One of the three prior assumptions that I made with respect to the poem “White Lies” by Natasha Tretheway is that the poet is writing about herself or her own experiences. This assumption could potentially limit my understanding of the poem, as it is important to recognize that Tretheway uses a persona or fictional character as the speaker. In the first stanza, the speaker describes her own physical appearance: “Be careful of stones that you throw / Young girl alone in a world / Where race is not a bone in her throat / But a stick in her side.” This sets up the context for the poem and establishes the speaker as a young girl who is not white. However, in the third stanza, the speaker reveals that she has lied about her race: “I could easily tell the white folks / That I am a spic, a mick, a hunky / Jew, a nigger, or even a chink.” This reveals that the speaker is not necessarily the poet herself, but rather a fictional character or persona created by Tretheway. The young girl in the poem, who lies about her race to fit in with her white classmates, is not necessarily a reflection of Tretheway’s own experiences. By assuming that the poet is always writing about themselves or their own experiences, I might miss the broader themes and issues that the poem addresses, such as identity, race, and social conformity.
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4 thoughts on “Omar Aly Discussion 3”
Hi Omar,
I’m a little confused by the lines you chose as examples in your response because I did not read the same lines in Tretheway’s poem.
The lines I read are as follows: “The lies I could tell,
when I was growing up
light-bright, near-white,
high-yellow, red-boned
in a black place,
were just white lies.
I could easily tell the white folks
that we lived uptown,
not in that pink and green
shanty-fled shotgun section
along the tracks. I could act
like my homemade dresses
came straight out the window
of Maison Blanche. I could even
keep quiet, quiet as kept,
like the time a white girl said
(squeezing my hand), Now
we have three of us in this class.
But I paid for it every time
Mama found out.
She laid her hands on me,
then washed out my mouth
with Ivory soap. This
is to purify, she said,
and cleanse your lying tongue.
Believing her, I swallowed suds
thinking they’d work
from the inside out.”
But even with these differences, I’m not sure I understand, from your explanation, how you’ve come to the conclusion that the speaker is not necessarily the poet herself, but rather a fictional character or persona created by Tretheway. Would you mind clarifying?
Omar, first, the lines you quote do not come from “White Lies” by Natasha Tretheway, as your colleague points out in her comments. Secondly, is thinking that the speaker of a poem must also be the poet one of the prior assumptions mentioned in the Hirsch article?
Yup, I was in the wrong article
You were in the wrong poem. Where did you find this poem?