Quote | Comment | “No Madonna and Child could touch Her tenderness for a son She would soon have to forget…” | Shows a mother (another way of saying portraying Mary & Jesus) this is a religious image of care, affection and tenderness. Mary also had to watch her son die on the cross, so there is a similarity there and it may also suggest that even prayer cannot help these refugees now. It is one sentence, foregrounding the mother’s love for her son & that she won’t give up on him despite the fact that he’s about to die soon - suggesting a lot of compassion from the mother. This short sentence indicates that there is very little hope or goodness in the lives of the refugees – most of their life is like the struggle depicted in the second sentence. | ‘The air was heavy with odours of diarrhoea Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs And dried-up bottoms struggling in laboured steps Behind blown empty bellies. Other mothers there’ | The sibilance in the description of the unhealthy children who are suffering, emphasizes the hardships they face in the refugee camp. Also intensifying the image of unpleasantness, the way they describe how the children are dirty and unwell.P | ‘long ceased to care’ | The other mothers in the refugee camp didn’t care about their sick child/children dying since they know that nothing can save them. It seems that other mothers don’t care about their child/children anymore – or given up/lost faith/hope, making the mother in this poem seem even more tragic or even heroic. | ‘ghost smile…her eyes the memory Of a mothers pride’ | Could suggest that it is a fake smile, trying not to break down or appear weak as her son is dying or trying not to think that her child is close to death. ‘ghost’ has obvious connotations of death and the fact that the smile is being held between her teeth bespeaks her desperation. ‘memory’ emphasizes that the mother’s child is dying - the memory of happiness she had with her son before they were in the camp and before her son got sick. | ‘…and combed The rust-coloured hair left on his skull’ | Shows that the mother still has a tiny bit of happiness that her dying child is STILL alive. How she’s sort of positive in situation like this. She shows that she doesn’t want to “cease to care” like the other mothers did to their children - contrasting to the poem because of the slight happiness present – making the scene even more touching and tragic.‘rust-coloured’ and ‘skull’ have connotations of death as it shows how unhealthy and how sick the boy is, giving the idea that his sickness is terminal/inevitable | ‘humming in her eyes’ | Mother is trying to void the rush of sadness as she watches her son dying, trying to reminisce about the short lived happiness she spent with her soon before he became ill. Alternatively the contrast reflects our lives and how lucky we are not to be living in a situation like this, reflecting how her life could have been if only she were luckier or the war had not happened to land her in such a place. | ‘flowers’ | The relatively positive picture of flowers contrasts sharply with ‘grave’ in the next line. We are lulled into a false sense of security by the these three or four lines that paint a normal day to day life that we are once again shocked when we are brought back face to face with death. | ‘Tiny grave.’ | Connotation of death. It is the ending of the poem with the word “grave” and the punctuation makes the poem more morbid and definite with such an abrupt ending |
Themes
The poem mainly revolves around the themes of love, loss and death.
The theme of loss and death is shown throughout the poem but mainly in the opening when it states ‘Her tenderness for a son She would soon have to forget…’ This foreshadows the death of her son and how the mother must forget her son in order to avoid feeling distraught for the remainder of her life.
The theme of love is mainly shown in the middle section of the poem where is states ‘…her eyes in memory OF a mothers pride…’ This quote shows how a mothers pride always remains – whether the child is dead or alive.

Other Information
Chinua Achebe’s Mother in a Refugee Camp, paints the pathetic picture of a mother holding her dying son in her hands for the last time, portraying both the inevitability of death and the pain of those whose loved ones have died yet they live on in a harsh light.
The poem is full of the agony of a mother who has to witness her child’s death in front of her eyes which is made clear with the use of the initial comparison to the Holy mother Mary and Jesus.’ Then the strong imagery which is used to describe the setting of the refugee camp, brings out the desolation surrounding the poem. Achebe bring the senses to life by describing the sense of smell, sight and feeling to evoke a sense e of empathy from the audience. The metaphor in the mother’s ‘humming eyes’ makes the audience sympathize with her difficult, unfortunate situation.
No suggestion is given as to why the people are in a refugee camp. Perhaps there had been a war, or some sort of natural calamity, but Achebe has described how such drastically the lives of those change who are forced to leave their home and take shelter, by focusing on one mother who is holding her dying child. The poem could also be seen as a testament to a mother’s love, who knows that the child is dead, yet continues to hold him with care and caution. She is not yet ready to let go and accept the fact that he is dead.
The structure of 'A Mother in a Refugee Camp' is without break or interruption as if we're drawn down into the child's death as it is inevitable. Towards the end of the poem, the tome becomes gentle. We see death gently: it's a ghost 'smile', and there are 'flowers' on the grave.
In the mid-section of the poem we see the day to day horrors of the camp, which are presented metaphorically with 'blown out bellies' and 'diarrhea'. The list creates a sense of the profusion of suffering of 'washed out ribs' balanced with 'unwashed bodies'. Thick liquids create a sense of struggle in 'waddling in laboured steps' and 'dried up' is a horrible image to use for a child who normally emanate thoughts of being fresh and young.
Achebe creates a strong sense of pity: one from the outside, the other too close for comfort, replaying an image of suffering that is too horribly familiar for those living in the camp.