How does Imtiaz darker use language and structure in “the terrorist at my table” to demonstrate the theme of conflict?
In the poem “the terrorist at my table” the theme of conflict is demonstrated profusely. In the poem I believe that conflict is represented in 2 main ways. The first is media, throughout the poem media is portrayed as having a very important role in war. The second would be personal feeling towards war, how the lady or mad in the poem copes with the idea of conflict.
The first line of the poem “I slice sentences” straight away could show how all the time the media are chopping up stories, embellishing them or cutting them down to fit the target audience rather than give people the cold facts of way. The word “slice” is a very fluid motion, which could represent the media manipulating the news to make it less harsh.
The second stanza is where the reader starts to become aware of the message Imtiaz Dharker is trying to show, that war and conflict have become such a normal part of day to day life. “At my back, the news is the same”. The phrase at my back shows how to person in the poem is unfazed by the news and carries on with whatever they were already doing, the average person has become numb to the idea of death. On the other hand it could also show the lack of awareness and understanding we have about what is actually going on, which links back to the idea of the news manipulating stories and sheltering the rest of the world from the horrors that occur else were in the world.
Imtiaz darker, at the end of stanza three suggests that we are all responsible for the war in our own way, whether that be fighting in it or not doing anything at all. “I don’t need to see, through onion tears, my own hand power the knife”. This line in my opinion is a very bold statement as it shows that even though we cry over war “onion tears” we are still responsible, as we aren’t doing anything to stop the conflict; almost as if the tears are representing our inability to see past our own emotion, like a mist which stops us taking control and helping.
Throughout the peom there is very little pattern in terms of stanza length (6,4,7,4,4,5,1,3,3,2). In my opinion this shows the randomness and unpredictability of war. It is never one way or the other, sometimes it can be short and yet just as powerful and one that is longer. The use of this could also show to the reader and relate to the reader that life is never one straight line it’s full of curves and jumps, especially if you are born into a world of death and violence. During the third stanza the man or woman in the poem is shown to be doing very normal things, “I go upstairs, come down, I got into the kitchen”. These lines could very well be there to show how a normal person away from violence goes about their day to day life, which is in conflicting contrast to how people in war zones live. Finally, she used to the idea or a spreading watermark being hidden by a table cloth to express her view that the true conflict in Gaza is being covered up by the rest of the world and left to rot. “Beneath it Gaza is a spreading watermark” My idea from rotting comes from the fact that when water is left in wood it damages the interior structure leaving it venerable if left untreated my like Gaza.
In conclusion, Imtiaz Dharker creates the theme on conflict in mainly 2 ways, the first is the medias role in how conflict is show and portrayed as to the rest of the world, the fact that stories are “sliced” and have become part of normal day to day life. The second is the persons in the poems own view on war, how they feel that they are still responsible as they are not doing everything in their power to try and prevent the violence.