Marilyn Dumont's Poem The White Judges

In the poem “The White Judges” by Marilyn Dumont, the speaker is aware of how she and her Indigenous family are consistently being judged by the primarily white population. The poem juxtaposes the family with the encircling colonialists who wait to demean and assimilate the group. Consequently, the family faces the pressures of being judged for their cultural practices, resulting in a sense of shame and guilt. Dumont’s use of prose and lyrical voice distinctly highlights the theme of being judged by white society. Her integration of figurative language enhances the Indigenous tradition and cultural practices throughout the poem. In addition, her use of anaphora and musicality amplifies the feeling of being watched and judged. Dumont renders the disapproval and oppressiveness the speaker’s family experiences through her use of structure, sound, …show more content…
The poem begins in prose form, which outpours like conversation. As a result, the prose structure creates a very warm, homelike feeling. The prose paragraph describes the speaker’s home life and provides a backstory for the reader. It is evident that there is a sense of family belonging through the speaker’s description of their home: “our walls high and bare except for the / family photos whose frames [are] crowded with siblings” (8). Undoubtedly, the family is large and fellowship with one another is an important aspect of their home life. Next, the poem abruptly switches to a lyrical voice adding a sense of musicality and anaphora. The shift emphasizes the change the speaker and her family feel when they acknowledge they are being judged by the white population. As a result, the poem first appears very uniform, then as “the white judges” (10), watch the poem drastically switches, appearing chaotic and unorderly in lyrical form. The structure switch occurs quite early in the