Jimmy Santiago Baca Oppression Poem Analysis

Jimmy Santiago Baca, writer of “I am offering this poem”, was born in New Mexico in the year 1952.When Baca was only a child, he was abandoned by his parents. He lived with his grandmother for a few years after that and was later placed in an orphanage. However, he ended up living in the streets and was arrested for drug possession when he was twenty-one years old. He then spent six and a half years in prison. This is where he taught himself to read and write. He composed many poems during his time in jail. His style of writing is also heavily influenced by his life experiences. Baca’s poem “ I am offering this poem” has four stanzas and seven lines in each stanza. Each stanza ends in the same verse “I love you”. The entire poem exudes the feeling of yearning and infatuation. Baca is said to have composed this poem during his time in prison, which meant he was unable to reach his loved one. Therefore he was “offering” this poem to his loved one. This

He asks this question to pose the thought of who will ever believe him when he says prison is beautiful and it brought out a new and improved person in him. He then states, “... I can live with myself and I am amazed by myself, my love, my beauty,” (“I Am Offering”). This can be seen as the exact place of Baca’s transformation. After being incarcerated, Baca never would have even thought about being able to live with himself. He can not even look in a reflective surface without getting disgusted. After he educates himself to read and write, he learns to live with himself. Poetry was the transformation that he needed. Baca sees his incarceration as a positive transformation in

Rob Baker’s tone and diction assists the reader in comprehending how Bacas past shaped his future. The serious tone and the vocabulary Baker applies; adds to the total effect of Bacas story. The vocabulary is simple enough for a varitey of ages to understand, although elaborate enough to be capable of picturing the scene, “The healer who tended to her wound and then brought Baca into the world said that because of the venom Baca would be able o see in the dark and he would change many times in his life” (Baker 893). Both diction and and tone appeals to the emotions of the reader, for it causes the reader to be aware that this story is reality to Jimmy Santiago Baca.

Jimmy Santiago Baca’s poem “Oppression” discusses the importance of remaining emotionally and mentally strong when enduring oppression. For those suffering from the emotional trauma of being held captive illegally, singing is one solution a poet offers to those who are oppressed as he states, “Look deep to find the grains of hope and strength,/ and sing, my brothers and sisters” (Baca 6-7). Singing is an act that a person can generally freely participate in, which is why Baca suggests it since it is a small symbol of retaliation against the oppressors. Even though captors may rob a person of his physical freedom, the person can still show self-control by choosing to make the best of the situation by singing to uplift his emotional state. In

Firstly, oppression is evident through various types of abuse through the main characters, Aminata and Celie. Both have faced several forms of abuse such as physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse that have stripped away their identity and dignity. For instance, Aminata fights for her freedom throughout her entire life, only to suffer from physical abuse almost everyday on the slave ship and to suffer from sexual abuse on the plantations. Moreover, Aminata

In Chapter 3 of his memoir, poet and author Jimmy Santiago Baca recalls being eighteen when he was notified his mother had returned to Albuquerque and living a comfortable life with her new family. All hopes of reunifying with her were shattered on the day he visited her and was introduced as a friend, this was a betrayal in his heart. When he was released from a Montessa Park jail after four months of incarceration for suspicion of first-degree murder, he made the decision to leave Albuquerque as a solution to detach himself from despairing past memories, with only a little money and no clue to what he was going to do he traveled west. Once he arrived to the west coast, he was at awe with the scenery of the city and beaches

It’s interesting how often we think of things as permanent. People in general have a habit of underestimating the power of time and forgetting that everything winds up changing at some point. This is something of a theme presented in the poem “Bully”, by Martin Espada. By no means is it the main idea behind the piece, but it’s definitely an important part of the story he presents, one about a school once dedicated to Theodore Roosevelt that has become populated by the children of a primarily Mexican-populated community, and the irony of this glorious spit in the face of Roosevelt for his relentless racism against Mexican people, especially in relation to the

“Oppression”, a poem by Jimmy Baca, is a powerful display of the illusory power of oppression, the fundamental concept of endurance, and the attainment of liberation. In the first stanza, the poet refers to oppression as the infliction of continuous pain through the line “being trampled under”. He connects this with the imbalance of strength when he states that oppression “[i]s a question of strength”. When an imbalance or conquest of power is present, the oppressed has no strength but in his silence. Whereas, the oppressor uses violence to inflict illusory fear in that silent individual. Similarly, the line, “[a]lways, always, remembering that you are human”, demonstrates the poet’s recognition of the fact that even though one may abuse his

The poem is called “ How Understands Me But Me by Jimmy Santiago Baca”. The poem is about when Jimmy was in the prison and his experience. On the life of the prisoners and how did they live in that environment. The poem talks about how he is going through depression and stressing out.

“I used to rule the world” (line 1), these words of the poem Viva La Vida describe of a fallen king who once ruled almost every piece of land the world had. The song Viva La Vida is a king that once ruled the world but, consequently lost his pride and power. The book, The Scarlet Pimpernel, is about the French revolution and, ordinarily how the people took over the aristocrats. In Viva La Vida and The Scarlet Pimpernel, each author uses personification to portray the idea that taking too much pride in yourself or overestimating yourself can lead to fatal consequences.

“Como vamos Carlos?” I asked as I felt the dry wind hit my face. In one ear, I heard the sound of horse hooves and desert wilderness. In the other ear, my headset had been playing the guitar stylings of Rodrigo y Gabriela, specifically the song Tamacun. I had set my phone to shuffle their songs, after all what better way to hunt for Mexican treasure than to listen to mexican music?

Oppression is mental pressure or distress and there is women, men, and racial oppression. At a point in someone’s life, the feeling of being trapped or stuck arise. In The Story of an Hour, a woman gives her own thoughts on marriages and life. She has heart issues and the thought of her husband’s death causes her to trap herself in her room. Now in “Sympathy” , a male figure has his thoughts and similar feelings to a caged bird. In both the story and poem they show oppression in some way. Though these two stories and characters are completely different, they share the same mindset, feeling trapped but one is mentally and the other is physically.

This assignment consists of five questions relating to the poem ‘The Negro’s Complaint’ by William Cowper.

These days its pretty rare for me to hear a piece of synthpop so well contrived that I airaoke (air-karaoke, for those not farmiliar with the term) along to it after the 5th or 6th listen. “Slumlord” is one of those tracks that I predict will maintain its replayability into the foreseeable future. As a someone who used to be absolutely obsessed with Alan Palomo (Era Extraña was great, he’s hot as hell… I mean what’s not to like) I was understandably disappointed at the cookie-cutter summer pop jam that was “Annie”, I missed the rich bass synths and glitchy arpeggiations; the elements that made Psychic Chasms and Era Extraña so great. “Slumlord” brings it all back with a dancey sheen that was missing on Palomo’s last effort.

Do you hear the trumpets cry out to the world? It is the language of the oppressed soul. It sings at night, and tells of the day's troubles.