Grandmother , Ray young Bear

Lesson- 1

                                        Grandmother

Summary:-

   The poem GRANDMOTHER was composed by an American-Indian poet and novelist Ray Young Bear as a member of Mesquaki tribe of North America , the poet has attempted to revive the lost culture , rites, rituals and indentity of his tribe through his works. In this poem too, the poet is attempting to bring the lost culture,rites, rituals and indentity of Mesquaki tribes back to life using an image of his all loving and all inspiring Grandmother.

   Though the poets grandmother passed away long ago, she has remained in his memories as a source of love and inspiration. Using second conditional structure, the poet hypothetically imagines what he would do if his grandmother was alive. If he saw the shape of his grandmother from miles away, he would quickly recognize her because of her purple scarf and plastic shopping bag. If he felt any hands on his head, he would quickly identify the caressing hands of his grandmother-warm and damp with the smell of roots. Hearing any voice coming from rock, he would know it as the voice of his grandmother. He would be inspired and guided by her voice as a person is guided by the light stirring faces from sleeping fire at night.

         The poet has used several figures of speech like image and simile in this poem. The images used create a vivid and living picture of his grandmother while bringing the culture, rites, rituals and identity of Mesquaki tribes back to life again.                              

Questions.

    1)   Describe the poet Grandmother.

   The poets grandmother stand as a symbol, image, prototype of Mesquaki tribe. Although she has passed away a long time ago but her memories and her image is still deeply rooted in poets mind and heart. In his poem poets grandmother  is not only an individual but she also represented as a representative of whole mesquaki rites, rituals, cultures, trends, etc . She used to wear purple scarf around her neck and carry plastic shopping bag. She would caresses poet with her warm an damp hands with the smell of roots. Poet remembers his grandmother inspiring him by her words. Poets grandmother is not an image of a single person but an epitome of whole Mesquaki tribe. Her every action and personality symbolizes the rites, culture and tradition of the tribe. For eg:- purple carf, plastic shopping bag, smell of the roots represents the culture the tribe. Poet is trying to revive lostculture, identity, tribe using his grandmother as representative figure as her charactreristics represents that of tribe as a whole.

   2)   What are the four things that Ray Young Bear remembers about his grandmother?

    The four things that Ray Young Bear remembers about his grandmother are her shape, her purple scarf, warm and damp hands with smell of roots and her inspiring voice.

   3)   What images do you find in this poem written by a member of the Sauk and Fox (Mesquaki ) Indian tribe of North America? To what senses do these images appeal?

    The poet has used images to discover two interwined themes collection of hs grandmother at one level and search for identity at another level. The images like 'pueple scarf', 'plastic shopping bag', 'the light……at night' appeal to our sense of sight. These images also have symbolic link to the Indian culture. 'Plastic shopping bag' indicates the poverty of Indian tribe. 'The light……at night' associates that the spirituality of Indian culture guides him in the modern corrupt American society. The images like 'smell of root' appeal to our sense of smell. It indicates the work ethic of Indian tribe and his grandmother. They are near to nature and are good farmers. 'Warm and damp hands' appeal to our sense of touch. It also shows how his grandmother and Indian tribes work in fields with pleasure and sense of duty. 'A voice' and 'her word' appeal to our sense of hearing. This indicates how the teachings and philosophy of Indian culture enlightens his spirits. Thus by the use of images, the poets has symbolically linked his grandmother to the lost culture of Indian tribe.