Trauma

Two poems which output the theme of Trauma are “The Discovery” by J.C
Squire and “My Parents Who Kept Me From Who Were Rough” by Stephen
Spender. Both have a traumatic experience throughout the poem.

Squire’s protagonist is ‘The Native American’/ “Indian” man walking along a

“sunlit beach” “gathering shells”. This was a common routine for the man,
nothing unusual up until this point. In a twist of fate which would change the
lives of all his tribe he heard a “strange commingled noise”. This man looks
up “gasped for speech” and spots Christopher Columbus’ ship. For him it
seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. This man was startled with their
ships, he wasn’t known with them. There are no oars rowing its great mass,
for this man who had “known no change” felt vulnerable and fearful of the
experience he was going through. It was too much for him to comprehend,
all of it just happened at once and unexpectedly. In the next stanza we see
that he protects himself from what's to come. He hides behind a rock and
watches the approaching ships commence onto the bay with finally all its
men. He can’t comprehend who these men are and what's their purpose of
being there and what's actually happening. Then after all this the poem
ends with a cliffhanger where although the reader knows the history of
America and what happens next, this particular narrative is cut short.

In “My Parents Who Kept Me From Children Who Were Rough” Spender
uses the young boy as a protagonist. We see two different perspectives in
this poem because although we see that the main character is the young
boy the rough boys are also important and are seen as the boys play a big
part in this theme. The traumatic scene is portrayed by similes and
metaphors and a lot of comparisons. To make it show how scared this boy
was and how threatened the rough boys were of him. The young boy was
bullied because of his social class. He is seen to all his needs and has a
roof over his head and good clothes. The rough boys were dressed in
“worn torn clothes” and were angry and their skin was exposed “through
rags”. Their appearance could be Spender’s way of describing their
poverty. Spender states that he feared “their jerking hands and their knees
tight on my arms” showing us that perhaps he had fallen into a scrap with
them before, or he had seen them fighting in such a manner before. Not
only did Spender fear their strength but also feared their words, mocking
him and pointing at him. The young boy longs for their freedom of how they
aren’t controlled by their parents.

Both protagonists had a rough time going through their experiences. They
deal with different issues. The “indian” who longs for no change and is
scared of the new changes happening. Whilst the young boy faces bullying
for threatening the rough boys with his status but still longs for their
freedom.