Ethical Dilemmas In Warsan Shire's No One Leaves Home

The “right thing to do” is not always a clear path. When the path to the right thing is boxed in by social and moral dilemmas how can the “right” thing be obtained? Looking at the world of sex-workers, there is a fine line between criminality and survival that those in this realm carefully balance. The ethical values of these actions can be viewed from a social domain as well was from an internal battle perspective. In the poem, a woman struggles with her personal worth in the face of social constructions. These constructions place women as objects and within the poem the woman struggles to break free from these objectifications while also battling the line of poverty. When the means of survival are put into question, the woman in the poem must decide whether to stay in her position or to leave, both decisions lead her on a path to social scrutiny. One would lead her deeper into poverty, while …show more content…
The idea behind the poem came when viewing Sandel’s conception of societal values in repercussion of increasing greed in society. Sandel toils with the idea that when markets expand so do the values they hold and as such they seep into the social spheres of society. With expanding ideals behind values interfering with noncommercial goods, the female body came to be held as an object with a price tag which lends way to the value the male voice in the poem views the woman in the poem. As explored by Sandel, this is an unfair process which leads to corruption and ultimately becomes degrading to the things being “marketised.” This concept of degradation of value influenced the theme of the poem, focusing on how society places a value on the female body and in particular sex to the extent that a person must choice between being dehumanized through objectification or