Quote analysis - Sea of Poppies - Essay Example

Lecturer Literature Mr. Burnham winced. Why no, Reid. Not slaves-coolies. Have you not heard it said that when God closes one door he opens another? When the doors of freedom were closed to the Africans, the lord opened them to a tribe that was yet more needful of it- the Asiatick." (Sea of poppies, Chapter IV).Mr. Burnham uses a common biblical reference that God opens a door whenever one is closed to mean that when Africans were not able to get freedom, God allowed them to be slaves. He says this to a mulatto by the name Zachary Reid when they meet in Calcutta.

This is thought to be such a derogatory statement, which demeans the African lot who may only have been defenseless at the time they had to be shipped away from their homes to be slaves. What’s makes it more disrespectful is the fact that Zachary Reid is a mulatto, a descendant of slavery.He is being sarcastic and mean. ‘God closes one door and opens another’ is a quote that has been used by many to give hope to those with despair. As Mr. Burnham uses it, however, doesn’t instill hope in a person who may have despaired or been affected in one way or another by slavery or lack of freedom generally.

The tone is sarcasm, irony sort of (Booth, A. et al 2010). This is a statement that may easily be interpreted to mean that he actually holds no sympathy toward those who have been devastated by lack of freedom. There is totally no sense of empathy in the way that he puts it.Maybe it’s because Reid is a mulatto who may pass for a white that he (Mr. Burnham) doesn’t realize the hurt that he causes him by making such an insensitive and selfish statement. What can be learned in this situation is the idea that people may decide to conceal prejudices and biases that they have against people only when those people are close and may be hurt if the biases and prejudices against them were to be unleashed.

They however make such expression when they are sure that those they have biases against are not within a hearing or seeing distance. Works citedBooth, A. et al (2010). "Theme and Tone." The Norton Introduction to Literature, Portable 10th ed. New York: Norton. Print.