What do the following lines describe?
Diseased with a chronic illness,
Choking with black ignorance,
Chained to the rock
Of poverty,
And yet laughing,
Always laughing and dancing,
The chains on his legs
Jangling; (11-18)
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It talks about African's life which in most people's mind. "Diseased with a chronic illness, choking with black ignorance" indicate that Black people can hardly get medical care and that's because of " chained to the rock of Poverty" . However, they satisfy with their current life and "yet laughting and always laughing and dancing". That's probably what's African like in most people's mind-- poor, ignorance and optimistic.
ReplyDeleteHe was tired of the people around sick with illness. Chockin with ignorance meant, talking without knowledge or comprehension through basic education.Chain to a rock of poverty. Meant not being able to escape whatever ghetto that he was locked and seeing no why out.Laughing meant, The only why to keep from going out of his mind was to sing and dance and try to look on the brite side if any.Some people say" sometimes I laugh when I should be crying this maybe true.The chains meant to me that even if he made it out he would always be forever binded no matter what.
ReplyDeleteIt describes the suffering of most African people by chronic illness and not been able to do much about it. “Choking with black ignorance” They are too ignorance because they don’t have the confidence or the knowledge to solve their own problems. In the other hand, African people seem to enjoy life more than the people that live in developed countries, which suffer with stressful lifestyle. The African people laugh and dance in order to deal with their suffering.
ReplyDeleteIt tells there are many Black people suffer from long-term illness since they are poor and low educated. Eventually, it is just a vicious cycle. They are not able to have higher education due to poverty. As a result, they cannot make a lot of money in order to improve their living conditions. That is why they have chronic illness. The poverty is tightly attached to them. Furthermore, they cannot have joyful lives because they are always reminded about the poverty.
ReplyDeleteBasically, those lines bring up issues regarding healthcares/poverty in Africa, also pointing out that the traditional medicines often harm people more rather than heal them. Okot portrays a vivid imagine that life is extremely difficult/harsh in African- that Africans are most basic knowledge and limited resources to live. They are afflicted a lot strange illnesses that they do not even know how to describe, which means they have no sense in curing it, therefore Okot said, “Diseased with a chronic illness”. Although they live in unfavorable conditions, they still enjoy their life and be happy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Benson point of view. The author saw a lot of Black people who have diseases and didn’t get any medical care. Because of poverty, they didn’t have a chance to get a good medical care. However, they are not sad; they are enjoying their lives with laughing and dancing even though they are sick. No one cares about their lives.
ReplyDeleteThese lines discribe the ordinary life of Africans. Because of poverty, Africans are ignorance; because of poverty, Africans are chronic diseased. Since they can not improve their education and knowledge, they are diseased in a bad cycle. "And yet laughing,
ReplyDeleteAlways laughing and dancing,
The chains on his legs
Jangling;", these discribe their entertainment in their usual life, and I think the "The chains on his legs, Chained to the rock" connotes that the endless illness is a chain to tie the Africans closely. They would be living long lives with diseases forever.
I agree with Chaperones point of view. The poet writes “Diseased with a chronic illness,
ReplyDeleteChoking with black ignorance”. He makes a very strong reference to the many epidemics Africa is constantly facing. As of right now Africa is internationally known as the capital of the AIDS epidemic, before that it was Ebola, throughout it all there has always been an issue with malnutrition, which leads to other diseases; these only name a few of the epidemics on the continent of Africa. For as long as I can remember there has always been a new and more deadly epidemic introducing itself to Africa. Africa is the wealthiest continent of natural resources in the world, yet its native people are the poorest people in the world. This keeps the Africans in a constant struggle with poverty and disease. When I think of festive, outgoing cultures I usually think of Latin and African cultures. The fact that African cultures still manage to be joyful and festive though faced with one of the highest rates of poverty and disease relates to the line “Chained to the rock Of poverty, And yet laughing, Always laughing and dancing, The chains on his legs”
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