Stepparents mistreat their stepchildren at home but in the outside they want everybody to believe There is hypocrisy from family level to national level when you come to think of it. Since she is still young to handle the delivery complications she dies of excessive post partum As the poetess says that her aunt has gone to study and uncle isīusy with the work while poor Atieno has no one to teach her what is right. At the age of fourteen Atieno becomes pregnant. Girls today have failed to reach their educational goals because when they get pregnancy, theyĪre kicked out of schools altogether. As a result teens have been left without proper parental care. Parents are now very busy than atĪny point in human history. This is another common problem among the teenagers today. Since she is my sister’s child/Atieno needs no pay Suggests that she even desires to have the dresses, shoes and beads of her cousins since she is notĪtieno’s sly and jealousy/Bad example to the kids/ Since she minds them like a school girl/Wants their dresses, shoes and dresses.Īgain in the second stanza she shows how Atieno’s efforts are wasted without gain. She works and does all the domestic chores she is not paid nor given any good care. The young girl in the poem is not only exploited but also oppressed by her own uncle. Yet she isĭespite the growing awareness of the violation of human rights, the world is still facing the At this age she should have been in STD 2. She is working as a house girl at theĪge of 8 and strangely enough without pay. We see them selling plastic bags, candies, washing cars, helping the military rebels etc. Many children are employed informally, in the streets, homes and some workplaces. The issue of child labour has become a burning issue that attracts the attention of most socialĪctivists. A FREEDOM SONG (BY Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (Kenya) Nation but they end up building their stomachs.Ģ. The poet uses this as a satire to criticise the idea that people always claim to build the The poet says in the last stanza ‘so two nation builders arrived home this evening’ were the two people building the nation?. The tone is both sad and ironical/satiricalį. He asked the question just to keep himself awake throughout the journey and not because he is Why did the PS ask the question “Did you have any lunch friend?” ![]() The title of the poem ‘Building the Nation” is ironical because the guys in the poem were not building the nation.ĭ. Lunch is called an important urgent function, this is very satirical Suggest some literary and poetic devices used in the poem. In line 3 he says “I drove the permanent secretary”Ĭ. ![]() The persona is a driver who represents the low class. The poet shows that independence was just the change inĬolour but the leaders adopted the very tenets of their predecessors. The poem is about the concept of nation building as taken by African bourgeoisie class whoĬame to power after colonialism. * Classes, exploitation and marginalization are also major issues in our society. * Hypocrisy has also become a way of life. In the means of production live in dire poverty. * Today we have a lot of leaders who misuse the public funds while those who are involved The poem is relevant in our country in a number of ways. Leaders who have adopted the very tenets of the colonisers from whom they got power.Įssentially, the idea of nation building turns out to be a very complicated phenomenon where The kind of disillusionment portrayed in the poem is that which Africans have towards their Have been thrust to the periphery of human thought. The aspects of nation building which were supposed to dominate public and political policies Those they lead but they are caught up in the same evil lifestyle of their colonial predecessors. There is a need for African leaders to create hope for Principally explores the lifestyle of African bourgeoisie who came to power after colonialismĪnd ideally, simply replaced the coloniser. ![]() The pains we suffer in building the nation!īuilding the nation is a poem by a Ugandan poet Christopher Henry Muwanga Barlow that Highly delicate diplomatic duties you know,
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