Grandmother | Heritage of Words Ray young Bear

Summary
“Grandmother” is written in nostalgic tone. In the poem, the poet has tried to
manifest his intimate relation with his grandmother. The love and affection
that she showed towards him in his childhood is still imprinted on his mind and
heart. To depict the closeness of their relation, the poet has successfully
utilized sensuous images in the poem.
The poet tells that he is so intimate to his grandmother that if he gets even a
glimpse of her from a mile away, his sense of sight will immediately recognize
that it is his grandmother by observing her purple scarf and the plastic
shopping bag.

He is so familiar with her that he can also distinguish her from the “warm and
damp” hands that are placed on his head. It suggests the sense of touch or
feeling. When she places her hands which smell roots (vegetables), he realizes
that they are her hands. This suggests the sense of smell.

When he visits her grave (rock), he recalls the inspiring words of his
grandmother. They are a source of inspiration for him. When he used to hear
her words, it used to flow inside his body and revive his lost mental strength.
This points out the sense of hearing. He has compared her words with sparks
of fire that a person finds when he is stirring the ashes of sleeping
(extinguished) fire at night. Fire is the source of energy, light and clarity.
Similarly, when the poet used to hear her words, they used to fill him with new
energy, hope, and remove all his confusions and they are a source of
motivation for him.

COMMENTS
The poem expresses not only poet’s love and respect towards his grandmother
but uses grandmother as an epitome for native America. The poem has tried to
pay tribute to his Native American grandmother. The poem is rich in use of
symbols and images that brings out a picture of typical Mesquaki grandmother
and her native culture. The grandmother portrayed in the poem appears to be
all loving and affectionate. The poet feels a kind of loss for his grandmother
and expresses his strong desire to be with her.
The poet has used his all sensory perceptions to understand the greatness of
his grandmother. In the first part of the poem, poet uses his eyes to identify his
grandmother’s shape, her purple scarf, and a plastic shopping bag. In the
middle part of the poem, he uses his skin and nose to recognize his
grandmother’s warm and damp hand on his head, and he could get ancestral
smell from her. In the last part of the poem, poet uses his good sense of his
ears to hear her words in the land of his origin. In this way poet has
successfully drawn a picture of his grandmother by various images appeal to
all senses.
The verse of the poem “I’d know her words would flow inside me like the light
of someone sharing ashes from a sleeping fire night,” clarifies the poet’s
feelings. He means that wisdom got from his grandmother helps to search for
identity of Native American people. He finds his grandmother a great teacher
for the depth of past and the lesson of life in the present time. The poet also
finds his grandmother all-loving and all-inspiring. ‘Warm and damp’ shows how
deeply, she loved him and “her words flow inside me like the light” shows how
poet is inspired by her.

INTERPRETATIONS

The grandmother of the poet is the prominent and highly regarded women of
contemporary America who represent the difficulties in Mesquaki tribe.

The poet assumes and senses that he would see the shape of his grandmother
from the miles away.

Poet sees his grandmother from his inner eyes that it is his merely assumption
only and he would recognize his grandmother instantly who is coming from the
long distance. He even assumes that if he would see from his outer eyes, he
would see his grandmother coming from the long distance or from the mile
away by wearing purple scarf and carrying plastic shopping bag.
The poet assumes that if he felt hand on his head, the poet know that those
hands were his grandmother’s which are warm and damp with the smell of
roots.

Again, the poet assumes that if he heard a voice from the rock, he would know
that he words are resounded in his heart with instant flow inside him like the
light of someone stirring ashes from a sleeping fire at night.

The poet implies the rigid suppression to the Mesquaki tribe by the Americans,
especially the white Americans.

In spite of suppression, discrimination and contempt, the tribe strongly existed

in the American states.

The poet sustains the cultural ethics, values and norms of Mesquaki tribe.

The poet reveals the difficulties of women in that tribe, the poem shows that
women in that tribe faces great struggle to sustain their lives. There is the
rustic scene of American countryside where the tribes reside.

QUESTIONS
Q. 1. What images do you find in this poem written by a member of the Sauk
and Fox (Mesquaki) Indian tribe of North America? To what senses do these
images appeal?
Ans. The poet has used the sensuous images as effective tools in this poem. As
a result he is successful in creating a vivid picture of his grandmother. These
images particularly appeal to our sense of sight (if I were to see …), sense of
touch (if I felt …), sense of smell (with the smell of roots.), and sense of sound (if
I heard …). The poet, through the use of these sensuous images has tried to
express how much he loved and how close was his grandmother to his heart.
There are various images used in the poem, for example, ‘purple scarf’, ‘plastic
shopping bag’, ‘warm and damp hands with the smell of roots’, ‘voice coming
from the rock’ and ‘a sleeping fire at night’. All these images are closely related
to the activities and life styles of Mesquaki tribal people. Most of tribal people
do not have the opportunity to enjoy a fairly rich and luxurious life. They buy
ordinary stuff in a small amount. As they have to survive on natural plants, it is
natural that their hands smell roots which they use as food. Similarly, rocks
and night are also inseparable parts of tribal life. All these images used in the
poem are very much appealing because they provide rural and rustic setting to
the poem. These images give the realistic impression and make the poem very
much life-like.

Q.2.How does the speaker feel towards his grandmother? In what words or
lines does he make his feeling clear?

Ans: The speaker has an affectionate and respectful feeling towards his
grandmother. He describes his grandmother in such a way that she becomes
the source of love and inspiration to him. He expresses his warm and intimate
feeling to her through the words like feeling her ‘warm and damp hands’ and
‘her words would flow inside me like the light’. Here, the grandmother’s words
are compared with the sparks of fire from the sleeping night fire which lights
the darkness when it is recovered by removing the ashes. This means that her
words enlighten the darkness of his life and show the right path to truth, love
and goodness.

GRANDMOTHER

The main two themes of the poem are as follows:

 The poets’ recollection / reminiscence of his grandmother

 The search of the identity of his tribe

The poet depicts his grandmother as all-loving and all inspiring. Metaphorically, the
poem is about the search for the identity of his culture, which was dominated by white
American people. In this poem, the poet has attempted to revive the lost culture,
rituals, and identity of his tribe using a vivid image of his all-loving and all-inspiring
grandmother.

Ray Young Bear shows his unfathomable attachment and intimacy with his
grandmother though she is dead now. Though his grandmother is dead she has
remained in his memories as a source of inspiration and love.
The poet remembers his grandmother’s shape and the dress she used to wear. The
poet also remembers her plastic shopping bag which she used to carry when she went
to the market. These images take the poet into his back and help him to describe her.
Poet’s grandmother used to work in the field the whole day and would come back
home in the evening. She would put her damp and warm hands with the smell of roots
on his heads as soon as she returned from the farm. The poet used to visit her tomb
and remember her voice. This voice would flow inside him like a light that would reborn
after a person stirs a sleeping fire with a stick. It means the remembrance of his
grandmother would make him more energetic and enthusiastic. It would fill him with
great joy and zeal.

The poet uses four senses to describe his grandmother. Her shape, purple scarf, and
plastic shopping bag appeal to the sense of sight. Warm and damp hands appeal the
sense of touch likewise the smell of roots appeal to the sense of smell. And the voice
coming from the rock appeals to the sense of sound. These senses help the poet to
present the importance of his grandmother in a realistic way.

Metaphorically, the poem is about the poet’s lost culture which was marginalized and
dominated by white people. Purple scarf indicates the dress of typical American-Indian
women that they wear during winter. A plastic shopping bag signifies the poverty of
the people. Damp and warm hands signify the positive impact of vanishing culture. The
smell of roots symbolizes the power of the original culture because of which identity is
recognized. Finally, the voice of the grandmother indicates the power of teachings of
his culture that inspires him to choose the right paths to fight for equality and freedom.

The poem is not rich only in meaning but also in structure. There are metaphors and
similes to compare grandmother with the culture. The poet hasn’t used any capital
letters throughout the poem. It shows the marginalization of his culture. It also implies
that the poet doesn’t want to follow the rules set by American white people.

Important Questions and Answers:

Question. Describe the poet’s grandmother.

Answer. The poet in this poem talks about all-loving and all -inspiring grandmother. The
poet’s grandmother is the symbol of Mesquaki tribe. Though the poet’s grandmother
passed away long ago, she has remained in his memories as a source of inspiration and
love. 
In the poem, the poet’s grandmother has been described using various images. The
poet’s grandmother always wore a purple scarf around her neck. She used to carry a
plastic shopping bag on her hand. She had a deep affection towards the poet and
touches the poet with her warm hand on his head. Poet used to feel inspired and
guided with the voice of his grandmother. Here, in this poem, Poet’s grandmother is
actually larger than life figure. Whatever she used to do represents the rites, rituals, the
culture of the Mesquaki tribe.

Question. What does the poet remember about his grandmother?

Answer. Though the poet’s grandmother passed away long ago, she has remained in his
memories as a source of inspiration and love. The poet depicts his grandmother as all-
loving and all inspiring. Ray Young Bear shows his unfathomable attachment and
intimacy with his grandmother though she is dead now.

He remembers his grandmother using various images that create a vivid and lively
picture of his grandmother. The poet remembers his grandmother putting a purple
scarf and holding a plastic shopping bag on her hand. He also remembers his
grandmother placing her warm hands on his head. He remembers the smell of the roots
coming out from his grandmother’s hand. Recalling his grandmother’s words, he finds
himself being inspired and guided as the person gets guided by the light coming out
from stirring ashes from a sleeping fire.  Thus, the poet remembers a vivid and lively
picture of his grandmother.

Question. What images do you find in this poem written by a member of

the Sauk and Fox (Mesquaki) Indian tribe of North America? To what
senses do these images appeal?
Answer. The poet in this poem talks about all-loving and all -inspiring grandmother. The
poet’s grandmother is the symbol; of Mesquaki tribe. The poet here in the poem talks
about various symbols that he uses to remember and sense his grandmother. There are
multiple symbols like a purple scarf, plastic shopping bag, warm and damp hands of
grandmother smelling roots, etc. These all symbols have twining meaning. Plastic
shopping bag symbolizes the poverty of the tribe. The sense of light also symbolizes
the spirituality of the Poet’s tribe. The smells of the root from grandmother’s hand
symbolize that the tribe is of farmers group and they work hard for their living. Thus, by
the use of images, the poet has symbolically linked his grandmother to the lost culture
of the Indian tribe.
Some Important Questions from “Grandmother” from
Examination Point of View:

 What images do you find in the poem “Grandmother” written by a

member of the Sauk and Fox (Mesquaki) Indian tribe of North America? To
what senses do these images appeal?

 How does the speaker feel toward his grandmother? In what words or
lines does he make his feelings clear?

 What does the poet remember about his grandmother?

 Describe the poet’s grandmother.

 Write a summary of the grandmother.

 How does the speaker feel towards his grandmother? What words or
images make his feeling clear?

 The speaker in “Grandmother” seems to be emotionally attached to his

grandmother. How?

 How does the poet express memory and honor toward his
grandmother?

 What impression of grandmother does the speaker give in the poem

“Grandmother”?

 What is the main idea of the poem “Grandmother” by Ray Young Bear?

 What are the four things that Ray Young Bear remembers about his
grandmother?