Caves
Their inhuman atrocities have carved caves
In the rock of my heart
I must tread this forest with wary steps
Eyes fixed on the changing times
The tables have turned now
Protests spark
Now here
Now there.
I have been silent all these days
Listening to the voice of right and wrong
But now I will fan the flames
For human rights.
How did we ever get to this place
This land which was never mother to us?
Which never gave us even
The life of cats and dogs?
I hold their unpardonable sins as witness
And turn, here and now,
A rebel.
About the Author
Jyothi Lanjewar is a Marathi Dalit writer and activist. She is known for her evocating writing and she has a major role in revolutionizing the Dalit-feminist consciousness. Through her writings she pictured the patriarchal underpinnings of the duality that kept the dalit women on the margin of anti-caste movement. Disha(Direction) published in the year 1982 and Ajuna vadala uthale nahi(No Storms Still Rise) published in the year 1992 are the two most popular works of her. Recently her daughter compiled and translated into English in the title Red Slogans on the Green Grass. Jyothi Lanjewar was honored with many prestigious awards including Padmashri award. Through her poem caves she expresses the feelings of a person who had been subjugated by the society for a long time.
Summary and Analysis
The speaker of the poem is a person who had been denied every right of his in the society and the speaker says all the “inhuman atrocities” have carved caves in the rock of the heart. The speaker have a long history of suffering but and had no voice till the day, however now he is ready to break the silence and is ready to fight for his human rights but that path is alien to him. He need to all the struggles he have to face now is compared with forest where he has to walk very carefully. Rise of the marginalized had been raised but in the history it was not strong enough to create any ripples. The land in which they live have never been a “mother” to them, it didn’t foster them, not even given the life of dogs and cats and the keeping all these atrocities in mind the speaker proclaims himself or herself as a rebel.
The poem which sprinkles the seeds of a rebellion against the inequalities in the society we have the major imageries of caves, forests, motherland and a rebel. Poetic imageries are very powerful tools to convey sophisticated messages. It paints the pitcher with words and we can say the poet has been pretty successful in employing poetic imageries to convey the meaning of the poem. The imagery of cave signifies the dark history of the story of the sufferings through which the marginalized people had gone through; here it is the history of Dalits, Dalits women in particular. Viewing the poem from a feministic perspective and the speaker being a woman the poem reaches another level and the suffering of the people is further increased because of the double oppression through which Dalit women had been gone through. All the inhuman atrocities had wounded their heart, which also symbolizes their life itself.
“Their inhuman atrocities have carved caves
in the rock of my heart”
Also the word carved gives us the impression that all those inhuman atrocities which the Dalits had faced will remain in their memory forever, nothing, absolutely nothing can erase that. Poet has rightfully used the word carved, the death of their hatred could not have been portrayed if she had used any other words. If it was something like “written in their heart”, it won’t be that powerful because something written can be erased or striked-off
The imagery of forest is significant because once the people began to trying to fight back, they don’t know the means, they don’t know the way through which they could achieve their goals, and it’s like being trapped in a dense forest.
“I must tread this forest with wary steps”
The forest here also stands for all the obstacles they have to overcome, its dense and scary but ones they get out of these woods they attain the freedom they always wanted. They know this but are helpless.
The imagery of motherland which can been seen in the following lines of the poem
“How did we ever reach to this place
this land which was never mother to us?”
Motherland is a place where its subjects feel like home, safe and feel happy. But the land in which they had been born was never motherland to them. It didn’t even provide them the life of a dog or a cat. This also has a larger connotation of the “Bharthmatha” who closed her eyes towards all the unacceptable violence against Dalits. The caste system which is the basic reason for all these issues is mocked here.
In the final line we have the imagery of “rebel”. Rebel is someone how resist the prevailing status quo. Speaker says holding their unpardonable sins as witnesses she turns into a rebel.
“and I turn, here and now
a rebel.”
The speaker is no longer ready to keep silent, she has been silent all these years hoping a day while come here they also live like any other people in their society but now she has realized that the so called upper-class is not going to give them their rights by their own hence they have to take it from them and remaining silent would not help for that in any ways. Speaker in the last line says she turns into a rebel now and there, no more procrastination and it’s time for action. Rebel is someone how doesn’t fear anything and thus the imagery of rebel signifies that she is not afraid of anyone or anything and she is ready to face whatever that’s coming on her way to the actual “Freedom”.
This poem, which can be interpreted in many levels have the rich imagery which takes the readers to the exact images and spirit of revolt against the inhuman atrocities faced by the marginalized section of society. The imageries of caves, forest, motherland, rebel and so on make the poem more meaningful as well as powerful and reflects the evocative writing style of the poet.
Imageries
Theses imageries in the poem create a lasting impression on the readers and evoke strong emotion in them. To summaries the analysis here are some imageries present in the poem:
- caves - The title of the poem itself is fine imagery that suggests darkness, mystery and danger. This can be interpreted as the scare left by the inhuman atrocities against marginalized people.
- Forest - Just like caves, forest also stands for a place of uncertainty and a place full of danger.
- Flames - Flames represents the passion and anger of the poet to fight against the inhuman atrocities
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