1.

0 INTRODUCTION
Chinua Achebe (1930 – 2013) is one of Nigeria and Africa’s most recognised and
decorated writers. He is more renown for his novels and essays. He came to limelight as a
poet with the publication of her book, Beware Soul Brother and other poems
(1971), published in America as Christmas in Biafra and other poems (1971). The volume
was joint-winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1972. Chinua Achebe continues to be
an inspiration to several people around the world.“Refugee Mother and Child” is a poem
composed by Chinua Achebe depicting the destitution and starvation for displaced people.
The poem is about a displaced person mother and her child who endure in the arms of
neediness. In the long run, her child perishes and as a mother she feels despondency, upset
and vulnerable. In the poem, Achebe joined love, lament, religion, confidence, enduring,
recollections, agony and change into the lives of the outcasts’ mom and tyke. Chinua Achebe
expressed “Refugee Mother and Child” as a reaction to his experienced childhood in
neediness with unprivileged kids and enduring and felt propelled by their psychological
quality. All through the poem, Achebe drives us to a comprehension of mother`s delicate
love.In 1967 common war broke out in Nigeria when the Catholic ruled region of Biafra
endeavored autonomy from the Moslem overwhelmed focal state. Amid those pivotal years,
Achebe filled in as a minister for the Biafran government.The war went severely for the
Biafrans who endured hugely, and starvation was overflowing. The writer’s firsthand
involvement of the hardship and battle propelled him to state “Displaced person Mother and
Kid”

“Refugee Mother and Child by Chinua Achebe addresses the sadness of a death
dealing with a mother and her child. Achebe uses imagery to not only portray the genuine
love the mother had for her child but how bad their situation is as well. A refugee refers to
one who will escape from danger to protect themselves and the people they care about risking
their own life at any cost.  With the imagery given throughout the poem the readers are able
to see this. Due to the circumstance they were were in the poem illustrates the struggle to
attain motherhood in various ways which this essay will elaborate on. The poem Refugee
Mother and Child is a poem that talks about how a mother’s love is strong and valuable.
Chinua Achebe wrote this poem to really show how much you should appreciate life and
cherish it. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Achebe’s poem dealing with the underlying
issues and influence from the African Proverbs dealing with love, struggle, and death.

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2.0 Refugee Mother and Child Poem
STANZA 1

No Madonna and Child could touch

that picture of a mother’s tenderness
for a son she soon would have to forget.
The air was heavy with odours

STANZA 2

of diarrhoea of unwashed children

with washed-out ribs and dried-up
bottoms struggling in laboured
steps behind blown empty bellies. Most

STANZA 3

mothers there had long ceased

to care but not this one; she held
a ghost smile between her teeth
and in her eyes the ghost of a mother’s
pride as she combed the rust-coloured
hair left on his skull and then –

STANZA 4

singing in her eyes – began carefully

to part it… In another life this
would have been a little daily
act of no consequence before his
breakfast and school; now she

STANZA 5

did it like putting flowers

on a tiny grave.

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2.1 Refugee Mother and Child Poem( MEANS)
STANZA 1

She says the beautiful image cannot touch the terrible one can be telling of a number of
things. Perhaps it means that religion is of no comfort, or perhaps it means that the most
beautiful image in the world cannot compare to a mother’s love.it foregrounds the mother’s
love for her son & that she wont give up on him considering the fact that he’s about to die
soon which suggests a lot of compassion from the mother. This short positive stanza indicates
that there is very little hope or goodness in the lives of the refugees.

STANZA 2

“A son she soon would have to forget,” the entirety of this verse is dedicated to filling in at
atmosphere with reality. This is the world this mother lives in, “blown empty bellies”,
“washed-out ribs” , “dried-up bottoms” ,“struggling in laboured steps.” The imagery is
powerful. Each line brings on a new horror for the reader to contemplate, a horror that, for
this mother, and for each child, is reality in its most real form..She’s faking it because of her
sadness. She’s just forced to smile 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.

STANZA 3

Most mothers, the harsh reality hardens them, the act of childbirth is followed by the
certain knowledge of coming death and horror, and so they simply stop caring for the
lives of their children they simply can’t afford to. This is not true, we are told, for the
mother who forms our central character. Ghostly imagery is used here( the ghost of
a smile),( the ghost of her pride) to show that the mother is still heavily affected by
the need to not care, but still fights through for her son.

STANZA 4 AND 5

The harsh reality of a great many things that are taken for granted very often in the world,
how something as simple as combing the hair of a young son can be a daily ritual in one
country, and be equally as symbolic as decorating a grave in another. She says impossible to
not contemplate deeply which is undoubtedly the intention of the wording.

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3.0 THEME

3.1 Love

“Love never gets lost, it’s only kept.” This proverb means love is a feeling you can
never get rid of.   This proverb relates to the poem with the mother’s relationship with
her child. Even the child has passed away the mother still will always love her child
regardless. A mother’s love is the strongest love no matter what the situation is.

3.2 Struggle

Relates to Achebe’s poem is “A united family eats from the same plate.” This proverb
means regardless of the situation family should always be taken care of: even if the
family is struggling not knowing when the next meal will come. In the poem it talks
about how hungry the children were when it said “struggling in labored steps behind
blown empty bellies. This related because if one person starved they all starved, even
though they tried their best to survive in their situation it was hard because they were
in a refugee camp.

3.3 Death

The poem portrays is a sadness and heartache of a death.  One proverb that relates to
this is “Peace is costly but it is worth the expense.This relates to the poem because
even though her child passed away she still had to continue to live on. Achebe shows
her maternal affection towards her child when he quotes.In another life this would
have been a little daily act of no consequence before his breakfast and school; now she
did it like putting flowers on a tiny grave.

4.0 ANALYSIS OF LITERARY DEVICES IN “JABBERWOCKY”

1. Allusion: The poem begins with the comparison of the mother and her son
in a refugee camp and the Holy mother Mary and Jesus. This represents the
agony of a mother who has to witness her child’s death.
2. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same
line in quick succession such as the sound of /S/ in “for a son she soon
would have to forget” and the sound of /W/ in “Of diaarhoea of unwashed
children with washed-out ribs.”
3. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their
five senses. For example, “Odours of diarrhoea”; “washed-out ribs” and
“blown empty belies.”
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 4. Symbolism: Symbolism is a use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities,
by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal
meanings. ‘Ghost smile. symbolizes the loss of maternal pride she will be
faced with once her child dies.

5.0 ANALYSIS OF POETIC IN “REFUGEE MOTHER AND CHILD”

1. Ballad: Ballad is a type of poem used for recitation or singing. This poem is

written in the form of ballad meter and it describes the story of a mother
love.

6.0 MOOD
Mood:
The poem has a very melancholic air. The graphic depiction of the wretched living conditions
of the people in the refugee camp, coupled with the sentimental narrative of a mother's tender
love towards her child; makes the poem quite a tear-jerker.
Tone:
The tone of the poem is quite dramatic as the poet makes use of a number of powerful
allegories to drive home his point. The tone is sad but influential. The poet seems quite
passionate and emotional as he narrates the plight of the refugees and the helplessness of the
affectionate mother.