1.Based on the poem "Incident", the nature of the interaction between the boys are mutually strangers who tried to greet each other. The persona is depicted as childish, innocent and happy boy. As the first stanza, line 2 has suggested the boy's feelings initially:
" Heart-filled, head filled with glee," (Line 2)
However, the persona is indicated that he is not from Baltimore but from somewhere which is far away from Baltimore. These three lines, Line 1, Line 3 and Line 4 have suggested in :
"Once riding, in old Baltimore," (Line 1)
"I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me." (Line 3 to Line 4)
And he tries to greet the boy who is from Baltimore with "a smile" based on stanza 2, line 7.
"And so I smiled". (Line 7)
However, the boy was suggested to be extremely antagonistic towards him when he called him a Nigger, which can be seen in stanza 2, line 7 and 8.
"but he poked out
His tongue and called me, "Nigger"." (Line 7 to Line 8)
2. The speaker remember nothing more than the incident, even though he stayed in Baltimore from "May until December" is because the word "Nigger" in line 7 to 8 have been tormenting his mind since young until now. The incident has made the boy keenly aware of his social inferiority as black.
"but he poked out
His tongue and called me, "Nigger"." (Line 7 to Line 8)
Based on Stanza 3, it has suggested how powerful a word could cause so much pain in the boy's memories. The persona also is seen to be quite jaded on such blatant racism in an innocent child's point of view. It is presumably that the white child of Baltimore has affected the African child because of their skin colour (Line 6).
"I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December
Of all things that happened there
That's all that I remembered." (Stanza 3, Line 9-12)
"And he was no whit bigger" (Line 6)
Even though it doesn't seem to be conveying any emotional statement in this stanza, the words "The whole of Baltimore" and "of all things" have suggested that this is the persona's pain and suffering from his past childhood.
The Reading and Writing Connection
1. Based on the poem "Incident", the main focus of the story is talking about the identity of the race and how did the other races discriminate the African Americans due to their skin colour. As a comparison to my previous experiences, I have known Christians as a good Samaritans and kind in nature towards new people around them. They will pray for their friends and love them as part of their family. However, when it comes to the question of religion, I saw the ugly side of the religion in closed doors. When there was a funeral ceremony happening around the corner, I realised some of the Christians do not respect the other religions for their culture and the tradition of their beliefs. For instance, when the Buddhists were doing their prayers, they were sitting there and talk among their religion instead of standing there respecting the prayer. From that day onwards, I promised myself to respect every different religion around me as a way to remember the importance of unity among different races.
Ideas For Writing
1. The form and rhyme of the poem adds in a very essential parts of the poet's writing style.
Forms are the structure of a piece of writing, rather than the ideas it expresses, event that describes the poem. The poet has used 12 form lines, which consist of 4 lines in 3 stanzas. And the poem is less wordy and pleasing to be heard.
The rhyme is the repetition of sounds usually at the end of the line in regular patterns. It represents a traditional technique of poetry composition. In this poem, the arrangement of the rhythm ends with a-b-c-b and I found it was quite easy to read on. Perhaps, the ending a-b-c-b has enhanced the effects of the images and symbols.
2. The power of the language is the language which empowers speech articulation with our intense emotions. It is not to be used for assaulting or abusing another individuals psychologically in the society. In this poem, it is used to share the information about nigger. The effects of the use of the term "nigger" will eventually create a paradigm for the American-Africans or Afro-Africans as one entity of black people. Because it was once a slang for a lowly rank black slave, it has also directly known as the racial insult for the blacks.
References:
http://www.mtoomey.com/poweroflanguage.html
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