Two poems in which actions affect others are Lorna Goodison’s ‘The Woman Speaks to the Man who

has
Employed her Son’ and James Berry’s ‘Dreaming Black Boy’. The affect actions have on others in
Goodison’s poem is a negative one. This is so because a man has employed a woman’s son and her son
claims that the man is like a father to him as said in line 25 of the poem, “He says you are like a father to
him”. The woman is worried that her son will end up dead because of the negative affect this man is
having on her and her son. “But now he tells her he is working for you, that you value him so much you
give him a whole submachine gun for him alone” is a line in the poem that states that the man is putting
the boy in danger so the mother is now wondering what kind of father would give a son hot and
exploding death, when he asks him for bread. The boy comes across as ungrateful and materialistic after
she raised him by herself, as the poem says she raised him twice meaning she had to be both mother
and father in his life. This woman feels betrayed now that her son has left her and the poem compares
her to Judas Iscariot’s mother, Judas being a universal symbol of betrayal, reinforcing the image of the
son betraying his mother. The speaker (most likely the mother) reacts to the action by preparing herself
for the day of her son’s imminent death as a criminal. This brings us to the second poem, Berry’s
‘Dreaming Black Boy’ where the affect is also negative but on the speaker himself. In this poem a boy is
negatively affected at school when he is ignored and unfairly treated by his teacher and the state’s
education system does not allow him to equal learning opportunities. He has to live in fear of violent
racial persecution from the whites. The poem is reminiscent of Martin Luther King Jr. famous line “I have
a dream…” Even as a child the boy is already a victim of the white society that refuses to allow black
people to advance in any way, having already cast them in the role of laborer (“woodchopper”) or shoe-
shine boy (“sink to lick boots”). In stanza three he says he wants to not only exist, but also to achieve his
fullest potential (lines 16-17). The boy is aware that being black means he could be a target of hate
crimes by the Ku Klux Klan, those “plotters in pyjamas.” The “burden” of being black is intimidating and
he wishes this “terrible burden” upon no one. The speaker (the boy) reacts to the action by continuing
to dream and aspire bigger things for himself and wishing that no one would have a terrible burden
upon them. Both poems use the device allusion; in ‘The Woman Speaks to the Man who has Employed
her Son’ the references to the bible are allusions that serve the purpose of conveying meaning within a
universal framework. The criminal “father” is a corrupt version of fatherhood as seen in refer to
Matthew 11:11 that says; “If a son shall ask for bread of any of you that is a father he will give him a
stone or… a serpent?” The mother is asking her son a similar question, “… what kind of father would give
a son [gun] when he asks for breath?” This device is effective in depicting the perversion of the father
image that is adopted by the gang leader. Later in the poem there is a reference to the mothers of the
infamous figures of Judas Iscariot and the thief on the cross in order to put the boy’s mother as part of
the timeless problem of maternal suffering. The closing word, Absalom, summarizes the mother’s heart-
breaking experience. It is a biblical allusion to Absalom, son of King David, who was killed when he
attempted to overthrow his father. The allusion implies both the death of a rebellious son and the
lament of the parent wailing his name in grief. Now for the allusion in ‘Dreaming Black Boy’ the boy
references to Paul Robeson, a famous black actor. He compares his desire to speak to the way the actor
delivers his lines. The reference to the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is also an allusion the boy spoke of in the
poem.