Response To Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness
There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M Bechtold

Task 1: Introduction and background to the Poem
Written in 2010, this poem was inspired by a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle in the background of a news program on TV in his hotel room in Saigon just before Christmas 2009.He was trying to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them as he was angry with the way the men treated them. Henry M Bechtold was in Vietnam in 1967-68 and again in 1969, going back often because his soul lives in Vietnam and he goes back to visit it from time to time.

Source:http://www.henrybechtold.com/

Task 2: Poem Analysis
This poem was written from an adult's perspective. This can be seen from how the persona refers to his main characters as "children". This might be something like a recount because the poet often visits Vietnam and he might have written this in memory of the pitiful kids he saw in Vietnam. The poet is trying to tell us that children are innocent in adult's affair and have the right to receive education that other children have instead of fighting in war.

Throughout the poem,repetition of "darkness" and "light" is to emphasise the contrast between darkness and light.This is quite similar to the difference good and evil. However, in the poem, light symbolises freedom and darkness symbolises limitation, or slavery. This is seen in "girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them".

In the first stanza, "there are children in the darkness" repeats the title of the poem."There" shows that there are children in the world who are restricted in one way or another, "who have not seen the light" meaning experience freedom. They do not have freedom and are limited and manipulated by others. Children "Who someone will teach to fight" shows the intentions of other people in bringing the children into the cruel world of war and violence. "Who someone will teach to fight"may also symbolise the fact that the "children" will be scarred forever as they learn "how to fight",they lose their innocence.

In the second stanza, "chalk and blackboards will not be" show that the children are not learning what we are learning. They,unlike us,are not receiving their education which is learning how to read and write from chalk and blackboards, but instead only how to fight as can be seen in stanza one. They are also unable to pursue what they want to do, in this case,getting their education. The next three lines show that the children are dragged into war and cannot escape from the terrible life which they lead and would have to accept what becomes of them. Metaphor is present when the poet compares the situation of the child to a locked door, as can be seen "to this door there is no key", showing that there is no escape.

The third stanza consists of four questions, all starting with "could we". Candle is used as a metaphor of providing them with "light", where "simply light a candle" means to give them a hope for their freedom. The poet questioned if we could "teach them how to read" and "how to dance", instead of fighting all the time. However, we know that this is impossible and the children are deprived of even "half a chance" as can be seen from the previous stanza.

The fourth stanza war as a black hole, who will "consume them", "their body and their soul", draining them from the energy their young and energetic bodies once had. "Their life and blood be poured down some endless thirsty hole", implying that the children would be worn out and tired of continuous fighting and they will never gain back their life,blood and innocence as the hole is"endless".

The last stanza summarises the poem and tell us that there is no way to escape - "no flight" - and they are unable to obtain freedom.From "shines no light" we can see that there is no hope and they will forever be unable to break their shackles to freedom.

Thus,I conclude my analysis of this poem.

Remembering what life is.....
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