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1. The people are taken forcibly to dig trenches which will cut off those in the forest
and prevent them from crossing to the other side where the village is. The trench,
which if filled with spikes, is a trap for the freedom fighters in the forest, in case
they venture into the “restriction villages” to untie with their families. The poem is
called „Digging Our Grave? because it is the villagers themselves who are digging
what will be graves to their own sons, brothers and fathers, who are a part of
them. It is as if they are digging their own grave.
2. The main theme of the poem is oppression. The people are harassed and beaten
into submission. An alternative answer is exploitation, as the people are victims of
„forced labour? with no compensation or pay.
3. The guards, who have been indoctrinated by their colonial masters, obey their
orders with zeal. They have been poisoned against their own race and are used to
persecute them: “venomed against blood-brothers a raving guard slashes at Mumbi....” (Stanza2).
4. (a) The “bundle” is the child that Mumbi carries on her back. She wants to shift it
to her breast so that it can feed. It is probably slung in a shawl and resembles a
bundle of clothes.
(b) The twenty-foot gulf refers to trench which has been dug to keep out the
freedom fighters who have gone into the forest to carry on the war against the
colonial forces. The trench is 20 feet deep. It is supposed to separate the freedom
fighters from their blood relatives.,
(c) At one level, the men may have been literally castrated by the colonial forces.
But at a deeper level the fathers are referred to as castrated because the system has
rendered them impotent. They cannot reduce the suffering of their families. They
have no means of fending for them and no weapons to fight. They bend their heads
in shame.
Titany answered the question on November 11, 2021 at 08:17
- Tell me thou proud jigger,
Having stolen your way in
Need you beat your chest
In premature celebration?
Your flying brother
Sang a song of victory...(Solved)
Tell me thou proud jigger,
Having stolen your way in
Need you beat your chest
In premature celebration?
Your flying brother
Sang a song of victory
Before he tasted the toast
And met his singing end.
We thought you had learned
To taste and not devour
Unmindful of other mouths
In the neighborhood of time
Come thou proud jigger
Follow the prick in my hand
And celebrate your death
Beside thy favourite toe
Explanation
Jigger is another word for chigoe, a tropical flea which burrows
into the skin of its host. A toast in British custom is drink to wish someone good health
or success. For example, at a wedding, someone proposes a toast to the bride and
groom whereon all present wills and, raise their glasses, repeat “to the bride and
groom”, and drink.
Toast in another sense is a slice of bread browned on both sides by radiant heat.
Questions
1. Who/What is the second stanza referring to?
2. Who does the „you‟ in the third stanza refer to?
3. What does the persona achieve by talking to the jigger as if it understands him?
4. What is the moral teaching of this story?
5. Give the meaning of the following lines as they have been used in the poem
(a) “In premature celebration?” (line4)
(b) “Before he tasted the toast” (line7)
Date posted: November 11, 2021. Answers (1)
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