Reciprocation
Countee Cullen's "Thoughts in a Zoo" is basically one huge analogy, relating the racism between blacks and whites with zookeepers keeping animals trapped in a zoo. Oddly though, in his poem, the conflict doesn't seem as one-sided as the white/black conflict was.
Right off the bat, Cullen starts with "They in their traps, and we in ours". Are both sides equally trapped? Zookeepers are definitely less trapped than their animals...
A little further down, he refers to a "gaunt eagle whose raw pinions stain the bars", some animals that "delve down like the mole", and snakes, who watch with a "changeless slothful eye". These seem to refer to different types of reactions from blacks' oppressed state. The eagle has been fighting futilely for freedom, the mole has been hiding (like Invisible Man's narrator), and some have been simply watching, neither actively accepting or denying the oppression.
But once more at the end, he asks who is "most wretched", the zookeepers or their animals? I think this, along with the first line, refers to how whites were somewhat afraid of blacks. Humans imprison animals, while the wilderness around us is ruled by them, and we are somewhat afraid of them. At the same time, whites oppressed blacks, perhaps out of fear.
Right off the bat, Cullen starts with "They in their traps, and we in ours". Are both sides equally trapped? Zookeepers are definitely less trapped than their animals...
A little further down, he refers to a "gaunt eagle whose raw pinions stain the bars", some animals that "delve down like the mole", and snakes, who watch with a "changeless slothful eye". These seem to refer to different types of reactions from blacks' oppressed state. The eagle has been fighting futilely for freedom, the mole has been hiding (like Invisible Man's narrator), and some have been simply watching, neither actively accepting or denying the oppression.
But once more at the end, he asks who is "most wretched", the zookeepers or their animals? I think this, along with the first line, refers to how whites were somewhat afraid of blacks. Humans imprison animals, while the wilderness around us is ruled by them, and we are somewhat afraid of them. At the same time, whites oppressed blacks, perhaps out of fear.
It's wild for me to see the interpretations that everyone takes from this poem, as I never could have imagined how much people would read into it. I like this idea of how "trapped" everyone seems to be. To me, it relates this idea that, in a way, society is set up so that everyone is stuck in whatever positions have been set up, regardless of skin color. And the whole thing behind wretchedness just digs into what people define as wretched, and so it's interesting to see how Cullen uses the word from an African American's perspective. Anyways, good post.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading this poem in Poetry last year and thinking how a zoo perfectly embodies the cultural relations. Both parties can see each other and make assumptions but one can't really know what it's like without having been in the other's cage. I mean only one of the races is oppressed and I don't really see whites being oppressed so I don't think that's the reason they are in cages. Perhaps oppressing another race stops your race from moving forwards.
ReplyDeleteInteresting viewpoint, it's weird for me to look for some form of sympathy for an oppressor, because its something I feel that I (as well as a lot of people probably) don't do. A good analogy just struck me too. Certain types of people deal with the oppression on both sides, as much as there are tiger trainers which will use whips and other forms of force to accomplish their goals, there are also zookeepers who feed the animals and take care of them. Different levels of oppresion I guess, those are just my semi-coherent thoughts.
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