Jim Crow, the name of the racial caste system of segregation and discrimination towards African-Americans operated mainly in the south between 1877 and the mid-1960s. During this time both poems, “Ballard of Birmingham”, by Dudley Randall and “Incident”, by Countee Cullen were written. These laws affected just about every aspect of their daily lives. Both poems share common themes, symbols, imagery, tone, and plot to place the reader in their perspective and share an unforgettable experience or memory from the past when Jim Crow was in place. “Ballad of Birmingham” is a downhearted poem about a young African-American girl who was attending Sunday school services and loses her life in a bombing. Her mother sent her off to church and “smiled
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The boys tone in “Incident” started off as upbeat and happy, but suddenly changed to sadness and confusion as if the reader was there experiencing the encounter first-hand. In “Ballad of Birmingham”, the dialogue in the beginning seems like a typical conversation between mother and daughter. The reader might think nothing corrupt can come from a young girl being sent to church to sing in the children’s choir, but once it turns to the narrators point of view the tone quickly changes to terror and sadness expressed my the mother while searching through the rubble after the bombing. “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, but, baby, where are you” (Madden 18) contains a huge amount of emotions as the mother is holding onto the shoe her daughter wore when she sent her off to church. Her daughter’s life was taken and her body has left the earth, with only her shoe left behind. Suddenly the emotions of a mourning mother set in …show more content…
The theme of the story is a necessary element to make the piece of writing meaningful. Without, the story would just be about characters or events with no guidelines of where the author wants their writing to go, and the message or understanding their readers are meant to gain. In the case of the poems, “Incident”, and “Ballad of Birmingham”, the message being received is the innocence of children being forever damaged by the acts of violence and prejudiced expressed by the people in their society. The negative encounters experienced throughout life are usually overpowering the positive actions from individuals and events. The incident of racism the boy experienced defined his young life. He’s coming of age and to terms of something new to him, but too familiar with society. Unlike the young girl in “Ballad of Birmingham”, who is aware of the troubles her people are often encountering. She asked permission from her mother to participate with the other children and adults marching, instead of playing. She was growing up and coming of age in the world of hatred and wanted to make a
The boys tone in “Incident” started off as upbeat and happy, but suddenly changed to sadness and confusion as if the reader was there experiencing the encounter first-hand. In “Ballad of Birmingham”, the dialogue in the beginning seems like a typical conversation between mother and daughter. The reader might think nothing corrupt can come from a young girl being sent to church to sing in the children’s choir, but once it turns to the narrators point of view the tone quickly changes to terror and sadness expressed my the mother while searching through the rubble after the bombing. “O, here’s the shoe my baby wore, but, baby, where are you” (Madden 18) contains a huge amount of emotions as the mother is holding onto the shoe her daughter wore when she sent her off to church. Her daughter’s life was taken and her body has left the earth, with only her shoe left behind. Suddenly the emotions of a mourning mother set in …show more content…
The theme of the story is a necessary element to make the piece of writing meaningful. Without, the story would just be about characters or events with no guidelines of where the author wants their writing to go, and the message or understanding their readers are meant to gain. In the case of the poems, “Incident”, and “Ballad of Birmingham”, the message being received is the innocence of children being forever damaged by the acts of violence and prejudiced expressed by the people in their society. The negative encounters experienced throughout life are usually overpowering the positive actions from individuals and events. The incident of racism the boy experienced defined his young life. He’s coming of age and to terms of something new to him, but too familiar with society. Unlike the young girl in “Ballad of Birmingham”, who is aware of the troubles her people are often encountering. She asked permission from her mother to participate with the other children and adults marching, instead of playing. She was growing up and coming of age in the world of hatred and wanted to make a