What Role Did Discrimination Play In The Poem The Cold Within
Answers
Everyone in the so called forlorn group had ill and cold feelings of hatred , discrimination, revenge within them . They could have easily survived by putting their legs to use but they out of revenge did not do so and thus died not from the cold atmosphere but from the cold feelings within
Explanation:
In James Patrick Kinney’s poem The Cold Within the poet has shown how people are divided all over the world based on some narrow considerations like racism, religious hatred, class distinction, prejudice and so on. The discrimination among people can lead to a great deal of problem for the society.
In the poem, six ‘humans’ were there around the dying fire and everybody had a stick to give the fire a new lease of life. But no one came forward to share their wood because they had hatred in the mind for others.
The first woman had racism against the black people. Another man had ill feelings for people with other religious faith different from his. The third man was prejudiced against the rich people as he was poor. The fourth one had prejudice against the poor and he was rich and greedy to save more for himself. The fifth man was the black one and wanted to take revenge against the white people as they had always ill-treated their race. The last man was narrow minded and wanted to share his wood only in exchange for something else. So none of them shared their piece of wood and rather chose to die in the cold weather.
This is highly symbolic of the folly of people’s ill-feelings against their fellow men. If people are not broad-minded enough they can never enjoy a happy and peaceful life. This is the message the poet wants to convey.