Facing it paper assignment1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Facing it paper assignment1 - Essay ExampleThe scene of the rime is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which lists the names of the American Army personnel who died in the war. The rime deals with the images of this experience. The poem is autobiographical, being based on his stint in Vietnam. Written in the first person point-of-view, the fibber of Facing It is Yusef. This point of view gives the poem a very intimate tone. The reader is absorbed into the school principal of the poet and sees the Memorial through his eyes. The poets point-of-view narrative in Facing It expresses his confrontation of his own emotions, shows his empathy for others and explores his search for closure. As Yusef faces the Memorial, he confronts his own emotions and experiences during the Vietnam War. The Memorial is a mole of black, polished stone. The high polish results in the images of viewers being reflected off the names of the dead soldiers which are inscribed on the wall. In eff ect, Yusef treats the polished granite wall as a looking glass reflecting the images of war. By adopting this perspective, Yusef sees himself in the wall. He asserts his African-American identity in the very beginning of the poem My black face fades/hiding inside the black granite (Yusef, 1 / 2). ... However, to the poets frustration, this device of melding with the stone does not guard him against pain of his powerful emotions. However much he tries to cover up within the wall, and insulate himself from pain by exerting a rock-like self-control, Yusef has to finally acknowledge that he is a financial backsideing human beings, with all the sensitivity of living flesh Im flesh Yusef accepts (Yusef, ---5). It is obvious that the poet is moved to weeping by the recollection of his war experiences. As he views the wall through tear-filled eyes, it is his clouded reflection (Yusef, ---6--) which stares back at him. Yusef pays his personal homage to the dead by going down the 58,022 names (Yusef, ---14) inscribed on the wall. Andrew Johson is obviously someone he knew in the war. The poet relives the horror of the soldiers death in the pinhead traps white flash (Yusef, --- 18). Yusefs mention of half-expecting to find my own in earn like smoke conveys to the reader his puzzlement at the arbitrary nature of war. He is alive trance 58,022 men died. There is a hint of guilt in this image. This sentiment also makes Yusef particularly small to the pain of those who lost loved ones in the war. Yusef empathizes with the other visitors to the Memorial. He sees Names shimmer on a cleaning womans blouse (Yusef, 19). Like Yusef, this woman is also there to pay homage to the dead. It is likely that there is a name on that wall which belongs to a loved one with whom she identified in life. besides now, when she walks away, the names stay on the wall (Yusef, --- 20 / 21). The dead are irrevocably gone and the woman has to leave her love behind in the dead wall. The se paration is final. A white veteran approaches Yusef. The mans