4.14.09
English
Cleaning the House:
An Essay on a Poem by Naomi Shihab Nye
I love my little brother. But sometimes, he can just be too much, like an indirect push to send me over the edge after a stressful day. But no matter what pain he and I cause to each other, I will always love my little brother. Another example of an adversative(FAST) yet compassionate sibling relationship is found in “The Little Brother Poem,” by Naomi Shihab Nye.
In this poem, Nye expresses her repentance towards her little brother for all the pain she’s caused him over the years. As she looks over all of his old things, memories stored in inconsequential(FAST) junk, she feels a longing for forgiveness for all the pain she caused him. As she “cleans the house,” she tries to wipe away all of the bad memories they shared. It is implied that she inavertedly drove him away. They are very different, she describes him as high fashion while she is a used bandana, but that doesn’t mean her feelings about him have changed. She takes the first step in trying to clean up all the mess she’s left so that he will come home. She’s thrown her share of cruelty, shoved him in front of a bike, told him of the evil monkeys who “kidnap boys with brown hair in the night.”(Asyndeton) But that’s all in the past now and all she wants to share is love. As she talks to him on the phone, he is not the man she remembers, but he sounds more like the “little brother” that she has lost. As she “cleans the house” she prepares a new foundation for her and her brother, and to atone(FAST) to her brother for all the things she’s done, so that they can share a future.
Earlier this year, we read “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin. And there was one passage that struck my heart, disturbed me, and has stayed with me even today. And I have been asked to relate to it. The passage in question is one where the main character, only known as Sonny’s Brother, tells the tale of how his two year old daughter died of polio. Things like this happen every day on our world. Yet because at that time I had a sister who shared the name of this poor girl and a brother at the precarious age of two, this passage really hit home (periodic Sentence). I kept seeing them in this situation, to have to die a painful, unfair death. And that caused me pain. In Nye’s poem, she talks of losing a brother, which I can imagine to be awful. But it cannot compare to the paternal bonds that were torn apart inside Sonny’s Brother. I love my siblings dearly, and I would never want something to happen to them, but I know that the pain I felt would not be the pain my father would bare. For in the end there is only pain, after a while the pain numbs away, and everyone is left hanging in that cruel, anesthetized state from which we must be brave for lost loved ones and live anew.
Another less painful topic we discussed in relation to “the Little Brother Poem” was the scene in “Sonny’s Blues” in which Sonny’s Brother finally hears Sonny’s music, and their relationship is rekindled. In the story, Sonny’s brother has to work up the courage to finally admit the wrongs that he has made, in relation to Sunny’s. This is similar to Nye’s process, as she has just now admitted that it was her who manipulated her brother and hurt him to the point he is today. Though it’s not entirely her fault, she’s willing to take responsibility and take that first step. Another theme in this passage was freedom. Sonny’s brother wasn’t free because he wasn’t complete without his relationship with Sonny in his life. Sonny was confined by drugs, but through music he was free (Participial Phrase). His brother described his music as “Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did.” Nye found that she was confined by her wrongs against her brother, and sought to fix what she had wrought. We do not hear her brother’s side on the story, but I believe that he has left in an attempt to free himself from his sister. But as he “disappeared into the streets of Dallas,” he can feel that in this big world, without his sister he too is incomplete and will hopefully achieve peace and freedom through he and his sister’s presumed new relationship. Once again, it breaks down to she is “cleaning the house today,” the past is all said and done, and it is up to everybody to make it right.
Sometimes I have a rocky relationship with my sisters. We fight, we scream, we simmer, and we fight some more. But in the end we will all find happiness and I will beat them at Clue. No matter how bad things get Grace, Laura, Collin and I will always be close, and always have each other’s backs. I hope when the day comes to “clean the house,” we will clean it together.
I love my little brother. But sometimes, he can just be too much, like an indirect push to send me over the edge after a stressful day. But no matter what pain he and I cause to each other, I will always love my little brother. Another example of an adversative(FAST) yet compassionate sibling relationship is found in “The Little Brother Poem,” by Naomi Shihab Nye.
In this poem, Nye expresses her repentance towards her little brother for all the pain she’s caused him over the years. As she looks over all of his old things, memories stored in inconsequential(FAST) junk, she feels a longing for forgiveness for all the pain she caused him. As she “cleans the house,” she tries to wipe away all of the bad memories they shared. It is implied that she inavertedly drove him away. They are very different, she describes him as high fashion while she is a used bandana, but that doesn’t mean her feelings about him have changed. She takes the first step in trying to clean up all the mess she’s left so that he will come home. She’s thrown her share of cruelty, shoved him in front of a bike, told him of the evil monkeys who “kidnap boys with brown hair in the night.”(Asyndeton) But that’s all in the past now and all she wants to share is love. As she talks to him on the phone, he is not the man she remembers, but he sounds more like the “little brother” that she has lost. As she “cleans the house” she prepares a new foundation for her and her brother, and to atone(FAST) to her brother for all the things she’s done, so that they can share a future.
Earlier this year, we read “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin. And there was one passage that struck my heart, disturbed me, and has stayed with me even today. And I have been asked to relate to it. The passage in question is one where the main character, only known as Sonny’s Brother, tells the tale of how his two year old daughter died of polio. Things like this happen every day on our world. Yet because at that time I had a sister who shared the name of this poor girl and a brother at the precarious age of two, this passage really hit home (periodic Sentence). I kept seeing them in this situation, to have to die a painful, unfair death. And that caused me pain. In Nye’s poem, she talks of losing a brother, which I can imagine to be awful. But it cannot compare to the paternal bonds that were torn apart inside Sonny’s Brother. I love my siblings dearly, and I would never want something to happen to them, but I know that the pain I felt would not be the pain my father would bare. For in the end there is only pain, after a while the pain numbs away, and everyone is left hanging in that cruel, anesthetized state from which we must be brave for lost loved ones and live anew.
Another less painful topic we discussed in relation to “the Little Brother Poem” was the scene in “Sonny’s Blues” in which Sonny’s Brother finally hears Sonny’s music, and their relationship is rekindled. In the story, Sonny’s brother has to work up the courage to finally admit the wrongs that he has made, in relation to Sunny’s. This is similar to Nye’s process, as she has just now admitted that it was her who manipulated her brother and hurt him to the point he is today. Though it’s not entirely her fault, she’s willing to take responsibility and take that first step. Another theme in this passage was freedom. Sonny’s brother wasn’t free because he wasn’t complete without his relationship with Sonny in his life. Sonny was confined by drugs, but through music he was free (Participial Phrase). His brother described his music as “Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did.” Nye found that she was confined by her wrongs against her brother, and sought to fix what she had wrought. We do not hear her brother’s side on the story, but I believe that he has left in an attempt to free himself from his sister. But as he “disappeared into the streets of Dallas,” he can feel that in this big world, without his sister he too is incomplete and will hopefully achieve peace and freedom through he and his sister’s presumed new relationship. Once again, it breaks down to she is “cleaning the house today,” the past is all said and done, and it is up to everybody to make it right.
Sometimes I have a rocky relationship with my sisters. We fight, we scream, we simmer, and we fight some more. But in the end we will all find happiness and I will beat them at Clue. No matter how bad things get Grace, Laura, Collin and I will always be close, and always have each other’s backs. I hope when the day comes to “clean the house,” we will clean it together.
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