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    Biblical Allusion

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    carlissia wilkins
    The poem tells the story of a mother's relationship with her son, who she raised alone but had high hopes for. However, he has now been taken in by a man who employs him in a life of crime and violence, giving him a submachine gun. The mother fears her son's involvement will lead to his early death, which she is preparing herself for. The poem uses biblical allusions to draw parallels between the mother's situation and stories from the bible, including references to Judas Iscariot and King David's son Absalom.

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    Biblical Allusion

    Uploaded by

    carlissia wilkins
    49 views2 pages
    The poem tells the story of a mother's relationship with her son, who she raised alone but had high hopes for. However, he has now been taken in by a man who employs him in a life of crime and violence, giving him a submachine gun. The mother fears her son's involvement will lead to his early death, which she is preparing herself for. The poem uses biblical allusions to draw parallels between the mother's situation and stories from the bible, including references to Judas Iscariot and King David's son Absalom.

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    The poem tells the story of a mother's relationship with her son, who she raised alone but had high hopes for. However, he has now been taken in by a man who employs him in a life of crime and violence, giving him a submachine gun. The mother fears her son's involvement will lead to his early death, which she is preparing herself for. The poem uses biblical allusions to draw parallels between the mother's situation and stories from the bible, including references to Judas Iscariot and King David's son Absalom.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    49 views2 pages

    Biblical Allusion

    Uploaded by

    carlissia wilkins
    The poem tells the story of a mother's relationship with her son, who she raised alone but had high hopes for. However, he has now been taken in by a man who employs him in a life of crime and violence, giving him a submachine gun. The mother fears her son's involvement will lead to his early death, which she is preparing herself for. The poem uses biblical allusions to draw parallels between the mother's situation and stories from the bible, including references to Judas Iscariot and King David's son Absalom.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    In this poem, the persona seems to be addressing a man who has taken a

    woman's son into a life of crime and gun violence. The history of the woman's
    relationship with her son is recounted and the love she felt for him even before
    his birth. She first knew she was pregnant due to morning sickness- showing that
    this pregnancy was not necessarily planned. This son had no father, so the mother
    played both roles in his upbringing. She saw his potential as endless, he could
    become anything. However, she is the told that he has been employed by a man
    who 'values' him so much that he gives him his own submachine gun. The son for
    whom she had great hope for had now been inducted into a life of crime that
    would ultimately cut his life short. She prepares for the funeral of her son, which
    she believes will happen sooner rather than later because of what he has become
    involved in. She compares this feeling of betrayal and misfortune to 'throwing a
    partner' (or sou sou agreement) with notably untrustworthy people and drawing
    the first and last hand.
    The poem also uses a lot of biblical allusions to reference how similar
    events that happened in the bible relate to the woman’s real life experiences in
    the poem. One biblical allusion in the poem states, "She says psalms for him, she
    reads psalms for you," This is an allusion to the biblical book of Psalms. The
    mother says psalms hoping to protect her child, but she reads psalms for the
    gunman in hopes of his defeat or injury.
    "Another biblical allusion in the poem states, "She is throwing a partner
    with Judas Iscariot’s mother the thief on the left-hand side of the cross, his
    mother is the banker, her draw though is first and last for she still throwing two
    hands as mother and father." This is a reference to Judas Iscariot's mother (the
    mother of the well-known betrayer of Jesus) and the thief who was crucified with
    Jesus. The thief's mother is the banker, who keeps the money- meaning that she
    may have her money stolen if the thief learnt it from his mother. These women
    seem to belong to a club of mothers of 'infamous offspring,' reinforcing the point
    that even people who have done some of the most ignominious acts in human
    history have mothers. The fact that she must hold a savings agreement with these
    mothers of notorious biblical men doesn't bode well for her, as a partner
    agreement requires trust and honour among the members. The persona says the
    mother has two ‘draws’ (payments) coming from the ‘partner’ because she has
    borne the responsibility of both parental roles. being both mother and father to
    the boy. She has the first and last payments- the last being particularly risky in a
    partner since dishonesty begins to influence the participants the longer they wait
    to draw. Similarly, she had the first draw and brought him into the world and she
    will be there when his life comes to an end, taking the last draw.
    The final biblical allusion in the poem simply states, "Absalom." The final
    word, 'Absalom' is spoken sort of like an 'Amen' at the end of a poem. This is a
    biblical allusion to David's son Absalom, who was killed after plotting to kill his
    father. David however, still feels grief at the death of this son who plotted to kill
    him. In accepting to be employed by the gunman, the son has basically plotted
    against his mother’s investment in him and her limitless expectations for him. He
    has killed her hopes. The mother, like King David, will experience profound grief
    over the death of her wayward son.

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