Multiple anthology texts we have analyzed explored the idea of ideal freedoms and portrayed the resilience of the subjects facing their unique challenges. For example in ‘Disabled’, the author presented the immense pain portrayed by the legless soldier. His version of ideal freedom is being seen as a hero after the war. Another example of a character striving for ideal freedom includes ‘The Story of an Hour’. After the main character’s husband ‘died’, she felt joy because of her first taste of freedom. Prior to this event, she was a repressed housewife. After learning that her husband was indeed alive, it shattered her moment of ideal freedom. In ‘The Necklace’, Mathilde Loisel lost the necklace lent to her by Madame Forestier. Her resilience can be seen throughout her years of labor in order to buy a new necklace, how she wishes that she could return the necklace sooner and return to her normal life.
Large-scale impacts such as segregation due to racism and discrimination greatly affected the lifestyles of the misfortunate. ‘The Bright Light of Sarajevo’ and ‘Still I Rise’ has assisted in bringing a greater understanding of worldwide adversities. I’ve selected these two poems because of my admiration for their strengths when tackling their adversities. I chose these two poems rather than ‘Disabled’ or ‘The Story Of An Hour’ because I chose to focus on the resilience of the human spirit rather than the -shattering of the human spirit.
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There are clear and notable differences between the two poems - Angelou’s poem fixates on subjects such as discrimination whilst Harrison’s poem introduces conflicts due to the mixture of religions and cultures. Angelou’s poem also touches on themes like feminism whilst Harrison retains the theme of war. I believe analyzing and comparing these two poems can assist me in exploring the universal truths behind both.
How do the writers show the resilience of the human spirit within the characters of ‘Still I Rise and ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’:
At the beginning of ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo’, Harrison describes the unsuitable and tortuous lifestyle of the Sarajevans to show their endless pain. By consistently rhyming in a fixed pattern, Harrison continues to amalgamate different imagery together. Within the first 4 lines, the descriptions describing the hardships of the Sarajevans include ‘queuing with empty canisters of gas to get the refills they wheel home in prams, or queuing for the precious meager grams of bread’. By describing it as if it was a normal task, it creates a sense of repetition as if the tasks were done over and over again on a regular basis. This gives off the impression that the Sarajevans are used to it. Harrison also uses enjambment and caesura throughout the poem. The Sarajevans at that time were ‘struggling up sometimes eleven flights of stairs with water’ (Line 7-8). By utilizing caesura, it makes it feel as if there were a never-ending supply of issues coming in over a short period of time; Enjambment makes it feel as if there was no end to the issues, creating a sense of forlornness.
The division of ethnicity was also portrayed to show the clear border between the people who couldn’t work together harmoniously. There were ‘black shapes impossible to mark as Muslim, Serb, or Croat in such dark. In unlit streets, you can’t distinguish who calls bread hjleb or hleb or calls it kruh’ (lines 13-16). This is then contrasted with the match-lit flare test. The boy `used a ‘match or lighter’ to light the ‘cigarette to check in her eyes if he’s made progress’ (Line 23-24). Harrison effectively describes the resilience of the human spirit by juxtaposing light with dark; hatred with love. The light (Match-lit test) in the dark (Black shapes) can represent the hope and faith of the Sarajevans during a despairing situation. The dark can also represent impending doom because ‘danger’ as a whole is unpredictable and abrupt. The hatred (Shown by the clashes of culture) and love ( Shown by the couple) are used to contrast the riotous behavior of people and the optimism of the couple. This can represent how people can move on from issues surrounding them.
The writer recalls the events of the war and describes it gruesomely to amplify the pain portrayed by those who died. By doing so, the theme of war and death could properly co-exist with the theme of love. Harrison uses terms like ‘massacred’, ‘blood-dunked’, and ‘broken dead’ to suggest the idea and fear of death. ‘Blood-dunked’ may be referring to how the people in the ‘bread shop queue’ got hurt or died. The phrase may suggest methods like being crushed by shells or being pummeled mentally by the blood pouring out of the bodies engraved into the ground. The mood was then made heavier when the ‘mortar shell’ was mentioned once again. Alongside it were ‘death-deep, death-dark wells splashed on the pavement’ (Line 41-42). This is very likely referring to graves since dead bodies have fallen into these holes. It is very unlikely that their bodies would be retrieved so the pavement may have become a graveyard for those who were hit by the incoming mortar shell. By referring back to war, the writer reminds the readers of the harsh truth of reality and how people must move on in order to survive.
The harsh truth was eventually contrasted using celestial imagery to lighten up the atmosphere. Phrases like ‘star-filled evening sky’ and the ‘Pleiades’ could contrast with the previously described gruesome imagery because it shows off a balance between the pain caused by the harsh truths and the hope that maintains the resilience of the human spirit. These metaphors can be seen as lights that provide guidance to those who were suffering from harsh truths. It could also have religious connotations within it.
By the end of the poem, the writer uses the candle flame as a metaphor to describe the resilience of the couple. “The dark boy-shape leads dark girl-shaped away to share one coffee in a candlelit cafe” (Line 42-43) This line clearly exhibits the fact that not all people are separated because of the division between the different races and religions in Sarajevo. The candle in the candlelit cafe is representing one of many small sparks of light in Sarajevo. This could represent hope since light can connote hope and the strength to push forward.
In ‘Still I Rise’, Angelou describes the underserved lifestyles of minorities to show resilience in a similar manner. She uses the metaphor ‘oil wells pumping in’ her ‘living room’ to describe her wealth and claims that she will rise every time like the ‘sun’ and the ‘moon’. By contrasting man-made imagery and nature imagery, she indirectly links it back to modern-day society- how there is a division between black and white people. This also contrasts the rich and poor, Angelou makes it seem that white people believe that all black people are behind industrialization. By showing how people are treated unequally, it focuses on the resilience of minorities by showing off how unfair the two contrasting lifestyles are. Meanwhile in ‘The Bright Lights of Sarajevo”, all races are suffering the same fate since everyone dislikes each other and treats each other poorly regardless.
Angelou mocks the ideology of white supremacy to give the impression that she was powerful. “Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in my living room.” She starts off by mocking them by using her ‘sassiness’. By doing so, we know that she believes that white supremacy is a ridiculous concept. “Oil wells” could represent her never-ending growth in terms of wealth. This counters the stereotype - Black people live in poverty. This makes her seem powerful because it makes her seem wealthy and knowledgeable, like many other powerful people in the world. This could also represent her bravery, possibly making her seen as a hero protecting her kind. In the “Bright Lights of Sarajevo”, the heroic actions of the couple were done unconsciously.
She then lists out different ways you can harm her to make it seem she was prepared to take in the negativity of society. She wrote, “You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise.” By listing different ways people can help her, it gives the impression that she was ready to take in some hits. It makes it seem she has taken a stance and is ready to take in blows from society. She describes herself as air, something that isn’t very violent. This could show that she doesn’t plan to fight back. This may suggest that she believes landing blows back at them wouldn’t make her any better than those who hurt her. Her attitude is very different from the Sarajevans - Sarajevans would treat each other poorly out of spite.
After that, she uses nature imagery to make it seem that the equality of the world should be balanced and keep its tranquillity like nature. She calls herself “a black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling”. Usually, the ocean is seen as a large calm but powerful entity. By describing herself as an ocean, she shows that the world isn’t as ideal as that now. The ocean’s waves may represent constant hits she’s obtained but still hasn’t fallen yet. This is different when compared to the “Bright Lights of Sarajevo”. In that poem, people were hit by shells and weren’t given chances to stand up again.
Next, she repeats the line ‘I Rise’, she proudly proves that the resilience of the minorities will overshadow challenges given by the people who oppress them. “I rise, I rise, I rise”. The use of repetition emphasizes her resilience after being battered over and over again. The use of repetition also gives the impression that they can continue to take many more hits and haven’t given up the first time. Unlike in the “Bright Lights of Sarajevo”, instead of constantly rising alone when taking a hit, the couple were together when tackling their adversity.
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