The Border Builder by Carol Rumens
Main Idea: Carol Rumen expresses her frustrations with the hypocrisy of racism and xenophobia by visiting an immigration office. There is a presence of only good and bad, one cannot be in the middle and the entire system just brings up more questions than answers. The officer only cares for which side you are on.
Theme(s): Immigration, Racism, Racial Prejudice, Racial Discrimination, Dehumanization.
Methods: Rumens suggest that division in society is a natural reaction by mentioning how “No sooner had one come down Than he began building again.” These are not physical divisions, but division in terms of different groups or categories of people based on traits.
The poet further suggest this when saying “My bricks ... Made of my genuine blood!” These are not normal physical bricks; the deliberate mentioning of blood denotes that these walls are built by the discrimination of different bloods. The separation is because of different bloods. …show more content…
The writer repetitively emphasizes “which side?” to convey how they only care about, which side you are on, not who you are. This refers back to the idea of black and white logistics; if you are not with me, you are against me. Additionally, the poet includes a multitude of questions, but does not answer them. This denotes that there are many unanswered questions.
In this poem, there is no Rhyme and there is a bunch of overflowing questions. This creates confusion which denotes the confusion the poet feels.
Furthermore, in terms of the physical structure of the poem, it looks to be a large and solid wall of text to signify the wall in the
Main Idea: Carol Rumen expresses her frustrations with the hypocrisy of racism and xenophobia by visiting an immigration office. There is a presence of only good and bad, one cannot be in the middle and the entire system just brings up more questions than answers. The officer only cares for which side you are on.
Theme(s): Immigration, Racism, Racial Prejudice, Racial Discrimination, Dehumanization.
Methods: Rumens suggest that division in society is a natural reaction by mentioning how “No sooner had one come down Than he began building again.” These are not physical divisions, but division in terms of different groups or categories of people based on traits.
The poet further suggest this when saying “My bricks ... Made of my genuine blood!” These are not normal physical bricks; the deliberate mentioning of blood denotes that these walls are built by the discrimination of different bloods. The separation is because of different bloods. …show more content…
The writer repetitively emphasizes “which side?” to convey how they only care about, which side you are on, not who you are. This refers back to the idea of black and white logistics; if you are not with me, you are against me. Additionally, the poet includes a multitude of questions, but does not answer them. This denotes that there are many unanswered questions.
In this poem, there is no Rhyme and there is a bunch of overflowing questions. This creates confusion which denotes the confusion the poet feels.
Furthermore, in terms of the physical structure of the poem, it looks to be a large and solid wall of text to signify the wall in the