The Use of Imagery in Refugee Mother and Child by Chinua Achebe :: Refugee Mother and Child Chinua Achebe Essays

Refugee Mother and Child is a poem that seems to be written to arouse response from the reader. The pitiful image of a mother holding the corpse of her son is not only sourcing empathy from the reader but also helps the reader reflect on their own fortunate lives. In fact, Chinua Achebe is a leading writer for African causes, especially for the injustices in the world. The first stanza seems to be written as an introduction to the following stanza. The poet begins by allowing the reader to visualize the – â€Å"Picture of a mother’s tenderness for a son she soon would have to forget.† This immediately conveys the theme of ‘death of a child’ and also helps set the ‘sorrowful’ mood of the poem. The short introduction allows the reader to settle them down and focus more on the tragic scene, thus maximizing the response from the reader. Following the ‘theme’ and ‘mood’ set by the first stanza, the second stanza described the living environment of the â€Å"Refugee Mother and Child† as – â€Å"The air was heavy with odours of diarrhoea of unwashed children with washed-out ribs and dried-up bottoms struggling in laboured steps behind blown empty bellies† The filthy image of the environment that the mother and child lived in is projected through negative connotation. For example, the words ‘odours’ and ‘diarrhoea’ suggests the presence of diseases and sicknesses. This allows the reader to imagine a smelly and filthy place crammed with ill people. The reference to illness, which seems to be a link with the theme of ‘death’, foreshadows the tragic story of the mother and her dead son although it has not been clearly stated that her son is dead. Furthermore, the grotesque image of the setting is strongly reinforced by the mentioning of â€Å"unwashed children with washed out ribs†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Chinua uses the children as a clear symbol of innocence and the unfortunate, as the children has been given birth in places where vital resources such as water and food are lacking. This will naturally allow the reader to reflect on their own fortunate lives and raise awareness of these unfortunate children living in famines. The words ‘laboured steps’ also suggests child labour, linking to real cases in lesser economically countries such as Africa, China and Algeria. As the second stanza continues, the constant reference to death is evident when the poet describes the – â€Å"ghost smile between† the mother’s â€Å"teeth and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s pride.† The careful choice of the technique, personification, enables the reader to visualize the emptiness of the mother’s smile and spirit, by comparing the nouns ‘smile’ and ‘eyes’ with ‘ghost’, which communicates the idea of death.