my parents and dreaming black boy essay

Dreaming Black Boy

by James Berry

I wish my teacher's eyes wouldn't

go past me today. Wish he'd know

it's okay to hug me when I kick

a goal. Wish I myself wouldn't

hold back when an answer comes.

I'm no woodchopper now

like all ancestor's.

I wish I could be educated

to the best of tune up, and earn

good money and not sink to lick

boots . I wish I could go on every

crisscross way of the globe

and no persons or powers or

hotel keepers would make it a waste.

I wish life wouldn't spend me out

opposing. Wish same way creation

would have me stand it would have me stretch, and hold high, my voice

Paul Robeson's , my inside eye

a sun. Nobody wants to say

hello to nasty answers.

I wish torch throwers of night

would burn lights for decent times.

Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray

for themselves. Wish people wouldn't

talk as if I dropped from Mars

I wish only boys were scared

behind bravados, for I could suffer.

I could suffer a big big lot.

I wish nobody would want to earn

the terrible burden I can suffer.

What is the poem about?

Identify all literary devices in the poem and comment on their effectiveness and use in the poem.

Identify the theme of the poem

Identify any important words or phrases in the poem and comment on their meaning

What is the mood of the poem?

What is the tone of the poem?

The poem is about a black boy who wishes that he could have regular things in life. Things such as a congratulatory hug, to be educated to the highest level and to travel without harassment. The persona yearns to stop fighting for the basic right to be successful and to rise above societal expectations.

LITERARY DEVICES

The constant repetition of the phrase ‘I wish’ points to a yearning, a desperation even, for the basic things that life has to offer. The repetition gives credence to the idea that the persona might believe that his wishes are actually dreams that might not come true.

Stanza 1, lines 6 and 7, alludes to slavery, the state of lacking control over one’s own life and destiny. The fact that reference is made to this hints to how the persona feels about his life. He does not feel as if he has control over it.

Stanza 3, lines 19 to 20, alludes to Paul Robeson, a black intellectual, who attained success despite difficult circumstances. The persona yearns to be like this person. He wants room to stretch intellectually.

Stanza 4, lines 22 to 25, alludes to the klu klux klan. Burning lights refers to the burning of crosses and the pyjamas alludes to their white outfits that look like pyjamas. The persona wants them to leave him alone, find something else to do other than make his life difficult by contributing to his wishes remaining in the realm of the dreams.

IMPORTANT WORDS / PHRASE

’not sink to lick boots’

This refers to the concept of being subservient. To have no choice but to kowtow to people in order to get ahead.

‘Inside eye a sun’

This refers to the persona’s mind. He wants to show how intelligent he is without fear. He wants his mind to be a sun. Sun represents brightness and light, that is how he wants his intelligence to shine.

The tone/mood of the poem is one of sadness. The persona is thinking about how he is treated and he reacts to this in a sad way. He keeps wishing that things were different.

THEMATIC CATEGORY

desire/dreams

childhood experiences

Dreaming Black Boy

Dreaming black boy lyrics.

How to Format Lyrics:

• Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
• Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
• Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
• Use italics ( <i>lyric</i> ) and bold ( <b>lyric</b> ) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
• If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

James Berry (b. 1924) spent his childhood in a village in Jamaica, before working in the United States. He settled in Britain in 1948 where he has remained ever since. One of the first black writers in Britain to achieve wider recognition, Berry rose to prominence in 1981 when he won the National Poetry Competition.

The duality within Berry’s work highlights the rich love he bears his home country, Jamaica, while using it as a backdrop to his poetic setting while bringing to light to effects and lasting impression of oppression and colonialism

However, the overriding tone of Berry’s poetry is one of celebration. Without denying the hurt of the colonial experience, he chooses to defy prejudice choosing instead to emphasis, the unity of cultures.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was a leader of the Civil Rights movement in the U.S.A. during the 1950’s and 1960’s.

He had a dream that was memorialized in a famous speech. Among thethings he dreamt was that his little children “will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”

This is an interesting allusion considering that the poem’s main concern is the dreaming of a young black boy in the time of civil unrest and rising black equality. The mention of a young boy’s death, Emmett Till in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech held an interesting impact on the author that he incorporated the dreams into a young boy around that age as the persona.

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Think and Write for CSEC English A and B

Dreaming Black Boy

James Berry I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t go past me today. Wish he’d know it’s okay to hug me when I kick a goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes. I’m no woodchopper now like all ancestors. I wish I could be educated to the best of tune up, and earn…

James Berry

I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t

go past me today. Wish he’d know

it’s okay to hug me when I kick

a goal. Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes.

I’m no woodchopper now

like all ancestors.

I wish I could be educated

to the best of tune up, and earn

good money and not sink to lick

boots. I wish I could go on every

crisscross way of the globe

and no persons or powers or

hotel keepers would make it a waste.

I wish life wouldn’t spend me out

opposing. Wish same way creation

would have me stand it would have

me stretch, and hold high, my voice

Paul Robeson’s, my inside eye

a sun. Nobody wants to say

hello to nasty answers.

I wish torch throwers of night

would burn lights for decent times.

Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray

for themselves. Wish people wouldn’t

talk as if I dropped from Mars.

I wish only boys were scared

behind bravados, for I could suffer.

I could suffer a big big lot.

I wish nobody would want to earn

the terrible burden I can suffer.

The persona is a young black male who wishes for the things he should have been given because he is a human. He suffers great racial discrimination throughout his life, and this has affected him to the point where he withdraws into himself. He is not as bold as he should be. But he is aware of that he is different from his enslaved ancestors. Still, he feels still trapped by the prejudice he must face. He wants to travel the world and be educated, rather than having to do demeaning jobs to get by. He wishes to be like the revolutionary Paul Robeson. The boy remembers the stories of the Ku Klux Klan discriminating against and lynching black people like him. He hopes that no one else must bear this terrible burden he does.

Wistfulness,

Subdued optimism,

Restrained anger,

Sadness, and

Sadness and

Deep suffering.

“I wish my teacher’s eyes wouldn’t go past me today. Wish he’d know it’s okay to hug me when I kick a goal.”

The teacher ignores the boy because of his race. But the boy hopes that the teacher would acknowledge him today. He wishes for recognition when he succeeds.

“Wish I myself wouldn’t hold back when answer comes. I’m no woodchopper now like all ancestors.”

The persona feels voiceless as well as powerless and he does not answer the questions even when he knows the answers. This suggests that his confidence is low because of the constant moments of prejudice. He knows that it does not make sense for him to not be bold because he is free.

“I wish I could be educated to the best of tune up”

The boy wants to receive the best education. He uses the metaphor to compare education to ‘tune up.’ This is the same as having a car being “tuned up” or serviced for it to run smoothly.

“and earn good money and not sink to lick boots.”

This historical allusion is important because his forefathers have suffered through menial tasks that were comparable to licking boots. The persona does not want this for his future, and he wants to break the stereotype of that era where blacks were only meant for menial tasks. He thinks critically, and he hopes not to be demoted to being a

proverbial ‘hewer of wood and drawer of water,’ or spit shoe-shiner. He does not want to be compliant and submissive to get by.

“I wish I could go on every crisscross way of the globe and no persons or powers, or hotel keepers would make it a waste.”

He wishes to travel the globe without the restraints of discrimination.

“I wish life wouldn’t spend me out opposing.”

In this personification, ‘life’ is said to exhaust the boy. He does not want to live his whole life trying to win against discrimination and assault.

“Wish same way creation would have me stand it would have me stretch, and hold high, my voice Paul Robeson’s, my inside eye a sun.”

The persona uses personification here as an entity that controls his life. He wants ‘creation,’ in the way that it gives him the ability to deal with the prejudice he faces. He believes that this would give him the ability to develop internal strength and have the dignity that would allow him to move beyond societal limits and dictations. The persona dreams that he could have Paul Robeson’s voice as his own. He alludes to Paul Robeson, an African American icon known for his deep, distinctive voice and success as a star athlete singer, actor, lawyer, and human right activist. He wants his ‘inside eye’ to be a ‘sun,’ meaning that he wants his spirit and brilliance to be a light for others.

“Nobody wants to say hello to nasty answers.”

The line shows that the persona realizes that being an exceptional person is meaningless if people continue to be disgusted by him.

“I wish torch throwers of night would burn lights for decent times. Wish plotters in pyjamas would pray for themselves.”

The persona uses historical allusion in his reference to the Ku Klux Klan. History shows that this group of white supremacists lynched and tormented black people in the past. They did this under the disguise of religion. The persona highlights their hypocrisy, as they hurt others, instead of praying for their own salvation at night.

“Wish people wouldn’t talk as if I dropped from Mars.”

The persona wishes that people would choose not to highlight his differences so that he feels as if he does not belong on this planet. He feels ostracized, as though he does not have the same permission to live in society or like he was born on Mars. While the line contains a very simple analysis, one could go further to explain that this not a physical desire to be on a physical plain but instead the line would suggest that the persona wishes that he would be recognized as an individual with a voice. He wishes that people would listen to what he has to say and not pretend that his opinions and views were not valid.

“I wish only boys were scared behind bravados, for I could suffer. I could suffer a big big lot. I wish nobody would want to earn the terrible burden I can suffer.”

The persona wishes that only children were scared behind the pretenses of bravery. Yet he understands that even adults pretend to be brave at times. But because adults are also afraid, he finds that these adults cannot offer the protection he needs as he faces prejudice in society. He believes that adults cannot oppose the prejudices. ‘Suffer’ is repeated three times in this final stanza for emphasis and for allowing the readers to become even mor3e sympathetic towards the persona. He is a black boy and blacks are often synonymous with being hardships, fear, and suffering. He hopes that no one else will have to suffer through what he must suffer through because of the colour of their skin. *’Wish’ is repeated constantly in the poem to reinforce the persona’s mood of longing.

Literary Devices

Repetition:

The repetition ‘I wish’ points to a longing or the desperation for the basic needs of life. The repetition gives credibility to the belief that the persona believe that his wishes are dreams and that these dreams might not become a reality.

Lines 6 and 7, historical allusion. The speaker alludes to slavery and the lack of control over one’s own life and destiny. There is reference to the persona’s feelings about his life and his lack of control over his life.

Lines 19 to 20 alludes to Paul Robeson. The persona wants to be like Robeson who is a black successful scholar.

Lines 22 to 25 alludes to the Klu Klux Klan and their burning of the crosses and wearing their white outfits.

oppression,

desire/dreams.

childhood experiences

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Dreaming Black Boy Poem by James Berry Summary, Notes and Line by Line Explanation in English

Table of Contents

Introduction

The poem “Dreaming Black Boy” is written by the poet James Berry. In the poem, the poet persona is a black man who has suffered racial discrimination and lack of opportunities due to his skin color. The man wishes to live a life full of possibilities and learning. He wants to receive all the necessities that should have been given to him for being a human being but were kept from him due to his race.

About the poet

The poem is divided into five stanzas, each varying in length. The stanzas consist of five to seven lines.

The persona wants to receive the best of education and through that have the ability to earn a good living. Instead he has to do menial and demanding jobs just to get by in his life. He wants to be ale to travel freely, go anywhere in the world and not be denied entry by people or hotel keepers.

He wishes that he would not have to live his whole life being opposed and oppressed. He wants a life that would allow him to stand straight, stretch his arms and hold his voice high like Paul Robeson. He does not even wish to say hello to people because he knows they will say something nasty to him.

The persona does not want “life” to exhaust him out completely because he would have to live his entire life trying to defend his existence and right to be alive. He does not want that. He wants the right to live the same way everyone has. He wants “creation” to give him the right to live properly, stands up with his head held high and his voice strong. He makes a comparison to Paul Robeson and says that he wishes to live like him. Paul Robeson was an African-American man who had a distinct voice and spoke up for the rights of fellow black men. The persona wishes to be like him. But he does not want to speak out because he knows that he answers will be repulsive and racist.

This stanza makes a reference to the KKK, Ku Klux Klan, and calls them “torch throwers”. KKK is a group white supermacists. This is a reference to how the KKK would persecute and lynch black people. The persona wishes that they would stop doing so and look at their actions. He calls them out on their hypocrisy as they do all of this under the guise of religions and says that they should rather pray for their own salvation. The persona doesn’t want people to react as if he was a different being altogether. He wants them to stop acting like he is from Mars and does it belong in this society.

The persona wishes that only young boys would pretend to be brave while they felt scared, but he knows that even adults do that. He also wishes that no one would ever have to suffer the way he is suffering.

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• Jun 14, 2020

CSEC English B: My Parents by Stephen Spender Poem Analysis

Updated: Jun 7, 2021

Stephen Spender

My parents kept me from children who were rough

Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes

Their thighs showed through rags they ran in the street

And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams.

I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron

Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms

I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys

Who copied my lisp behind me on the road.

They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges

Like dogs to bark at my world. They threw mud

While I looked the other way, pretending to smile.

I longed to forgive them but they never smiled.

In the poem, the persona recalls a childhood where his parents kept him from 'rough' children. His parents hope to protect him from the derision and harassment of these children, which, throughout the poem, is shown to be true. However, it becomes evident that in keeping him from these children (likely of a lower social class than he is), his parents greatly restrict his freedom, and he is jealous of the freedom that these rough children possess. In titling the poem My Parents and then only mentioning his parents once before speaking about bullying , the persona seems to both blame his parents for his lack of freedom and him being the target of the children's abuse. But, he also seems to appreciate their protection, as the rest of the poem essentially proves his parents right. They play in the street and climb cliffs and swim in rivers with no constraint. He feared these children and their abrasive nature; their vituperative words and seemingly insurmountable strength. Even in this fear though, there is an admiration of their strength that far surpasses his own. Nonetheless, they would tease him constantly, mocking his lisp while pointing reproachfully. The persona seems deeply troubled by their endless torment and abuse. He pretends to smile, hoping to inspire some form of peace and fraternity, but to no avail. He always longed to forgive them for their harassment, but is denied when they do not reciprocate any desire for harmony. The persona and the children are of different socioeconomic classes; the children, lower class and the persona, middle-to-upper class. Thus, there is a divide between them, and their mockery of him is suggested to have a separate motivation other than simple childish badinage- they are jealous of his privilege. The persona himself is jealous of the rough children's freedom even though his social class permits him far more privilege than they have. This is the implicit irony of the poem.

The mood of this poem is reflective. The themes include childhood experience, parental influence and social segregation.

"My parents kept me from children who were rough"

The persona begins with a somewhat accusatory phrase. His parents restrained him from being near the 'children who were rough' as a preventative measure. They do not want him to be teased and mocked for his disabilities, and the abrasive nature of these children justifies their worry. Describing them as rough instantly creates a contrast between the children and the persona himself, as his parents' effort to keep him from them means that he himself is not like them. The use of the word ' kept' implies that sort of childish resentment that the persona would have felt as a child, wanting to experience the same freedom as these children but held back nonetheless.

"Who threw words like stones and wore torn clothes

And climbed cliffs and stripped by the country streams."

The rough children are said to throw 'words like stones.' This simile gives the reader insight into the character and behaviour of these children, as their use of words is compared to the destructive act of throwing stones. Their words, therefore, are used with the intention to harm emotionally in the same way stones are thrown with the intention of causing physical destruction. The sharp, monosyllabic language used in the simile communicates a harsh use of words without etiquette characteristic of the lower class.

The children wear torn clothes, another indicator of their less than fortunate status. Despite this suboptimal economic status, the children are able to explore and play uninhibited. They run in the street, climb cliffs and swim in streams; all things that our dear persona could never dream of doing. His overprotective parents keep him from both these children and their carefree, unrestricted lifestyle. He is envious of them, and wishes to enjoy the same wonders of freedom as they do. An alliteration is used here in ' c limbed c liffs.' This shows the agility of these children, and sort of portrays them in an animalistic and primitive light in their scaling of natural landscapes. Their thighs are said to show 'through rags,' rags being a symbol of poverty and communicating their poorer status in comparison to the persona.

"I feared more than tigers their muscles like iron

Their jerking hands and their knees tight on my arms"

Using hyperbole , the persona communicates how great his fear was of these boys. Tigers are able rip a human limb from limb with sheer animalistic instinct and power, but he still places his fear of their muscles above that (hence why it is an exaggerated expression). Coupled with the use of simile to compare their muscles to the rigid strength of iron, the persona conveys a very exaggerated fear along with a possible amount of admiration of their strength. Being of a lower working class, they would perform more manual labour and explore more, giving them physical strength far beyond the reach of the persona.

We also see the harassment he is subjected to, as he is pinned to the ground during some sort of fight. He is made the victim of this torment, and it is possibly because of how different he is from them. His superior social status is a likely cause, along with his disability mentioned later on in the poem.

"I feared the salt coarse pointing of those boys

Who copied my lisp behind me on the road."

The persona now states that he feared their 'salt coarse pointing.' This metaphor directly compares their pointing to the coarseness of salt. The use of coarse continues the description of the children as rough, but it also gives a tangibility to the derision of the boys. The persona feels their mockery to be coarse and harsh, inflicting a near-physical abrasion that goes beyond some sort of friendly badinage. By saying salt coarse, it also alludes to a common phrase ' rub salt into the wound. ' Although it is a bit of a stretch, their mockery, on top of forcing him into compromising positions in fights, is like rubbing salt into an open wound, as he experiences the emotional fallout as well as the physical.

The boys copy his lisp behind him on the road, showing that his speech impediment is a point which they use to mock him. His disability is therefore one of the things that make him a prime target of these rough children.

"They were lithe they sprang out behind hedges

While I looked the other way, pretending to smile."

The persona continues to describe their incessant harassment of him. They are lithe and agile, and he is not. Using simile , he compares them to dogs, "springing out behind hedges like dogs to bark at my world." Dogs usually bark to threaten intruders or those they think do not belong. In the same way, like animals, the children jump out at him and threaten him and his highly privileged world. Throughout their mud-throwing he would pretend to smile, as though unperturbed by this torment. He hopes to inspire some form of friendliness through this peaceable smiling.

"I longed to forgive them but they never smiled."

Even though he wants to forgive them for the torment they cause him, they never reciprocate this desire, nor do they return a smile. The difference in their social classes causes the children to envy his fortune while he envies their freedom. These strong societal barriers of envy and jealousy create vitriol between them that cannot easily be overcome.

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Questions based on ‘DREAMING BLACK BOY’.

1. The theme of the poem is: (a) The boy’s dreams of a better life (b) The boy’s need for recognition (c) An uncaring society 2. What do the following expressions in Stanza one suggest? “wouldn’t go pass me today” “to hug me when I kick a goal.18 3. How does the boy differ from his ancestors? 4. For what does the boy wish in Stanza two? 5. Find the expressions which show that the boy needs freedom and opportunities to grow. 6. What does the expression “spend me out opposing” suggest about the boy. 7. What does the boy wish for persons who break the law? 8. Quote the expressions in the last Stanza which show the suffering of the boy. ]]>

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Venezuelans Mourn Loved Ones Killed in Protests, and Last Shreds of Democracy

The nation is in anguish as it buries its dead and enters a new era of authoritarianism.

Friends and family of Jeison Gabriel España, 18, mourning during his burial. Mr. España was killed while protesting in a low-income neighborhood in Caracas, Venezuela. Credit... The New York Times

Supported by

By Julie Turkewitz

• Aug. 18, 2024

Jeison Gabriel España left home on July 28 to vote for the first — and last — time in his brief life.

A day after casting his ballot in a presidential election that had united millions of Venezuelans in a call for change , Mr. España, 18, was shot and killed in the streets.

The country’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, had claimed victory , despite overwhelming evidence that the opposition candidate had won. Then he sent security forces to crush dissent .

“Why did they kill my child?” Mr. España’s aunt, who raised him, cried at his funeral.

Now, Venezuela is in mourning, not just for the roughly 24 people dead amid violent demonstrations but also for the last shreds of a long-tattered democracy. Whatever small spaces still existed for resistance in the country are vanishing by the day, if not the hour, as an angry Mr. Maduro pummels an electorate that tried to vote him out.

For years, many Venezuelan families splintered by migration believed that they would eventually unite in an improved, if perhaps not wholly democratic, Venezuela. Following the election, many are burying that dream.

“I will never return to Venezuela,” said one young woman, a data scientist living in Chile, asking that her name not be published because her mother and other relatives remain in her home country. “Venezuela has become my worst nightmare.”

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