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A Response to Night of the Scorpion and Sacrifice Essay

Decent Essays

A Response to Night of the Scorpion and Sacrifice Both Nissim Ezekien and Taufiq Rafat are writing the poem from the point of view of a older person living in the western world looking back at the culture that hey were brought up in and the differences in ways of life and beliefs. "Sacrifice" tells the story of how a goat was slaughtered to bless a house about to be built and the struggle that a young onlooker is having comprehending why it is happening. "Night Of The Scorpion" also accounts a young boy watching his mother suffering from a scorpion sting and all the attempts to save her. Both poems are written by people that seem outside of the culture that they are placed in and with …show more content…

The vocabulary that is used by the poets is not what would be expected but directs the reader to think about things deeper. Nissin Ezekiel says the scorpion has a diabolic tail, which gives the impression that the scorpion is devil like and so evil and dark. This is confirmed when the poet says to "paralyse the Evil One" which shows that they believed in evil spirits and the name starts with capitals which is the same as when God is written which suggests that both were seen as on the same level but on different ends of the spectrum. This is in line with the image of a traditional, superstitious culture. Again this is shown by the poet describing his mother will be reborn into the afterlife, this shows that his mother was presumed to be already dead and they were now looking to the future. The poet then use words like "sum" and "balance" which give the impression of mathematics and logic which is in stark contrast to the religious beliefs and superstitions that the poem is describing. The mother then says at least the scorpion "picked on me" which gives the impression that the scorpion is malicious and was looking for a victim. Throughout the poem he always adds "they said" in an attempt to separate himself from the religious people. Taufiq Rafat also uses interesting vocabulary in his poem. He describes the blood as being like a "geysers"

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