"A Far Cry From Africa," by Derek Walcott, is the story of a man half African and half English, who is witnessing the death and destruction of Africa resulting from the English colonization of South Africa. Walcott’s speaker discusses the conflict between his loyalties to Africa and to Britain. He does not favor one side over the other, but focuses rather on the injustices of both peoples. The speaker sees neither the Africans nor the British as right, and struggles within himself over which side he feels he belongs to.
Walcott uses very graphic images to portray the actions that each side is taking in the fight against each other. “What is that to the white child hacked in bed?/To savages, expendable as Jews?” (Walcott 9-10). The speaker is emphasizing to what extremes the Africans and the British will go. The speaker can not understand why the two groups do n
In the final stanza, the speaker discusses his struggle of identifying with either the Africans or the British. He is negative of having both African and British in his background. “I who am poisoned with the blood of both,/Where shall I turn divided to the vein?” (Walcott 26-27). It seems that Walcott’s speaker feels foreign in both groups due to his lack of "pure" blood. He further describes his struggle between the Africans and the British by not being able to decide what he should do next. “…how choose/Between this Africa and the English tongue I love?/Betray them both, or give back what they give?” (Walcott 29-31). The speaker’s mixed heritage and disagreements with their actions, prevent him from identifying directly with one group.
Walcott’s speaker mentions a worm and the ibises to further emphasize how nature is affected by the fighting. “Wast
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