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DOUBLE BEATING
By Richard Mabala
About the Author
Richard Mabala is
originally from the United Kingdom and gave up his passport to become an
official Tanzanian. He has been an educator, professor at a university, a poet,
and a recognized writer of Secondary school English readers (Mabala the Farmer,
Hawa the Bus Driver, and others).
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| Richard Mabala |
DOUBLE BEATING
Richard
Mabala
My neighbours gather round,
Listen to my cry,
And tell me please,
When the hummer pounds the nail
And the nail bites
Mercilessly
Into the wood,
Who is the wood to blame?
You saw
Today my husband beat me,
Beat me till the blood spurted
Angry
To the ground.
Only then did you,
My neighbours,
Rush in to separate us.
My faulty?
I only asked him,
So meekly, I assure you,
Whether at last
He’d brought home the cotton money.
Haven’t we all waited
Three months to be paid,
Three months without washing my kanga
In case its threadbare shell
Crumbles to nothingness:
Three months of hiding the children from
school
Because my daughter’s skirt
Is now too short
To cover her budding youth:
Three months of faltering hope
And money spent in dreams.
Today,
You know it, my neighbours,
Weren’t we promised?
And so when he,
My husband,
Strode through the door
I only asked.
I was so foolish.
I failed to see the tell tale bitter
lines
Around the mouth
And the brow furrowed in frustration.
Innocent question
Punished.
For only I could relieve his pain,
Only I could lance the throbbing boil
Of resentment.
Blindly he hit me,
Eyes closed,
Releasing the squashed anger within his
breast,
Muttering oaths against the world
That has wronged him.
Still no kanga,
No uniforms,
Come again next week!
That’s how it was, my neighbours,
But tell me,
Please,
When the hummer pounds the nail
And the nail bites,
Into the wood
Who is the wood to blame?
INTRODUCTION
This is a poem by
Richard Mabala that talks about a woman who complains because of being beaten
by her husband simply because she had asked whether he had brought home the
cotton money. Moreover, the poet talks about double beating
in a sense that there are people who transfer their anger to the inferior
whenever annoyed by the superior. In the poem the man becomes angry because the
company has not paid him the cotton money, but he transfers his wrath to his
wife who asks him meekly whether he brought home the money as they were
promised.
THEMATIC
ANALYSIS
POVERTY
The poem presents a
peasant family that depends on cotton farming for survival. The hungry man is
an angry man. Both the wife and her husband are unhappy due to poor life they
are living and the fact that their only means of income is cultivation of
cotton. They depend on the money for food, clothes, school uniforms and the like.
So failure to get the money on time implies announcing a doom to them. While
they wait for money optimistically, there comes a pessimistic answer. “Come again next week”.
Look at the following lines;
Three
months without washing my kanga
Three
months of hiding my children from school
because
my daughters skirt is now too short.
The company buying
cotton has not paid their money but keeps on giving them fake promises and it
is this scenario that causes family conflict. The wife laments;
Still
no kanga
No
uniforms
Come
again next week.
SPOUSE
BEATING
In most African
societies women are beaten as a way of silencing them even when they seem to
ask some logical questions about critical issues affecting their lives. The
woman in the poem is beaten by her husband simply because she has asked an
innocent question whether the money they have been waiting for three months has
been paid at last. The man grows angry at the question and beats up his wife.
This also signifies the weak position of women in the society.
My
faulty?
I
only asked him
So
meekly, I assure you,
Whether
at last
He’d
brought home the cotton money
Haven’t
we all waited
Three
months to be paid
They waited for three
months to be paid. Yet when the day comes the reply comes out that ‘come again next week’.
This makes him angry and because he can’t fight the superior he shifts his
anger to his wife. Look here;
But
tell me,
When
the hummer pounds the nail
And
the nail bites,
Into
the wood
Who
is the wood to blame?
CLASSES
This theme doesn’t
appear at the surface; nevertheless we cannot ignore the fact that there are
classes in this society. On one side there is high class that owns the money.
They are able to buy cotton from peasants but do not pay them on time instead
they give them fake promises which cause family conflicts for poor people.
On the other side there
is a proletariat class comprising mainly of peasants. These are the ones
suffering and find it hard to get their daily bread. When the rich withhold
their money they live in total despair. Look at these lines;
Three
months without washing my kanga
In
case its threadbare shell
Crumbles
to nothingness
Three
months of hiding the children from school
COOPERATION
This community seems to
live a cooperative life just how like most other rural African communities
live. It is important to get along well with people (neighbours) so that when
you have a problem they may come for your rescue. The woman shows it were the neighbours
who came to separate them and rescued her from the terrible beating.
Only
then did you
My
neighbours
Rush
in to separate us.
IRRESPONSIBILITY
The ruling class is
irresponsible for providing services on time. The farmers have sold their
cotton to the company but they are not given the money on time. This makes the
poor farmers live a miserable life. They cannot afford to buy new clothes and
wash their clothes. Even children fail to go to school because their uniforms
are worn out. When they ask they are told to go again the following week. “Come
again next week!” It is this act that results to family conflicts.
FAMILY
CONFLICT
The poet discusses the
problem of family conflict in African families but he discusses it from a
different angle. In this poem he shows that the source of conflict may not
necessarily come from within. There are times when a husband is annoyed by
someone but he cannot fight against that person/system because it is superior
to him, as a result he shifts his anger to his wife. This is the concept of
double beating as presented in the poem? The woman says
When
the hummer pounds the nail
And
the nail bites,
Into
the wood
Who
is the wood to blame?
GUIDING QUESTIONS
a) How
many stanzas are there?
There are 7 (seven) stanzas
b) Explain
the mood and tone of the poem.
The tone sad/unhappy and lamenting and so it creates a
sympathetic mood to the listeners towards the readers.
c) How
many verses are in the poem?
There are 63 verses in the whole poem
d) Who
is the persona in this poem? How do you know?
The persona is a woman who is oppressed by her
husband. This is evident as he she says “Today
my husband beat me”.
e) Is
the persona happy in this poem? Give two reasons
The persona is unhappy in the poem because;
1.
First
she has been beaten by her husband for asking for the cotton money.
2.
Second
because of the state of poverty and the fact that their cotton money has not
been paid; they are just given fake promises “come again next week’.
f) What
is the message in this poem?
Ø
It’s
not good to shift your anger to someone who has not wronged you.
Ø
Spouse
beating is illogical. It should be discouraged
Ø
Leaders
should be responsible in providing services to the citizens on time.
Ø
We
should fight against poverty with all our mighty.
Ø
Classes
are obstacles to development.
g) What
type of the poem is this?
It is a freeverse/modern poem but specifically it is a
narrative poem as it tells a story of what happened to the woman.
h) Comment
on the rhyming pattern.
The poem has irregular rhyming scheme.
i) What
is the relevance of the poem?
The poem is generally relevant in many ways;
i.
Spouse
beating is still a common problem among African societies. E.g. the Kuryans are
mostly quoted on this issue.
ii.
Also
poverty is rampart in Tanzania especially in rural communities.
iii.
There
are people who depend solely on agriculture for survival and when the market
collapses they collapse as well.
iv.
There
are family conflicts in most families because of men superiority and women
inferiority.
j) Comment
on the language use
The language used is generally simple and has some
figures of speech and sayings.
i.
Rhetorical question
Ø
My fault?
Ø
Who is the wood to blame?
ii.
Anaphora
Ø Three months to be paid,
Ø Three months without washing my kanga
iii.
Barbarism
Ø Three months without washing my kanga (kanga is a Swahili word)
iv.
Personification.
Ø
The blood spurted angry to the ground
Ø
Innocent question punished
Ø
The world that had wronged him
Ø
Who is the wood to blame? {the wood can’t blame}
Ø
And the nail bites mercilessly into the wood (the nail
cannot bite)
v.
Saying
When the hummer pounds the nail and the nail bites
into the wood, who is the wood to blame?
vi.
Alliteration
And the brow furrowed in frustration
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