The core of the matter
The core of the matterThis poem was inspired on an article published by the New York Times, which reflected the injustice that blacks received from the whites during the apartheid years. From the very first line we can see the implications of racism since we are told what gender and ex-job the policeman had while we not given any information about the black discriminated woman. The ex-policeman is set on a higher category as if he was superior.
“A pregnant Black was Heart Donor; Recipient in Capetown a White Ex-policeman.”
In this quote the ex-policeman is referred to as recipient which, in a way, is a cooking term so it is describing this action as a butchery or a cooking procedure and not as a medical act.
Further on, in the second stanza, we are told that she had died earlier on in the day, from a haemorrhage of the brain but are we to believe this? It leaves the reader wondering since in most cases these death causes occur because of physical beatings so who knows? Maybe the ex-policemen colleagues could have been involved in a way. For the article the only important fact is that a white person had been saved. As if to make us wonder even more, he goes on to “How did the heart survive?” How could a dead person give a dead heart, to a man and bring it back to life.
In the fifth stanza the poet does a very interesting combination of words to produce an excellent sarcastic alliteration. “She lost her heart, but not to him to whom, she lost her heart.” Her heart had been taken out of her but not really emotionally but in a physical way. She did not lose to a person she loved but to a person she did not even know. Her “Telltale heart” had betrayed her.
Further on in the poem it can be clearly seen, as in the beginning, that still not much attention is paid to the black woman or the baby within her who was fully developed in the womb.
“All we know now is she was black, about thirty-two years old, Thirty-two weeks gone.”
This implies that considering she was black she was not worth the hassle to find out her background. The poet point out how they do not even tell the reader the exact age and the time of pregnancy. Something could have been done to save the orphan baby but as the poet claims “they did not know what happened to the unborn child”.
In the ninth stanza we conveniently find out that this ex-policeman could not have been luckier since the “blood circulation is best in pregnancy”. The unborn baby is hardly mentioned, is it a boy or a girl? Alive or dead? The sources do not say and very doubtfully, we will find out.
The poet, in the tenth stanza, uses the metaphor “best juice” to describe the blood of the black pregnant woman. It refers to it as if something you can buy in a supermarket. It is devaluating the blood, but, as the poet points out in an ironic way“ Black will do as well as white. In the dark of death all hearts are alike, all blood is red”.
The poem goes on to one of its most shocking parts. The twelfth stanza clearly shows us the brutal racism in the society that we live in. “In the right place her heart started beating spontaneously and normally.” This is clearly stating that the heart could not have been at a better place than in the white man’s body. The poet also points out that “hearts are not had as gift” but in this case hers was taken without permission, it was unsolicited.
The last stanzas of the poem are full of irony and sarcasm since he points out that the blacks had become a part of the whites. So instead of the segregation, which is the main theme of apartheid, there was integration. The poet then writes, “There never was a better bargain driven” and he is very right since the black woman does not get anything in exchange. He then moves on to question society asking if there will be hope in the future for an integrated multi-racial community. “Can we take heart from this, learn a lesson it never tried to teach, that black is white and white is black”.
At the very end the poet claims “And one day the twain shall meet”, making us think that one day there will be a meeting point because every action has a reaction. We wonder what kind of destructive event could ever happen to compensate what the white has done to the black. Lastly, he questions the alliterations of “the sources say” which he uses in most of the stanzas by finalising the poem with “What do the sources say?”
The poet uses repetition in a very effective way by repeating his ideas but in different words impacting the reader. His metaphors of great imagination makes the reader think very deeply and contribute greatly to the style of his writing. It all together gives a smooth rhythm of reading.