Themes and such

I noticed a theme of “allegiance” in Native Guard, especially after talking about a few poems today in class. The first place it shows up (or where I noticed it first) was in “Flood” when the speaker mentions the “boy gestures allegiance” to the National Guard on the higher ground to be able to get to safety. It is unfair that the boy, who is an American, has to prove that his loyalty to his country to gain safety. Whereas, if a white boy was in the same situation, there would be nothing stopping the National Guard from saving him. The thing that is stopping them from rescuing the black refugees is race. However, the boy still pledges his allegiance to his country who is treating unjustly.

In the same way, allegiance to the South and the racism that sometimes comes with it is shown in “Southern History” in the line “…-a lie/ my teacher guarded. Silently, so did I.” Trethewey and her classmates could have stood up to the teacher and defended the slaves. They could have talked about the miserable conditions and the injustice that they underwent but instead remained silent.

In “South”, Trethewey right out says that she is loyal to Mississippi even though they “made a crime/ of me- mulatto, half-breed-native/in my native land, this place they’ll bury me.” She will stay allegiant to Mississippi even to her death despite the hardships she and her family have undergone.

This is stated earlier in “Pastoral” when the Fugitive Poets ask in her dream “You don’t hate the South?” They are surprised that although Trethewey was mistreated, she does not hate the place where she was born. She says she will maintain that allegiance to her death.