Explication
Prior to writing the poem Lost in Place, I read multiple stories that comment on flaws in society, and are applicable to multiple aspects of life. I chose to incorporate lessons from Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, Ursula Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and Homer’s The Iliad. The lessons that I chose to use are the lessons that stick with me the most from all the readings: proximity, societal thought, and the power to change the fate of others.
I knew I wanted to incorporate Bryan Stevenson’s teachings of proximity from Just Mercy. He says that if you get close to a person and their struggles, it can help you understand them. I know Stevenson meant this in an interpersonal sense, but I think with war it can also be applied in a physical sense. In my poem, I wanted to stress that the soldier always killed from far away. He never even saw the faces of who he killed. This relates directly to the idea that a good amount of people who deal with death row have never seen the prisoners or know anything about …show more content…
The citizens in Omelas that left had no idea what was in store for them once they walked away. The character in my poem faced uncertainty with his new task of clearing buildings. He had no idea what was in store for him. The citizens who leave Omelas also have no idea what lies ahead, yet are still driven push on. From the story of Omelas, I also wanted to include that societal thinking isn’t always beneficial. People need to have their own thoughts. This is shown in how the character in Lost in Place decidedly hates people that are not of the Aryan race because that is what he is taught. Shifting to having his own thoughts, brought on by looking into the eyes of the child, shows the character how horrible his actions have been, and ultimately, he removes himself from that situation, much like the citizens that leave
Prior to writing the poem Lost in Place, I read multiple stories that comment on flaws in society, and are applicable to multiple aspects of life. I chose to incorporate lessons from Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy, Ursula Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and Homer’s The Iliad. The lessons that I chose to use are the lessons that stick with me the most from all the readings: proximity, societal thought, and the power to change the fate of others.
I knew I wanted to incorporate Bryan Stevenson’s teachings of proximity from Just Mercy. He says that if you get close to a person and their struggles, it can help you understand them. I know Stevenson meant this in an interpersonal sense, but I think with war it can also be applied in a physical sense. In my poem, I wanted to stress that the soldier always killed from far away. He never even saw the faces of who he killed. This relates directly to the idea that a good amount of people who deal with death row have never seen the prisoners or know anything about …show more content…
The citizens in Omelas that left had no idea what was in store for them once they walked away. The character in my poem faced uncertainty with his new task of clearing buildings. He had no idea what was in store for him. The citizens who leave Omelas also have no idea what lies ahead, yet are still driven push on. From the story of Omelas, I also wanted to include that societal thinking isn’t always beneficial. People need to have their own thoughts. This is shown in how the character in Lost in Place decidedly hates people that are not of the Aryan race because that is what he is taught. Shifting to having his own thoughts, brought on by looking into the eyes of the child, shows the character how horrible his actions have been, and ultimately, he removes himself from that situation, much like the citizens that leave