In this essay I will compare the presentation of family in digging

Essentially a monologue set within a frame, this poem creates two personae. The anonymous author gives a brief introduction and conclusion. The Wanderer, an aging warrior, who roams the world seeking shelter and aid. The Wanderer’s monologue divides into two distinct parts, the first being a lament for his exile and the loss of kin, friends, home, and the generosity of his king. In nature, he finds absolutely no comfort, for he has set sail on the winter stricken sea. Poignantly, the speaker dreams that he is among his companions, and embracing his king, only to awaken facing the gray, winter sea, and snowfall mingled with hail.

The young man in the poem loses his identity as he develops into the ruthless world of adulthood with its dehumanizing competition of ‘money-hungry, back-stabbing’ and ‘so-and-so.’ These exaggerated words and clichés

Having a loving family is something that no child should live without. A loving family helps shape your personality, and also helps instil good decision making in you. They also act as your support system, when you are going through hard times. Lastly, they teach you about your heritage and culture, this helps create a sense of belonging. These are just a few reasons why having a loving family is something every child should have. This theme is shown through THE FARMING OF BONES written by Edwidge Danticat.

Secondly, the speaker of the poem can be described as underprivileged, and this is shown throughout the entire poem. For example, line 1 of the poem it states "some are teethed on a silver spoon” and line 5 it states "some are swaddled in silk and down”. This shows that the speaker is not the same as the person who is teethed on a silver spoon or cared for very carefully. This inclusion also shows that the speaker was not born into a wealthy family and so the speaker must fight for what they need pertaining to themselves and the family.

The beginning of the poem starts off with African Americans going to the North and seeing faces that resemble theirs in Harlem. They are remembered of the hardships in the South but their aim is to get to the North where there is a better life. The key words “cotton and green pastures” show us the escape route that those of color are leaving to get a better life. The poem cites that “Cotton still stuck in their shoes, Zotts ! waiting to be shipped back to green pastures. The idea of escaping and moving away is in the determination to move on even though you are tired and dirty from the cotton stuck in the shoes waiting for many different opportunities.

This poem is about great strife in one mans life and shows how one single outlook or journey can change one mans perspective to start to live differently. But who is the man? What is the journey he just took? What theories or morals did he take from this great extensive spiritual journey? Is

The poems occasion is maybe outside by himself. The place is abandoned and messy and kind of dark maybe a prison. Textual evidence to support this claim is “They build the walls higher, so I live without treetops, they

The speaker seems now to be a grown man, though it is not distinguished in the poem, remembering the distant relationship he had with his father as an adolescent. He would wake every morning to the

As the poem continues, it is stated that the Singing Boy is lost in song, and wanders onto the lands of the Troubled Man, someone who is descended from the Water

The poem seems to be narrative.  It conveys not only a story about his daughter, but a story of life, and paints distinctive images in the reader’s mind.

meaning of the story or poem, know little, if anything at all, about the author,

The author of the poem left out some information to let the readers interpret it in their own unique way.

conversation. It isn't like a poem at all. It says "By god the old man

Michael Halloran (2004) proposes that culture as a diverse and complex system of shared and interrelated knowledge, practices and signifiers of a society, provides structure and significance to groups within that society which subsequently impact the individual’s experience of their personal, social, physical and metaphysical worlds (p.5). Halloran (2004) theorizes that cultural maintenance is key to increasing the health and well-being of Aboriginal Australians whereby he suggests that culture provides collectively validated ways to think of and value oneself, further arguing that culture helps to suppress fundamental human existential anxieties about social isolation produced by our mortality awareness. Emile Durkheim (Marks, 1974) identifies anomie as being without law or norms, similarly, D.J Spencer (2000)

There is a rhythm throughout the poem with strong rhyme, this pattern is like heavy breathing you have when you try to go to sleep it could also represent the rhythmical counting of sheep.