How an Individual’s Personal Struggles Shape Their Moral Convictions

How an Individual’s Personal Struggles Shape Their Moral Convictions as Depicted in Martin Espada’s Who Burns For the Perfection of Paper In the given poem from Martin Espada, Who Burns For the Perfection of Paper, the author demonstrates that an individual’s personal struggles shape their moral convictions, providing them a better opportunity to understand the struggles of others. This idea is exemplified through the vivid imagery, metaphorical language, and symbolism that are intertwined throughout the poem. The use of these techniques in the poem establish the narrator’s struggles which directly mirror the true reality of personal struggles and its interplay with moral convictions. Espada’s constant use of human elements in the poem highlights the narrator’s pain that is central towards his struggles which goes on to shape his convictions concerning others. Throughout the poem, the narrator describes the hard-manual labour that went into the creation of the legal pads for the use of others, describing the sheer pain in the process. He refers to the process of perfecting the paper in the legal pads, illustrating how it was performed with “no gloves; [but] fingertips [were] required,” demonstrating the pain he had to go through in shaping the pads (11). Espada uses symbolism and imagery in this instant to describe this component of the personal struggles that he faced. Gloves serve as a symbol for the protection that individuals use when doing manual labour, and the fact that he never got the chance to do this as a factory worker lends perspective to the appalling working conditions which he was living in. By referring to the fingertips, Espada intends to put the reader in the narrator’s perspectives in doing a job where his body parts are put into jeopardy so that he can complete his job. The imagery generated by this situation continues onwards within the first stanza where the narrator’s “hands would slide along suddenly sharp paper and gather slits thinner than the crevices of the skin,” (14-17). Espada decides to describe the situation grotesquely as to paint a picture of the discomfort that the narrator faced in putting together the legal pads. By describing the paper as “suddenly sharp,” (15) it establishes the pain as something that is not expected but jumps out onto the narrator, making it far more difficult for him to achieve his task. He then goes onto describe the actual paper cut wound as well, and having it cut deeper than his skin; a brutal description of the struggles he is facing. The first stanza is ended off with the narrator describing the glue and how it “would sting…till both hands burned,” (18-20). This is just another painful description that Espada uses to firmly entrench the idea of the narrator’s personal struggles in the reader’s head. Such an idea is directly paired with the narrator’s doubts as to what he was doing performing daily mundane tasks as a manual worker that are yet another facet of his struggles in life, creating an identity crisis of sorts. It is these struggles that transition into the second stanza where he describes his experiences in law school, as he “knew that every legal pad was glued with the sting of hidden cuts,” (23-24). As a direct result of his own personal struggles, he was able to grasp the struggles of others. Unlike many of the other students in his class who aimed to be budding lawyers who likely did not struggle as much as he did, due to his labours, his first line of thought was of sympathy for those who were currently enduring his past hardships. His past experiences shaped his moral convictions, which is what allowed him to recognize the struggles of others. As such, through the human elements that Espada uses to describe the pain of the narrator, he establishes the idea of personal struggles shaping moral convictions, and as such a more comprehensive understanding of other’s struggles as well. The use of visual elements such as colour and the specificity provided is also instrumental in accentuating the narrator’s struggles that become key within his moral conviction. Espada comments on the “yellow paper stacked seven feet high,” (4-5) which serves as a representation of the daunting task in front of him. Through the visual imagery of describing the stack of paper as even taller than almost any human, it conveys the point of how this is not a normal task, but rather one that is overbearing and even inhumane. The decision to specifically mention the height rather than just identifying it as tall is impactful as it provides further context to the reader about the incredibly difficult task that the narrator faced. His further use of the word yellow, which is the common colour of legal pads, help provide specificity to the task that he is completing. He is effectively creating writing utensils for those in their ivory towers to have a mechanism that they can abrasively use while they focus on their white-collar tasks. While individuals such as himself are engrossed in the struggles and pains of manual labour, questioning and doubting their goals in life, those in law school or sitting on the bar capitalize on the struggles of others in their more established life paths. The purposeful use of visual imagery used by Espada is critical in communicating the struggles of the narrator. More colour is seen when the narrator describes the “red glue” (9) that is used to put the pads together. This strongly suggests the blood and pain that went into the creation of the pads, as glue does not commonly come in reddish hues. Espada decides to describe the glue as red as to draw the reader in, truly establishing that the struggles of the narrator came in the form of pain that was intolerable for the narrator. By going onwards into the second stanza where the narrator specifically mentions the glue as a memory of what he did, it lends perspective into what current workers are doing in putting together these legal pads. Through the process of remembering his struggles, he feels for those who undertake the same obstacles. This is what forms his convictions, as he wants to ensure that he does not forget the sacrifices that people make as he did; allowing him to sympathize with the accurate struggles of others. Therefore, these visual elements are essential in furthering how personal struggles help to understand other’s struggles through the formation of a stronger moral conviction. A final way in which Espada influences the idea of personal struggles in shaping moral conviction is through his use of structure in the poem and where he places the material that is present in the excerpt. One must notice that the poem is only broken up into two segments, rather than into several like most poems or just one singular strand of ideas. This is quite likely an intentional decision by Espada as he separates the narrator’s own struggles with the better life that he is living today. All of the pain and personal struggles of the narrator are vividly established in this first stanza with the visual imagery and symbolism of pain being central to its ideas. The tone of this first stanza is one of pain and sadness as the narrator recalls his memories of blood present in the “red glue” (9) or how he would paper cuts as his fingertips went through the process of smoothing the rectangular shape of the pads. These examples are what provides the basis for the narrator’s personal struggles. Espada also makes it clear the regularity and mundane nature of the narrator’s job in the factory as he would work there every day during high school. This in itself is another personal struggle, creating doubt as to what he was doing in life and giving him a sense of minimal direction. By putting all of these struggles together, the narrator creates a unifying effect of sorts that combines all personal troubles into one. This is juxtaposed with the second stanza where the author’s tone is more sympathetic towards the struggles of others. Such a sympathetic nature is key within the metaphor that “every law book was a pair of hands upturned and burning,” (25-27). The metaphor here establishes that the legal pad itself was the manifestation of the manual labour and pain of all of those individuals who were in the same shoes as he was, just a decade ago. This statement is an indictment that the narrator recognizes what others are going through, as he himself went through the same struggles. Secondly, as opposed to the mundane tasks of his previous life which created personal doubts with his true directions and ambitions, in law school the tasks are different, and the narrator is given a clear path in life. By having minimal doubts at the moment, the narrator is not bothered with what he needs to do in life; something that is still central to the lives of the individuals he empathizes for. The decision to keep this sentiment different creates a barrier between his own personal struggles and the struggles of others. However, it allows him to recognize the struggles of the other people, as his moral conviction has been shaped by his personal struggles. By keeping these stanzas separate, it illustrates the division between pain and empathy, and how this empathy is derived through his personal struggles. As such, this structure that Espada uses is the final technique in entrenching this idea. Through the use of stanza structure, visual elements such as colour and specificity, and human elements that describe pain, Espada is able to portray the idea of how personal struggles help shape one’s moral conviction, allowing them to empathize with the struggles of others. Such an idea is made apparent through the constant use of visual imagery that is complemented with techniques like symbolism and metaphorical language.