Analysis Of Miscegenation By Natasha Trethewey

Endurance of Pain in Native Guard Charles Wright has stated that in poetry “only pain endures.” Two poems from Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard, “Miscegenation” and “The Southern Crescent,” showcase the emotional pain experienced by the characters. These characters are ostracized by their communities and are essentially forced to leave their homes for fear of racial segregation; unfortunately, these journeys are met largely with disappointment and heartbreak. The speaker’s parents in “Miscegenation” face the emotional pain of leaving their home in Mississippi in the hopes of finding a life free of racial prejudice in the North. It is stated that the speaker’s parents’ trip to Canada “followed a route the same as slaves,” but their route of choice is not the only reason that their journey is similar to that of escaped slaves (36). They are traveling toward freedom. In the case of the slaves, they are seeking freedom from chains; in the case of speaker’s parents, they are seeking freedom from racial segregation. The poem’s title, “Miscegenation,” means the mixing of races, especially in relation to marriage. One of the speaker’s parents is white and the other is black, and their marriage is one of the “two laws of Mississippi” that her parents broke in 1965 (36). Their hope is that, by moving north to Canada, they …show more content…
The speaker, the child of a mixed race marriage, likens herself to Joe Christmas, a character from William Faulkner’s book, Light in August. Joe Christmas is of mixed race, and because of this, he does not fit in among either whites or blacks. The speaker also feels like she does not fit in anywhere because she is not fully white or black. She is probably similarly ostracized by both groups. It would be extremely painful to be alone just because of the color of your skin. This is a very real pain that is felt by the speaker and it is still felt many people