America by Henry Dumas
If an eagle be imprisoned
On the back of a coin
And the coin is tossed into the sky,
That coin will spin,
That coin will flutter,
But the eagle will never fly.
This is the poem that I read in class last Friday. I had actually chosen another poem to recite, but when Pauline read "We wear the mask" this poem was on the next page. I thought that this poem said so much with so few words.
I feel like this poem really relates to on of the books we have read. In Invisible Man the narrator struggles with this imprisonment when he gets a job with the brotherhood he feels like he can give speeches freely, but the Brotherhood tells him exactly what he is supposed to say. When the narrator says something that the Brotherhood hasn't approved, he is reprimanded for it.
It is interesting how Dumas uses the eagle to express imprisonment. Eagles are usually used to symbolize freedom, but here the eagle "will never fly." The title of this work is "America," which confused me at first. I thought maybe it was because the eagle is what is on the back of a quarter, but the more I thought about it the more it seemed that there was a deeper meaning. Americans often feel like we have so many freedoms, and we are very proud to be Americans. "Land of the free and home of the brave" is a common saying, but we are trapped by so many things in our country: race, gender, social standings, just to name a few.
Did anyone else get another interpretation? I'd love to hear other thoughts
Jack read this poem in 4th hour as well -- One thing that particularly stood out to me is that coins are all manufactured to be identical, which would imply that the eagle imprisoned on the back of the coin is trapped within a stereotype, which goes along with the themes in Invisible Man as well: Beyond his paradoxical freedom-restriction situation in the Brotherhood, he also struggles a great deal with his identity, struggles to get away from the confining stereotypes that cling to him because he is black (hence the eagles, all made to be the same, trapped on the backs of the coins).
ReplyDeleteThis poem interested me because it says so much but also doesn't say much at all. The eagle is meant to symbolize freedom in America, and I think in this poem it is meant to represent the illusion of freedom in America (like you said, race, gender, and social standings are barriers). The eagle is on the back of the quarter, and that can make it an afterthought (in a way?) The coin flutters, which is almost like flying, but not quite, but it's the appearance of flight that counts, and that's what people see. Also, I also think the content of this poem can be related to Invisible Man. The narrator believes that with the Brotherhood he has power and is able to express himself, when in reality he is being suppressed by the organization.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the eagle being on the back of the coin. I guess this may be due to the fact that most of the time when I get a quarter the front is always the same, but the backs sometimes have states on them, so I like to look at those. But back to your point, having it on the back definitely seems to imply that it's what you want to be hidden. You want people to see the front with the first president of the United States with "LIBERTY" is capitol letters and "In God we trust," But the back of a bed is where you usually think to shove things you don't want too look at, you sit in the back of the class if you don't want to raise your hand. Very interesting point!
DeleteWhen I chose my poem, I also remember having this one catch my eye. It's short and to the point, but is still up to interpretation and means much more than the six lines it comes off as. I don't think we covered nearly enough by the time class ended, and I'm sure we could interpret this poem to death. I think it definitely relates back to the books we've read this semester, and the general theme that's seen in both. In this poem, Henry Dumas is describing an eagle trapped on the back of a coin. In relation to the real world, I believe this symbolizes the constant suppression of groups of people, namely African Americans. The coin is tossed into the sky, as if taunting the eagle, but it is inevitable that the coin will land back down on the ground. In Native Son, we see Bigger portrayed as the eagle. When he kills Mary and no one knows (yet), he feels a surge of power. At this point, he is in the sky. However, his life then spirals downward as he is captured for her murder and sentenced to death. He could never really fly and escape. Similarly, in Invisible Man the narrator thinks he's invincible. At the prologue, we see him boasting about his invisibility and he seems to feel on top of the world (an eagle in the sky). Upon writing the book, however, and reflecting back on it in the epilogue, we see new questions pop into his head, and he seems to doubt even the prologue version of himself. He has crashed back down to the ground, and it is uncertain whether he will ever be fully free.
ReplyDeleteYes I totally agree with the inevitability represented in the poem. I also think the word choice of flutter is very interesting. As it is "tossed" up (no agency here), it flutters. Fluttering shows some action of the object rather than just staying limp, but it also has connotations of futile effort. I think this futility is an important aspect to the inevitability of nothing ever really happening.
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