Mother In A Refugee Camp Poem Analysis

In ‘Mother in a Refugee camp’ the poet refers to the relationship between the mother and her child when the poet asserts “No Madonna and child could touch” this emphasizes that nothing can be compared to how much she cares for her dying son. The painting was symbolic of a tender relationship between a mother and child, however the painting is used to emphasize the love she has for her dying child which adds to the tragedy of the scene as the innocence of the child is being stripped away due to war and the actions of others. This sense of tragedy is further compounded when the mother expresses a “ghost smile”. It is clear that the mother is trying to hold on to hope through a smile however, Achebe uses this quote to foreshadow the death of the child through the connotations of the word “ghost”. Just like the end of the poem when it ends abruptly with the word “Grave” which displays the amount of death that is happening in the refugee camp and this reinforces the fact that the child has be denied the opportunity of life. Towards the end of the poem the mother completes the action of “comb[ing]” her son’s hair. In normal life that action would not be seen as a significant event, although in this specific moment in the poem this is seen as an incredible action as a mother tries to maintain some normality. Achebe creates the image in the reader’s head of a dying baby in his mother’s hands while the mother is slowly but surely combing …show more content…
With ‘Prayer before Birth’ it hooks the reader with soft and comforting words, the quote being “ Pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings” the text obviously has a child involved which adds another layer of sadness to the reader as the victim could be a child. “Piano takes the same approach with the words “rubbed with her bare palms” which also includes a child in the