Changing_Perspectives

Changing Perspectives Poem – My Father Began as a God The poem ‘My Father Began as a God’ by Ian Mudie is about how a boy (probably him) changes his views on his father, as he grows older. As a child, he saw his father as a ‘god’ whose laws were ‘immutable’. He was a fearless hero, able to do anything: “He fearlessly lifted me to heaven by a mere swing to his shoulder”. However, by the time he was an adolescent, his father had become a ‘foolish small old man’. He was no longer superhuman, but a father, just like any other: “With silly and outmoded views of life and morality”. The cause for this change of perspective was specifically puberty. In consequence, he and his father would have drifted apart, since they would have clashed on many occasions. As he grew even older, he noticed that his father’s “faults scaled away into the past, revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. He noticed this because he matured even further – from an adolescent to an adult. This change would have probably improved their relationship. The composer’s final change in perspective occurred after his father died. As time went by, he began to realise that he was just like his father, and like every other man: “...the more I see myself as just one more of all the little men”. Since this poem is about a general situation, it is safe to assume that this change came about after the composer had kids of his own. Resulting from this change was probably a deeper knowledge about life. He realised that the path he will follow in the future will be the same one his dad followed. Ian Mudie has written his poem in chronological order. He has done this to make the changes that occurred clearer to the responder. The style of the text is a prose poem. The composer has written it in this form because it gives it a nice flow. At the same time, it is like a story, so the responder can more easily relate to it. The tone of the poem changes as the poem progresses. The poem begins with energetic language like “full of heroic tales” and “by a mere swing to his shoulder”. The composer also uses hyperboles like “My father began as a god” and “lifted me to heaven”. The use of this positive language indicates to the responder that the composer is longing for those days – he is nostalgic. It also highlights the perspective of a typical child. The language used in the middle of the poem is highly critical of his father: “A foolish small old man”. This highlights the perspective of a typical teenager and signifies that they have generally conflicting views. The language used in the last section of the poem is more loving and emotional than the rest: “...revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. This draws attention to a mature adult’s perspective. Ian Mudie uses some other language techniques his poem for a variety of reasons. When moving from the child’s perspective to the adolescent’s, the composer uses repetition for emphasis: “Strange then how he shrank and shrank”. The word strange is referring to his relatively quick change of perspective. When moving from the teenager’s view to the adult’s, the composer uses the phrase: “Stranger still”. The composer is expressing how weird it is that his perspective should change again. Again, for the final change of perspective, the composer writes “strangest of all”. The underlying meaning of this phrase is that he never expected to see any similarities between him and his father. ‘My Father Began as a God’ shares a few things in common with ‘Freedom Writers’, a movie directed by Richard LaGravenese. In ‘Freedom Writers’, Eva Benitez, the main character, was raised by a father who believed that white people marginalised the other ethnic groups. This led her to “hate white people on sight”. However, Erin Gruwell, their new teacher, led her to change her perspective. She went against what her father had always taught her – ‘Don’t go against your own people’ – when she testified as a witness against one of her own, in court. She went from always obeying her father, to making her own decision. This is vaguely similar to the poem in that the boy went from thinking that his dad’s rules were “immutable”, to considering him a “foolish small old man”. At the beginning of ‘Freedom Writers’, Scott – Erin’s husband – was supportive of his wife’s new job as a teacher. However, after she starts working longer hours, he begins to feel left out. When she gets an extra job, he is not very happy and when she gets a third job, he is angry: “You didn’t even ask me”. There is evidence that they have grown apart; they are not as close as they used to be. This corresponds to the poem in that when the boy became a teenager, his relationship with his father was not as strong as it used to be: “...he shrank and shrank”. In both texts, the characters are growing up. However, in ‘Freedom Writers’, they are advancing through school while in the poem, the boy and his father are advancing through life. In ‘Freedom Writers’, the kids do not want an education because they feel it is irrelevant in their lives. They think that surviving until 18 years of age is an achievement. Their change of perspective is related to school and their lives. This is different from the poem in which the change of perspective is about the boy’s father. In ‘Freedom Writers’, the teacher brought about the kids’ change of perspectives, so it was induced. However, in the poem, time brought about the change, so it was inevitable. The biggest difference between the two texts is that one is about gangs and racism while the other is about the way a boy’s perception of his father changes as he grows up. However, both texts cleverly use techniques to convey messages that are relevant to our society. Speech – I Have a Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. ‘I Have a Dream’ was a speech delivered on the 28th of August 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial at Washington DC by Martin Luther King, an activist for change. The speech is credited for mobilising supporters of desegregation and prompting the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It talks about and encourages a change of perspective, which has not yet occurred. The speech begins with how horrible life is like for the Negros, even though the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 100 years ago: “...one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free...still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination...poverty...exile in his own land”. He mentions that there is no equality: “...a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote”. He then goes on to declare that a change is required so that everyone is equal: “...all men are created equal. I have a dream that...little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers”. Even though the change of America’s perspective on black people has not yet changed, the speech talks about going from segregation to equality. The impact of this on the Negro’s is also mentioned in the speech: “And when this happens, we will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last”. King has set out his speech in a particular structure. He begins by mentioning that this will go down in history as “the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation”. This is to excite the crowd, and grab their attention. He then gives a bit of background on the Emancipation Proclamation: “It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity”. He has used this simile to give the audience a stronger image in their heads. King then contrasts this by saying: “But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free”. This contrast emphasises the idea that no change has occurred. Later on in the speech, he points out: “...many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realise that their destiny is tied up with our destiny”. He does this to make a stronger point on why change should occur. After that, King uses a simile: “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream”. He refers to water because it is a necessity of life, as is justice and righteousness. Towards the end of the speech, he talks more specifically about change: “Somehow, this situation can and will be changed”. He then uses repetition to emphasise his ideas, making his statements more powerful and meaningful: “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up...I have a dream that one day on the hills of Georgia...I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi...I have a dream that one day down in Alabama”. He uses several places to emphasise that change will occur everywhere. He also says, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin”. This is to make his speech more personal – to make the audience sure that he is also affected by racism. To finish his speech, he uses repetition again, for the same reasons as before: “Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania...”. He uses the word ‘ring’ because it brings to mind rejoicing and happiness. The tone of the speech is hopeful and encouraging. King often uses many metaphors and similes to give more life to what he is saying, for example, “Let us not wallow in the valley of despair”. King’s speech has a big similarity with ‘Freedom Writers’. In the movie, the class of room 203 consists mainly of students of African American, Hispanic and Asian descent. At the beginning, they were territorial in that they only sat next to and talked with their own type. Even when Erin Gruwell became their teacher, they were still like this. This idea was emphasised when she asked one dark skinned boy to move to the front of the classroom. However, when they played ‘the line game’, they realised that they all share similar experiences. Erin was successful in making her students feel like they were in one big family in a ‘warm home’ in their classroom. This is similar to the speech when King says, “little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers”. In other words, they will be united. However, the speech focuses more on equality of the different races than it does on unity. This is a slight contrast to the movie. Although ‘Freedom Writers’ contains an element of inequality, it is about how Erin’s class is treated differently to the others, not directly about the difference in treatment of certain races. Both ‘I Have a Dream’ and ‘Freedom Writers’ are concerned with racism. In the movie, a friend of Eva – a Hispanic boy – was shot by police, just for reaching into his pocket. In the speech, King mentions “signs stating: ‘For Whites Only’”. These examples are both concerning racism. King’s speech and ‘Freedom Writers’ are also different in some ways. Firstly, the two texts are from different times. When King delivered his speech, black people did not have rights, and the change of perspective was concerning the rights of the Negros. Additionally, the change affected everyone in America. However, the movie is relatively recent, and in it, black people do have rights. The kids go from being committed to their life as gang members and considering education irrelevant and absurd, to actually wanting to learn. In the movie, the change affects only the children of room 203. Another prominent difference between the two texts is that the speech is more from a black perspective. Although King says, “...all of God’s children...will be able to join hands”, he mainly focused on black people. This is different to the movie, which is about Black, Hispanic, and Asian people alike. Both texts cleverly use techniques to convey their messages. The speech was extremely successful because the issue of inequality was very much alive in American society. The movie is based on a true story, and this is probably partly the reason why it has been so successful in moving its audience. By Charbel Rezcallah