8.To the foot from its child

To the foot from its child
Pablo Neruda
The foot likes to be a butterfly or an apple.

B. the unrestricted nature of a child’s imagination.
Time teaches the foot that it cannot fly or be a fruit bulging on the branch which shows that the
child realises that it cannot pursue its dreams.
A. indicates hardships one has to face in life.
He feels that he falls in the battle and is a prisoner who is condemned to live in a shoe.
Bit by bit, in that dark, it grows to know the world in its own way, out of touch with its fellow,
enclosed, feeling out life like a blind man.
The soft nails changed into opaque substances and the tiny petaled toes of the child grow bunched
and out of trim take on the form of eyeless reptiles.
C. forced to give up its dreams.
The line ‘until the whole man chooses to stop’ refers to the death of the mankind which is the only
way to stop the harsh realities of life.
Comprehension II
Neruda says that the foot is a journey of life of a human he uses metaphor to denote the journey of
the foot from infancy through adulthood and oldage Inspite of the foot referring to a part of the
human body, Neruda uses this to depict the transition of an individual from a child to an adult who
finally dies and is buried. He focuses on the changes in these phases of life.
The expression which tells that the foot would like to be a butterfly or an apple suggests the child’s
vivid imagination. The poet here is trying to emphasise the fertile imagination of a child which thinks
that it can become anything under the sun such as a butterfly or an apple only to realise later that it
is incapable of doing so. The inability of the foot is clearly shown by the poet and the child’s fertile
imagination is brought to light.
The poet cleverly uses the contrasts to delineate the changes from infancy through oldage and
death. He starts with the depiction of wild imagination of the children during infancy which turns
into realisation as the individual turns into an adult. It does so after experiencing hardships and
difficulties in all walks of life. The child’s foot which was once made of soft quartz transforms into an
opaque bunch substance and looks like an eyeless reptile with a triangular head. It grows callused
and are covered with faint volcanoes of death. He uses contrasts to talk of the child’s foot which is
free to that of an adulthood which is imprisoned in a shoe unaware of its freedom and bound by the
ways of the society.
The poet Neruda conveys that a child’s hope, aspirations and freedom is cubed by the ways of the
society. The foot as a child does not realise its limitations and wishes to be a butterfly or an apple.
Its child’s like innocents is lost in the journey of growing up. It realises bit by bit the hardships of life
and faces isolation when it is enclosed in a shoe. It stops realising that it has given up all its dreams
and wishes after becoming an adult. Post death the adult foot does not realise that it had given up
all its wishes and aspiration and again imagines to be again a butterfly or an apple.
Neruda in the last para describes the busy life of an individual in all walks of life when he writes of
the foot walking without any rest and never stopping. He mentions the man’s foot, the women’s
foot and the foot of every individual in all the walks of life which move upwards, backwards,
frontwards and downwards and also in the fields, streets, markets, etc. He summarises the busy
monotonous life of an individual which he represents by the foot.
In this poem ‘foot’ is used as metaphor for ‘life’. Life refers to the life of a human being as seen from
his infancy until his death. Neruda gives his view of ‘life’ and ‘death’ in this poem. The ‘foot’ as
portrayed in the poem refers to the child’s foot. Since a child is not aware of its limitations and lives
in a dream world of imagination, the child’s foot wishes to fly like a butterfly or become a bulging
apple on the branch of tree.
In the last stanza, the poet refers to the ‘adult foot’ after death. Once a human being dies, he or she
is normally buried. It is this burial of dead body of the individual that is expressed in the line “it
descended underground unaware, for there, everything was dark”. Once the ‘foot’ or the individual
dies, it loses its human awareness and goes back to its childlike innocence. This is expressed ‘It
never knew it had ceased to be a foot’.
One can find several parallels in nature. All living beings born on earth pass through the cycle of
birth and death. A seed germinates to give a seedling. The seedling grows into an adult plant, may
become a tree or a shrub and die. Similarly, the eggs of animals hatch and bring forth their young
ones which grow, mature, lay eggs and later die.
Comprehension III
The foot has many dreams such as to fly like a butterfly and to be an apple, but in reality, it is difficult
to accomplish such dreams. The foot as it grows, there are only difficulties completely surrounded
with bonds and no freedom. The rough earth teach the foot that it cannot fly or be a fruit bulging on
the branch. It feels like a prisoner, condemned to live in a shoe as it gets to know the world in its
own way. The foot, throughout the human life walks continuously without time to rest or sleep and
this goes on till the whole man ‘chooses to stop’. When the foot descends into the grave along with
the dead man, it is still unaware, because everything is dark even there. Hence, dreams are always
colourful and have no obstacles or boundaries but reality is bitter.
The foot of the child has innumerable dreams unaware of the reality and is treated as a symbol of an
ordinary human being which goes through life like a ‘blind thing’. The foot realises the monotonous
routine when it grows further and has absolutely no time to take rest. Thus, the ordinary human
being with so many expectations in his heart, continues life braving all odds, hoping that his dreams
will come true. Neruda, hence gives importance to the ordinary man, as he is the symbol of hard
work, who works for his daily life. He works continuously to achieve his goals to make his ordinary
life more meaningful.
Yes, Neruda is definitely criticizing society for crushing the dreams of children and they are being
forced into the rigid moulds. They are not given opportunities to explore their dreams or realise
them. The children are burdened with marks and awards through which they are judged to shape
their future. Instead of spending the childhood happily, the child works hard and move along with
the society according to its wish. Later, they work mechanically, doing their duties, no matter how
painful they are.
‘Foot’ represents the journey of life of an individual from childhood till his death. The foot’s dreams
are crushed and is condemned to live like a prisoner in a shoe. The foot which has to walk, run, leap,
jump and dance freely is bound to a monotonous work and has no rest. The child who is innocent is
forced to live within the confine of the societyfrom its early age and has no time to think and realise
its dreams. The society is not giving importance to the child’s dreams and aspirations. The poet uses
words such as ‘the paths in the rough earth, condemned to live in a shoe, soft nails growing hard,
take the form of eyeless reptiles, this blind thingwalks without respite, this foot toils in its shoe and
then until the whole man chooses to stop which depicts the harsh realities that the child undergoes
and work hard to achieve its goals.

8.To the foot from its child

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

8.To the foot from its child

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

8.To the foot from its child

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

To the foot from its child

The foot likes to be a butterfly or an apple.

You might also like