Question

Why did he decide not to help the poor man ?

Answer 1

The poem ‘The Cold Within’ is written in simple language, but deals with a serious theme. It was written by James Patrick Kinney at a time when the African American Civil Rights movement was going on. The poet throws light on how humans can be painfully discriminatory. He uses the situation of six men caught in harsh winter conditions, to show what society actually was at that time. While each of the men had a stick, none of them used it to feed the fire and save themselves and everyone else as well. Similarly, each individual can contribute to society in his own way, but no one really does so just because they are full of hatred towards others. Had the men put in their sticks, the fire would have burnt longer and they would have survived. However, they gave more importance to negative ideas and eventually died. If humans continue to discriminate on the basis of race, ideology, affluence or on any other grounds, mankind will not survive for long. As the poet says, they will not die because of external factors, but because of ‘the cold within’ their ownselves.