Essay On The Sword

“ Got it, I can try my best to make it, but no promises.” I said

Normally, these impudent acts would've gotten her in trouble, but I had been too occupied musing over more important matters.

In Natasha Trethewey’s poetry collection Native Guard, the reader is exposed to the story of Trethewey’s growing up in the southern United States and the tragedy which she encountered during her younger years, in addition to her experiences with prejudice and to issues surrounding prejudice within the society she is living in. Throughout this work, Trethewey often refers to graves and provides compelling imagery regarding the burial of the dead. Within Trethewey’s work, the recurring imagery surrounding graves evolves from the graves simply serving as a personal reminder of the past, to a statement on the collective memory of society and comments on how Trethewey is troubled with what society has forgotten as it signifies a willingness to overlook the dehumanization of a large group of people.

I stopped mid-step and millions of thoughts rushed through my head. What was she going to say to me? Was she going to yell at me for not being able to do the turn? Was she going to take me out of the dance? I had never been so nervous at dance before and I felt a sense of uneasiness come over my whole body as I walked towards her.

Samuel had been digging the grave all night. The task was labored silently, with only the shhks of the shovel being thrust into the dirt and the plops of the earth dropping sounding in the morning air. He would rest this morning if he could and his chores would fall to me. I had been eagerly anticipating them since Tom’s death; I needed a something to do. His passing had been long coming and while he had lain dying I had a job to do. I fed him spoonfuls of water and grain knowing all the while that it was futile and I was utterly useless, but still trying because Tom just couldn't die like that; so young.

“Yes, there is,” I retorted, swaying back and forth. “It’s the only words there. I know what I am supposed to do.”

Claire rolled her eyes. "Times are changing, the people will change with them and not everyone can be expected to follow noble old traditions. Especially not when your target is the queens eye."

“Away, I’ve always obeyed so I would never find out.” She snickered and looked towards me, her eyes piercing my very being. “You look like you’d make a fine specimen, shall I take a closer look at

Park your car and take a stroll through the burying ground. Stop and read the markers and they will tell you their story of ordinary people making their living from the land and sea. When you stroll, please do so with the utmost respect

In the poem “Elegy for the Native Guards,” Trethewey states that there are “no names carved for the Native Guards— 2nd Regiment, Union men, black phalanx. What is monument to their legacy?” (Trethewey 44). They receive no honorable grave. They receive the most barbaric of burial rites, doomed to have “fish dart among their bones” (Trethewey 44). The bodies of the native guard are cast out of sight into the ocean, neglected in an attempt to forget the evils committed against them. Their forgotten and neglected grave symbolizes the futility of fighting against the racism of America, as well as the futility in concealing it; even when man has destroyed all other evidence, the bones remain to testify to the past and remind the visitors that no change has been made in the present. Humanity’s discomfort with its past atrocities can never become powerful enough to overcome the reminder represented by the graves of the fallen. Despite its efforts to conceal its evil, the graves of the fallen Native Guard remind humanity that the past can never be defeated and hidden.When Trethaway visits her mother’s grave in the poem “Monument,” she notes the ants digging up the earth in which her mother is buried. She remarks that the grave and the ant mound serve as “a reminder of what [she] hasn’t done. Even now the mound is a blister on [her] heart, a red and humming swarm” (Trethewey 43). The

In the article, the statement “4,000 Silent Graves” was about when 4,000 Indians were left on the trail they had took to the Indian Territory. They had died from disease, cold, and hunger. Because they had to keep on moving, they left their loved ones’ bodies along the trail. It must have been devastating to leave their loved ones behind. They couldn’t give them a proper burial. The sadness they must have felt must have been unbarring.

“You stay away from him.” Looking at her watch, “Now can we talk? We only have minutes before the meeting. We should settle this without them making a decision about your house,” Louise said and checked her lipstick.

I sat on the couch across him and my mom, who looked frail and small next to my burly and tall stepdad. She was looking at her lap, her hands neatly folded on top. I sighed, shaking my head. “I don’t want to.” I protested.

My mother pulled me aside. “Emily you need to calm your siblings down if we cause

My eyes ascend up into the branches of an oak that has past its prime,