‘THE SMILING ORPHAN’ Poem

Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately.               

  THE SMILING ORPHAN

    And when she passed away,
    They came,
    Kinsmen came,
    Friends came,
    Everybody came to mourn her.      

    Hospitalized for five months
    The ward was her world
    Fellow patients her compatriots
    The meager hospital supply-her-diet

    When she was dying
    Her son was on official duty
    The state demanded his services
    Her only daughter, uneducated,
    Sat by her
    Crying, praying waiting for an answer
    From God far above
    Wishing, she spoke the language
    Figures in white-coats do understand
    They matched, the figures did
    Stiff, numb and deaf, to the cries and wishes
    Of her dying mother

    As she was dying
    Friends and kinsmen TALKED of her
    How good, how helpful:  a very practical woman
    None reached her: they were too busy, there waws no money,
    Who would look after their homes?
    Was it so crucial their presence?

    But when she passed away, they came,
    Kinsmen came, friends hired cars to come,
    Neighbours gathered to mourn her,
    They ought to be there, to be there for the funeral
    So they swore

    The mourners shrieked out cries
    As they arrived in the busy compound of the dead.
    Memories of loved ones no more
    Stimulated tears of many.

    They cried dutiful tears for the deceased
    Now stretching their hands all over to help
    The daughter looked at them
    With dry eyes, quiet, blank

    The mourners pinched each other
    Shocked by the stone–heartedness
    Of the be-orphaned.

    She sat: watching the tears soak their garments
    Or in the soil around them; wasted


    That night, she went to her love,
    In the freshly made emergency grass hut,
    And let loose all ties of the Convectional Dress she wore
    Submitting to the Great Power, she whispered:

    ‘Now ……………….
    You and I must know Now………….
    Tomorrow you might never understand
    Unable to lick my tears ……………..
    And there was light
    In the darkness of the hut
    While outside
    The mourners cried
    Louder than the Orphan

By Grace Birabwa Isharaza

Questions

a)    Who is the persona in the poem?                                    (2 marks)

THE SMILING ORPHAN ANSWERS

a)    The persona is an observer who tells the story of the deceased and the smiling orphan and the mourners. He/she uses the third person “She sat have ….. they said. …. When she died….. they came.”
    Identification – 1 mark
    Illustration – 1 mark
    Total marks = 2 marks
 b)    The poem is about a woman who was sick and hospitalized for five months.
–    And was never visited by relatives who claimed they were busy.
–    Later, the woman dies and ironically, the relatives come to her funeral in large numbers vowing that they cannot miss the burial.
–    During the funeral, her only daughter (who had stayed) with her in hospital) seems unmoved and the relatives start backbiting her saying she is hardhearted.      Total marks 4  
c)    The title ‘The smiling orphan’ is very effective in relation to what has been described in the poem.
    It has been used in reference to the illiterate daughter who had stayed in hospital with the mother for five months but now is perceived as not being in mourning by the other mourners. This makes her smile at their hypocrisy. She is an orphan now that her mother is dead.
    Any two points = 2 marks     
d)    Loving/caring– She sat by her mother’s side throughout the five months the mother was hospitalized.
    Responsible– She takes care of her sick mother when other people/relatives and even her brother gave excuses of unavailability.
    Identification – 1 mark
    Illustration – 1 mark
    No mark for illustration without identification and Vice versa.
e)    Repetition– They came — To illustrate the fact that the mourners arrived for the funeral in large numbers.
    Rhetoric questions– Who would look after their homes?  Was it crucial their presence? Reveals the attitude of the mourners at the beginning, that they were indifferent/not bothered.  
    Hyperbole stanza (8) …. Their tears sock their garments.  Enhances the satire …..
    That the mourners cry much and we know that their grief is not genuine.  They are hypocritical.
    Ellipsis 2nd last stanza.  Enhances suspense, allows imagination, and reveals the feelings of the orphan/the strain she’s been under etc.
    1 mark for identification
    1 mark for illustration
    1 mark for illustration on the effective of the aspect of style so identified.

    Any other plausible style with illustrations and effectiveness.
    No mark for identification.
    Without illustrations.

f)    Sad/melancholic/somber/sorrowful.  
    The poem captures the loss of a loved one.
1.     The orphan is mourning her mother/She sat by her mother/she sat by her mother crying and praying to God perhaps to save her mother dies.
    Identification – 1 mark
    Illustration – 1 mark
    Total marks = 2 marks
g)    i)    Their tears were not genuine/they were hypocritical.
    ii)    She felt relieved – she had unburdened her grief (with her lever there’s no condemnation)