Analysis of the Portable Literature - Essay Example

“Travelling through the dark” This is a poem of compromise. A poem depicting a conflict between compassion and duty. A poem depicting the conflict between sacrificing one’s time or ignoring the situation and moving on. Travelling through the dark, the car comes across a dead deer, which was female and pregnant. The narrator of the poem finds himself in a compromising situation. A situation open for him to ignore the circumstances and move-on, yet the compassion he has for others hinders this immediate action. While travelling on a narrow road, the man finds that the doe is dead, but certainly just few hours past, since it was still hot, on the underside, where the belly was big, indicating that the doe was pregnant. The man has to pass through the narrow road, but in the presence of the doe, it could be difficult and might end up causing another accident. While throwing the doe in the river would mean killing the fawn inside the doe’s womb, it was certain that the fawn could not be born anyway. He could still ignore it, since was not his duty. It is a poem of love and compassion that causes the narrator emotional discomfort, between ignoring the situation and moving on, or acting responsibly. Even if doing the right thing is not his duty, even if doing the right thing would disrupt his journey, the heart still insists on doing the right thing. This is a complex real life situation, that presents a battle between the mind and the heart, where the heart insists on compassion, but the mind calls for making a decision based on the line duty. The sense of compassion is calling on him, but the sense of duty urges him to progress. The narrator has to act and stop ignoring the situation. He knows very well that leaving the doe still laid on the road, when it is dark, is likely to cause more accidents. Therefore, he opts to sacrifice his time and remove the doe from the road, for the benefit of other road users. This way, he drags the doe out of the street and into the river, thus clearing the road. This is a poem of responsibility, a poem of self-sacrifice, a poem of performing duty, for the benefit of all. A poem of human compassion for others. “My Papa’s Waltz” This is a poem of nice memories of a son who spend time with his drunken father waltzing around the house, messing up his mother’s kitchen and disorganizing the house in the name of fun. It is a poem expressing disapproval of the father’s drunkenness, but still expressing the unconditional love the son had for the father. This is a narration of a real life situation, where the relationship between parents and their children could go soar within a family, but one fact remains clear, they are one blood. Therefore, regardless of the bad blood and soar relationship, a child will still love his parents. It is a narration of a family setting where the father is irresponsible and uncaring, messing up the house setting notwithstanding the wife’s concern. It is a story of a father trying to engage his son despite being drunk, a fact that causes more harm than good to the son. Nevertheless, the son is still fond of his father, and has to continue clinging to him even when the dancing turns nasty and disorderly. For the love of his father, the son has to withstand the pain caused on his ears and his wrist as waltzing around the house continues. It is a poem narrating the lifestyle of a family made up of a father who does manual work, and takes alcohol to cool off the pressure caused by his hard labor, but still wants to spend a perfect evening with his children. It’s a poem telling the story of a not so well-to-do family in pursuit of balancing the nature of their job and the family life. Achieving the balance is quite difficult. Nevertheless, the attempt made, though not wholesomely pleasing, is still worth appreciation. “Digging” This is a poem narrating the hard work of the old folks, who could do nothing else but sustain their families through tilling the land. It is a reflection of the changing times, when the old men could not rest, unless they fail to sustain their families. A period when the only source of living was the land; farming, digging, planting potatoes. A period of life where even the old men were not spared the labor, because there was not any savings made or any food gathered to sustain the families while people took a rest. A period of life when people had to do farming on a daily basis. A period of time when the joy was felt during the harvest time, when potatoes could be dug and taken home. This is a narration of the hard work of an old man, who did not relent to give his best in labor just to achieve the best for his family. His commitment to farming surpassed that of many others in the neighborhood. He could not even take more time to rest, just sipped off the milk and got back to digging. This is a poem of sacrifice, sacrifice that was made many decades ago by our forefathers. A poem of the commitment made by the previous generation to sustain life, so that the current generation could live and taste a different life. It is a narration of not a very pleasant life that the previous generations lived, when there were no machineries invented, when man had to use manual labor to earn a living. It is a narration of a perfectly tough moment in the past, when life was all about farming, digging and digging deep, using the spade. However, through the sacrifice of the previous generations, and their engagement in hard labor to sustain life, things have now changed. Through their sacrifice and commitment to see the current generation through, life has become easier. It is no longer a period of digging using the spade. It is a period of earning life through reading and writing. It is a period of earning life through the pen, instead of the spade. It is now a period of earning a descent life through education. This is a poem of a grandson’s commitment to venture into education and earn a better living from it, as opposed to how his grandfather earned a living through farming. Works Cited Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Portable Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing (8th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, 2013. Print. Read More