Theme of motherly love in poem "night of the scorpion" by Nissim Ezekiel
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The theme of “The Night of the Scorpion” could be a number of things. The other educators' posts offer different possibilities, and I can offer yet another. Since a theme is the central message of a work, and messages are dependent not only on the sender but also on the receiver, it is natural for different readers to interpret works differently.
Most of the poem is concerned with the efforts of the peasants and the father to use superstitious means to save the speaker's mother from “the Evil One,” namely the effect of the scorpion's poison. The speaker doesn't seem to have much respect for the townspeople or their methods, but he does report that they sit with her, offering hopeful words and searching for the scorpion. The father, normally rational, also resorts to superstition.
At the end of the poem, the mother suddenly recovers. The poet doesn't offer any explanation. Did the superstitious rites have anything to do with it? We don't know.
What we do know is that the townspeople showed up in her time of need, and she ended up recovering. I think the poet is emphasizing the compassion that the people of this community feel for each other. How many people would show up at our house if we were sick? Probably a few family members, but not the whole town. Even if their methods were useless, even if they were annoying “flies,” they still cared enough to show up. The father was frantically trying anything he could to help, even if it meant going against his more modern nature. The poet simply finishes with the mother's words,
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spared my children.
After twenty hours of suffering, the mother's thoughts are on her children.
This poem depicts a tremendous amount of compassion. Perhaps that helped the mother pull through.
Hope Helps✌
The theme of “The Night of the Scorpion” could be a number of things. The other educators' posts offer different possibilities, and I can offer yet another. Since a theme is the central message of a work, and messages are dependent not only on the sender but also on the receiver, it is natural for different readers to interpret works differently.
Most of the poem is concerned with the efforts of the peasants and the father to use superstitious means to save the speaker's mother from “the Evil One,” namely the effect of the scorpion's poison. The speaker doesn't seem to have much respect for the townspeople or their methods, but he does report that they sit with her, offering hopeful words and searching for the scorpion. The father, normally rational, also resorts to superstition.
At the end of the poem, the mother suddenly recovers. The poet doesn't offer any explanation. Did the superstitious rites have anything to do with it? We don't know.
What we do know is that the townspeople showed up in her time of need, and she ended up recovering. I think the poet is emphasizing the compassion that the people of this community feel for each other. How many people would show up at our house if we were sick? Probably a few family members, but not the whole town. Even if their methods were useless, even if they were annoying “flies,” they still cared enough to show up. The father was frantically trying anything he could to help, even if it meant going against his more modern nature. The poet simply finishes with the mother's words,
Thank God the scorpion picked on me
And spared my children.
After twenty hours of suffering, the mother's thoughts are on her children.
This poem depicts a tremendous amount of compassion. Perhaps that helped the mother pull through.
Hope Helps✌
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