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The Red Wheelbarrow Poem

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Emily Webb 24 August 2015 Caron Moore AP English Lit 4th Period UNTITLED INTRO PARAGRAPH Adah quotes from “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams on page 170 because of the constant death around her — not only of the family’s chickens but of the people of Kilanga. “Our Father…He doesn’t seem to mind the corpses so much as the souls unsaved. In the grand tally Up Yonder, each one counts as a point against him” (Kingsolver 171). The girls’ father claims he can save the Congolese people by leading them to worship his God. In the poem that Adah alludes to, Nathan Price is symbolized by the red wheelbarrow; he is glazed with the rainwater, his religion, beside the white chickens, the Congolese. Like the water, Nathan’s religion has no nutritional value to the Congolese and will not save them from death due to malnourishment or disease. The form of the poem also illustrates Nathan’s viewpoint as compared to Adah’s. The poem is one sentence broken up into four lines, placing emphasis on each section of the sentence and aiding in imagery. The first line, “so much depends upon…” creates emphasis on how Nathan thinks that the Congo depends on him as the red wheelbarrow. Though he believes that his religion will save the Congo, the way the words sound like a constant pattering of rain suggests no matter how much rain, or religion, rains down on them it will still not help their situation. On page 185 Adah quotes from “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers” by Emily Dickinson
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