The poem that I have selected for this weeks discussion is “White Lies” by Natasha Trethewey. This poem highlights the struggles of adversity that a little african american girl is dealing with while growing up. I have identified this from when the author states,
“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” (7-15).
The author clearly feels ashamed of her families “status” in the world being that she attends school in a melting pot of socio-economic statuses and demographics. Therefore, she feels the need to tell “white lies”. You can also draw this point from,
“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.” (22-29), where the author uses dramatic irony to show how the girl feels not only ashamed of her status in school, but also her race. This poem is very saddening to me but is put together in an extremely clever and thoughtful manner. Therefore, I have completed the poem by starting with what imagery it presents and bringing it into my point of view.
2 thoughts on “Daniel Machover – Week 12 Discussion”
Good night, Daniel Machover.
Great analysis on the poem “White Lies”! As an African Latino person, I’ve completely emphasized with this poem, and really felt “on the skin” what the poet states on her lines. I really liked how you completed the poem’s perspectives with your words, and how you analyzed it on a socio-economic contest, imagery, and demographics. It was extremely clever of the poet to use symbolism to exemplify such experiences, that honestly I would never be able to put into words myself. However, I have to agree, this poem is very sad.
Thanks for the feedback, and the insights!
Hey Daniel I really enjoyed reading your response to the poem I liked how you included the resource from the other poem as well I can also relate because I also compared my writing with the same poem as I thought “White Lies” included a lot of good information so it was a little hard to pick out one piece and compare it to “How To Read A Poem” but what you did and the way you backed it was perfect.