Death

    Death is an inevitable part of life for everyone. Death was a constant situation in the Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. Death came by the evil doer Nazi soldiers. Death was everywhere in the concentration camps. The death camps even smelled of death. Death was a daily event. Paul Celon endured living in a concentration camp. His emotions, thoughts, and memories were a constant nightmare. Celon did survive the concentration camp. Paul Celon wrote about his experiences in a concentration camp during World War Two. Paul Celan wrote the poems “Deathfugue” and “Aspen Tree”. The poems can be found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set.

  The beginning of “Deathfugue” is about black milk. According to Paul Celan “Black Milk of daybreak we drink it at evening/we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night/we shovel a grave in the air where you won’t lie too cramped” (Ins. 1-3). Black is used here as a meaning opposite of white. White is for angels, milk, light, clouds, and goodness. Black is associated with demons, bad food, dark, night, and evil. The prisoners saw death in the evening, midday, and morning. We shovel a grave in the air would be the spirits going to heaven. The part where Celan wrote “you won’t lie too cramped” refers to the death train and the over crowed conditions that led to death for some of the people. Celan wrote “he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground/he commands us play up for the dance (Ins. 10-11). The Nazi soldiers forced the Jews to dig graves and play dance tunes. The entire poem is about death.

  “Aspen Tree” is a short poem about Paul Celan’s mother who died in a Nazi concentration camp in the Ukrain. An Aspen Tree is also called a “shaking tree”. Celan makes reference to his mother shaking with fear about dying by the hand of the Nazis. The Aspen tree is also identified with color. According to Celon “Aspen tree, your leaves glance white into the dark. /My mother’s hair never turned white.”(Ins. 1-2). Celan’s mother, innocent and good, saw the black death from the evil Nazis. Celan’s mother was killed before she got a chance to grow old like she should have. According to Celan, the last two lines he wrote were:”Oaken door, who hove you off your hinge? /My gentle mother cannot return” (Ins.9-10). Here the oak is used in the poem. Oak trees are strong. The Nazis uprooted the tree to use to build their concentration camp. Lives were uprooted to be killed.  The Nazis even killed the strong people. Celan’s good mother would not return. Death was a daily event in the death camps. Paul Celan wrote “Deathfugue” and “Aspen Tree” about his experiences and the atrocities of the death camps during World War Two. 

Works Cited

Celan, Paul. “Deathfugue”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1469-1470. Print.

Celan, Paul. “Aspen Tree”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1469-1470. Print

Neruda

                 Pablo Neruda wrote the poem “Walking Around” and it is found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Edition, Two-Volume Set. Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) was born in Parral, a small town in Southern Chile. According to The Norton Anthology of World Literature “Pablo Neruda became Latin America’s most important twentieth-century poet as well as an advocate for social justice and a leading cultural figure on the Communist left. He wrote in a variety of styles (lyrical, polemic, objective, and prophetic) on an array of subjects (love, daily life, the natural world, political oppression), evoking the most elemental levels of human emotion and experience” (1421).  

                Neruda wrote “It happens that I go into the tailor’s shops and the movies/all shriveled up, impenetrable, like a felt swan/navigating on a water of origin and ash” (Ins 2-4). He compares the shops and movies to a fake swan that tries to glide on origin and ash. Neruda shows how tired he is, he wrote, “It happens that I am tired of my feet and my nails/and my hair and my shadow” (Ins. 9-10). He is tired to the bone and his depressed outlook on his city. Neruda said that “Monday burns like oil” (Ins. 26) and that because of this said “And it shows me along to certain corners, to certain damp houses, /to hospitals where the bones come out of the windows” (Ins. 30-31). Neruda walks with calm, but inside being angry. Neruda wrote “I pass, I cross offices and stores full of orthopaedic appliances, /and courtyards hung with clothes on wires, /underpants, towels, and shirts which weep/slow dirty tears” (Ins. 42-45). This presented the depressed view of daily life that Neruda had.

Works Cited

Neruda, Pablo. “Walking Around”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1421-1426. Print.

"Pablo Neruda" The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1421-1426. Print.

Gender

      Joaquim Maria Machado De Assis (1839-1908) wrote The Rod of Justice. It is a story about a young seminarian, Damiao who ran away from the seminary. He sought help from Sinha Rita. He did not ask his father or godfather. He knew they would send him back to the seminary. Sinha Rita, a widow, was a lover to Joao Carnerio. Joao was his godfather. The relationship was meant to be secret. Somehow Damiao knew the information. He used it to his advantage. Men held the power in his time. A man’s lover held a power that was not discussed in society, but it was controlling. A man would heed to a woman in this situation, or be cut off from the relationship. Sinha Rita wanted to help Damiao leave the seminary. Damiao claimed he would be a terrible priest and he was not cut out for that life. Sinhua Rita was going to use her authority to persuade Joao Canerio to allow Damiao to leave the seminary. Joao knew he had to bow to Sinhua Rita’s wishes. He wrestled with the decision. He would rather have to deal with an extreme physical challenge than to get his friend to agree with Sinhua Rita. He did not care if Damiao was a priest or a beggar. He just did not want to face his friend and change his mind. He knew this was the most important thing he needed to do to keep Sinha Rita pleased was to convince his friend to allow Damiao to leave the priesthood. Sinhua Rita continued with request and followed up with a letter of response to Joao Carnerio. She even threatened to not see Joao anymore. Damiao knew that Sinhua Rita had the power for change. She was a woman in the society and women were not given a lot of attention for their role. However Sinhua Rita was a lover of Joao. This gave Sinhua Rita power in the situation. When a slave girl was going to be beaten by Sinhua Rita, Damiao was not going to stop it. Damiao did not wish any harm to the girl. He chose his desire to leave the priesthood over helping the girl. If he got in the middle of it all, Sinhua Rita would not help him. His help from Sinhua Rita was desperately needed. Damiao would get his way only because Sinhua Rita would get hers.

Works Cited

Machado De Assis, Joaquim Maria. "The Rod of Justice." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Third ed. Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013. 910-16. Print.