Free Literature Review About The Society That Is Devoid To Embrace Change

David Bottom’s poems have always been intriguing and full of insights. His creative use of imagery and symbolism always makes his poems interesting and insightful as well. Though he has written many poems on many issues, his first two collections fit into the tradition of southern poetry. Much of his focus is on the problems of the South, especially in the twentieth century. Such problems include racism, lack of identity, frustration that come about when people live lives that are limited in opportunity and potential and the disappearance of the rural world into suburbia. In his poem “Shooting Rats at the Bibb country dumb," David brings out the vivid image of the horrible lives of the people in the South and their plight. In this review I seek to make it clear that David’s writing is an imagery of the live in his home county and reflection of the society he grow up in. Living in the suburbs David illuminates the desperate lives of the people without the might and how those with the might frustrate them. This poem is interesting yet at the same time it is quite disturbing. The language used is intriguing, but delving deep into what David is talking about is what is quite amusing. One will wonder why the kids find it good to shoot the rats.Why should they be these violent? Unfortunately, David does not provide any answers to these questions. So the reader has to comb through their minds to understand the meanings and the perspectives that David had in mind. Through reading the poem one can make some assumptions that can provide some good answers to these questions.
The poem begins with the description of kids drinking. From this perspective, it seems that the parents are not yet involved, and this could be the reason that these kids shoot the rats. It emerges that the people shooting the rats are not just a few boys, but rather a large group of boys. In the second line, David talks about riding to the dump in “carloads” that clearly brings a picture of a group of boys. The idea of a group of boys and many of them riding to the dump and turning the headlights on is symbolic. In this case, the idea of vulnerability comes in. The fact that the boys turn on the lights to scare the rats shows that the rats are vulnerable. At the same time, the boys are also vulnerable. In this case, both the two are vulnerable because they have to hide in the light. The poem shows that the safest place for both of them is the darkness. The poem demonstrates that these people live in a ghetto neighborhood. The lives they live are a life of struggle, and it is only during the dark that they can come out to seek a living. Unfortunately, when they come out to seek this living, there are other people that are ready to scuttle their efforts.
In the middle of the poem David talks about the actual violence, that is the actual shooting of the rats.This comes out clearly in the 5ths and the 6th lines. These lines demonstrate the plight of the rats as they die. It is disturbing to think of the other rats that do not die at that moment. At this point, David seems to commemorate the plight of his father. David’s father worked with the U.S.S during the Second World War and was wounded at Guadalcanal in November of 1942. From the poem David, seem to bring the vivid picture of the wounded rats are they crawl to safety “the darkness.”
Another major theme that seems to come out from this part of the poem is that there is a concept that darkness postulates safety for both the boys and the light. Symbolically David brings out the idea of a society that believes that the only place to be safe is in the dark. The darkness, in this case, is the idea of hiding themselves from any involvement with the outside world. Both these two groups seem to be afraid of the light of hope. They feel it is safer to stay in the darkness that is in the world they are used to. The rats symbolize the young children in this society that do not have any idea what the future has for them. On the other hand, the boy's shooting is a group of people with the might, and they are trying to show the rats that the world is cruel and not good. In this case, David is trying to say that the world is the place where the mighty will always rule over those without the power. At the same time, he is keen to bring out the fact that the society is not ready for any change. Everyone wants to remain in the dark, whether those ones that have the power or those without power (Cantwell, 85).
Finally, it is clear that David tries to demonstrate the plight of the society he grows up in. It is simply a society that is afraid to live in the light of hope. Rather, this is a society where the mighty take advantage of the weak. Unfortunately, both the two are not ready to embrace the new world, but simply want to maintain the status quo.

Work Cited

Cantwell, Kevin. Writing on Napkins at the Sunshine Club: An Anthology of Poets Writing in Macon. Macon, Ga: Mercer University Press, 2011. Print.