Sheikh Islam
Professor Jennings
English 1012
April 22, 2013 Anguish and Agony Influences Mind Largely
The world is full of struggle where we all are trying to develop our condition continuously. We do not expect sufferings in our life. All people have various kinds of suffering like. That is why, the famous poet Shakespeare said “I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; A stage where every man must play a part, And mine is a sad one.” In addition, the famous scientist Albert Einstein said “We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ''Blessed are they that mourn.” Some people have little bit and some have more bad experiences. Actually, the sufferer knows well what had happened in his life that other people such as audiences may realize somewhat but not perfectly as like as the sufferer. The purpose of this paper is to prove that in Li-Young Lee’s poetry, he shows that suffering and escape have influenced his memories. In “For a New Citizen of These United States,” Li-Young Lee struggles with his desire to forget violent memories from his childhood. Escaping from place to place had a tremendous influence in Li-Young Lee’s life. For example, for political reason, Dr. Lee, a personal physician (Lee’s father), was exiled 19 months in a camp of Indonesia in Macau but the Dr. and his family members were rescued from the guarded ship by his ex-student. Next, they went to Hong Kong by the help of ex-student. After that, they went to Japan. At last, they settled in United States in 1964. As a reader, when I think profoundly about Lee’s past I feel sympathy. At that time, it reflects on my mind like army was coming to catch, government secret agencies were looking to arrest; police was taking action by raid, here and there to get Dr. Lee. All time fear, shifting places and nervousness made them (Lee and his family members) always scary. When the author remembers these, he feels acute anguish agony that reflects in his poem this way: “After all, it was only our Life, our life and its forgetting” (42-43)
These are the last two lines of this poem. The most significance of these two lines is the word ‘after all’ which means the end of something. For making it clear, he uses forgetting in last word. Here the word ‘forgetting’ means to forget his violent memories that had happened at his early age. Furthermore, Lee wants to emphasize less and less on antiquity to assist his life today. Moreover, these two lines are the signal words for us to give the readers advice for forgetting bitter experiences. In addition, the author shows three stages of life such as: at first past than present and at last future. Although past is very important for him, he is trying to look over those matters to make a successful link between present and future. For example, if he thinks always past violent experiences, he will not be able to live happily. Actually forgetting the bad memories is good for better life. So, it is like a new hope, a new life without having sufferings. Also, he loves his new place, new opportunity new people, where he grew up. For this reason, he is trying to satisfy whatever he has now. Here, he shows a realistic attitude to overlook your past, but love your present for better future for better life. GVRL also expresses that the last line is his recognition that forgetting something is not easy, but it is necessary. Li-Young Lee expresses his feeling to remind past events that happened in his early age by thinking it, as like as a duty. He is trying to remember but sometimes cannot. For this reason, he explains that now he cannot remind nothing like parlor, nave. The author says: “the rain at the window now reminds me of nothing not even of