Bailie Miller

Mr. Reed
Online English 12
4.5.3 TEST
A. Read the poem below and write a brief essay in which you identify a belief, perspective, or
assumption, and make a case for its presence in the text.
"Benin Road" by Chinua Achebe
Speed is violence
Power is violence
Weight violence
The butterfly seeks safety in lightness
In weightless, undulating flight
But at a crossroads where mottled light
From old trees falls on a brash new highway
Our separate errands collide
I come power-packed for two
And the gentle butterfly offers
Itself in bright yellow sacrifice
Upon my hard silicon shield.

"Benin Road" by Chinua Achebe, Is a very interesting Poem that could be symbolic for
many things. I believe she is taking on the perspective of two different world in her poem.

She starts off naming things that are violence: speed, power, weight. Then she continues to paint
an image of a weightless butterfly seeking safety in the light. She then describes herself as
driving down the highway, I come power-packed for two, this is maybe her perspective on how
humans have become so hungry for power, we weight in the world of politics and we try to do
everything so speedy in our lives. The bright yellow butterfly symbolizes nature and everything
pure in the world, slowly fluttering by. Achebe then collides these two images together and
basically kills the sacrificial butterfly on the wind shield, causing an effect of nature being killed
by humanity.
The writer seems to writing about the perspective of humans versus nature and our
struggle for speed power and weight is so distracting that we are killing nature in the process
without even realizing.