A Mother In A Refugee Camp No Madonna and Child could touch Her tenderness for a son She soon would have to forget. . . . The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea, Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there Had long ceased to care, but not this one: She held a ghost-smile between her teeth, And in her eyes the memory Of a mother’s pride. . . . She had bathed him And rubbed him down with bare palms. She took from their bundle of possessions A broken comb and combed The rust-colored hair left on his skull And then—humming in her eyes—began carefully to part it. In their former life this was perhaps A little daily act of no consequence Before his breakfast and school; now she did it Like putting flowers on a tiny grave.

  4. Breakdown of the poem 1… No Madonna and Child could touch Her tenderness for a son She soon would have to forget. . . . • What is a Madonna? (Not the pop star…) • Why is the word Child given a capital? • What does the image tell us about their relationship? • Why would she have to ‘forget’ him?

  5. Breakdown 2… The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea, Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs And dried-up bottoms waddling in labored steps Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there Had long ceased to care, but not this one: • Look at the use of the language connected with the body – what word would you use to describe it? • Why are the bellies ‘blown-up’ and the bottoms ‘dried-up’? • Why is his mother unusual?

  6. Breakdown 3… She held a ghost-smile between her teeth, And in her eyes the memory Of a mother’s pride. . . . She had bathed him And rubbed him down with bare palms. • Look at the use of time here… which words suggest the past? • Why does she have the smile ‘between her teeth’? • What is the ellipsis for in the third line?

  7. Breakdown 4… She took from their bundle of possessions A broken comb and combed The rust-colored hair left on his skull And then—humming in her eyes—began carefully to part it. • Why are their possessions in a bundle? • Why has the writer used images of decay? ‘rust’, ‘broken’ etc? • Why is the mother ‘humming’ in her eyes? • What is symbolic about the ‘parting’ of his hair?

  8. Breakdown 5 In their In their former life this was perhaps A little daily act of no consequence Before his breakfast and school; now she did it Like putting flowers on a tiny grave. • Look at the size words – they get smaller and smaller… what is that symbolic of? • Look at the juxtaposition of the ordinary and extra-ordinary here – which words suggest each category? • How does the last line make you feel?

  9. Key Themes Social Justice Love Pride Innocence Death

  10. Religious Imagery • Look at the use of religious imagery in the poem – ‘Madonna and Child’. Think about the story of the Virgin Mary. Is Achebe making this mother into a kind of saint? Or is she more than holy? • With religious imagery you should also think about the idea of washing, isn’t it like baptism of a sort? Don’t we talk about washing away the sins of the world? • The use of ‘daily’ also links us to the idea of the holiness of everyday life – think about the Lord’s Prayer.

  11. Structure/Techniques • The poem is structured as a single continuous piece. • Achebe uses ellipsis to move between different moments in time. • There are lots of run-on lines as if time is speeding by. • Use of opposites – ‘unwashed’ and ‘washed-out’ for example. • Full range of punctuation used – dash, colon, semi-colon, comma, full stop, ellipsis. • Shifts in time frame throughout.

  12. Chinua Achebe - A Mother In A Refugee CampMr E. Monaghanewm@cokethorpe.org

More Related