I was whipped a few times before by my father with a belt. We would first argue about something. Just when we at each other throat, he would get into a rage and go get whatever he can lay a hand on and occasionally it is a belt. I would of course run for my life. But at the end, I will get the beating. In this poem "The Whipping" by Robert Hayden, the boy is in the same situation, the old woman chases after the frightened boy and whips him. Does the whipping Through words, symbols, sounds, and emotions, Hayden conveys to us that he hates whipping as a way to teach one's kid.
In the first stanza, the old woman "is whipping the boy again." This shows that it is not the first time that the boy got whipping. While been whipped or being chased to be whipped, he is shouting "her goodness and his wrongs." This means that the boy was whipped as if he deserves it and that the woman doing the whipped is acceptable. From these quotations, they set the setting that the whipping is taking place The first stanza create . right.
In the second stanza, the author used symbol and imagery to convey his dislike of whipping a child. "Wildly he crashes through elephant ears, plead in dusty zinnias- The zinnias which is any of a small genus (Zinnia) of tropical American composite herbs and low shrubs with showy flower heads and long-lasting ray flowers. It is a flower that will grow flowers throughout all the seasons. The zinnias symbolizes how the boy could be if it is not for the whipping. He might be a boy who is lively just like the flower and also a bright flower which will not wither in any season. Now speaking about the old woman, who "in spite of crippling fat pursues and corners him." This lines compares how the woman is convey as a fat beast that is not an ideal and honorable person who hunts down her prey.
In the third stanza, this line "She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling boy till the stick break" convey to us how the author reinforces how the authors think of the whipping--how violent it is and how inhumane it is And also it conveys to us that the old woman is a beast.
