A Mother in a Refugee Camp

Chinua Achebe

A Mother In A Refugee Camp

No Madonna and Child could touchHer tenderness for a sonShe soon would have to forget. . . .The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea,Of unwashed children with washed-out ribsAnd dried-up bottoms waddling in labored stepsBehind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers thereHad long ceased to care, but not this one:She held a ghost-smile between her teeth,And in her eyes the memoryOf a mother’s pride. . . . She had bathed himAnd rubbed him down with bare palms.She took from their bundle of possessionsA broken comb and combedThe rust-colored hair left on his skullAnd then—humming in her eyes—began carefully to part it.In their former life this was perhapsA little daily act of no consequenceBefore his breakfast and school; now she did itLike putting flowers on a tiny grave.

• He was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic

• Interested in African politics

• He wrote the influential novel ‘Things Fall Apart’ which sold 12 million copies and is the most widely read book in modern African literature.

Chinua Achebe

• Social Justice

• Love

• Pride

• Innocence

• Death

Themes

• Written in free verse. There is no rhyme scheme.

• There is only one stanza – Achebe uses ellipsis to progress his message.

• The simplicity of the structure and language allows you to focus solely on the content – Achebe wanted to make us aware of, and to think about, the life refugees had to live.

Structure and Form

The stanza is shorter in comparison with the other stanzas. This signifies that even though her son’s life is short and there is little time left, she won’t give up or lose hope. This short positive stanza indicates that there is very little hope or goodness in the lives of the refugees – most of their life is like the struggle depicted in the second stanza.

Portrays a compassionate mother. The child is unnamed, making the child universal.

Foreshadowing makes us aware that inevitably the child will die and its mother will have to forget.

Language

Another alternative interpretation can be biblical, symbolising Mary and Jesus. Mary watched her son die horrifically like mothers are doing in refugee camps.

Unlike all the other mothers who have given up hope and accepted the fact that their children will die and they can not save them, the mother in the poem still has that little glimmer of hope. This makes both the mother and the poem itself, even more tragic.

Language

Physical description of the dying children, creates a sense of emptiness and desperation – life in the refugee camps is a bitter ‘struggle’ for survival, which most lose.

Contrasting references to time. In the first part, there is ‘soon’ which gives the sense that time is running out. The second reference to time is ‘long’ which describes the situation – the suffering has been going on for a long time. Most mothers had given up with this a long time ago and had just resigned from motherhood and hope.

The combing signifies her mother still not giving up complete hope and showing happiness that her child is ALIVE. Contrast to the poem as a whole because of the slight happiness present – makes the scene even more touching and tragic.

The mother is faking her smile due to the overwhelming sadness she has to face in order to keep her mind off the harsh truth.

The word ‘ghost’ is repeated in order to emphasise the point the child is dying. Connotation of death. The “ghost of a mother’s pride” relates to the memory of happiness she had with her son before they were in the camp and before her son got sick.

The word “skull” also emphasises death. Shows how unhealthy and how sick the child is.

Language

Rust suggests decay.

We can see howmuch the mother appreciates every single little detail about her child because she wants to absorb as much of her child as she can.

In these final lines the poet compares the mother combing her child’s hair with the act of putting flowers on a child’s grave. Both are acts of love and show how the mother is caring for her child.

The poem ends with the word “grave”. Again, the word carries connotations of death. Ends the poem on a morbid note to drive home the message that refugees need help/support.

The word “flowers” paints a positive image. This contrasts very sharply with the “grave” in the next line.

Language

The adjective ‘tiny’ emphasises how this is children dying, which goes against the natural belief that parents should outlive their children.

Throughout the poem, Achebe uses a variety of sensory descriptions to describe the conditions and suffering that they have to face on a daily basis.

Examples are:‘odours’ ‘diarrhea’‘unwashed children’‘eyes’‘blown empty bellies’‘washed out’‘dried up’

Achebe combines touch and smell by using the technique synesthesia. An example of this is “the air was heavy with “odours”, as “heavy” relates to touch and “odours” relates to smell. Another example is “singing in her eyes”. This is effective as it emphasis the conditions that they have to face at the camp.

Language - senses