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History Lesson By Natasha Trethewey Analysis

602 Words3 Pages

In the poem History Lesson by Natasha Trethewey, Trethewey uses nostalgic tone, sentimental mood and contrasting imagery to remind people of the tainted past of American history and encourage people to hope for a better future. The poem addresses the struggles and hardships that the African-Americans had experienced during the period of racial segregation and how this phenomenon slowly disappeared and changed over time. In the first two stanzas, the speaker of the poem is reminiscing about her past through a photograph of herself. In the photo, she was a small girl in a bright flowered bikini who is “[curling] around wet sand” with her toes dug in the sand, perhaps she was painting or doodling “on the wide strip of Mississippi beach.” The nostalgic tone here suggests that her past is filled with glee just like any other ordinary child who is happy, innocent and living a peaceful life. However, this feeling of joy and peacefulness is soon interrupted in the poem's midpoint by the emerge of “minnows darting at [her] feet glinting like switchblades.” The comparison of a gentle type of fish and menacing switchblades suggests …show more content…

When the speaker and her grandmother finally have full access to the beach; it was a revolutionary change, a change that brought hope to them, a hope that things will not only change but improve over time. Time serves an important factor here, since it accommodates for the possibilities of change and improvement. Trethewey's message of the poem is clear, she believes that the future always carries hope and one should never cease to hope for a better life. In addition, the title of the poem “History Lesson” carries a significant weight, it is a “History” that Trethewey wants to show the readers and it is a “Lesson” because she wants people to learn from it and most importantly, not make the same mistake that will permanently leave wounds in people's

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