Wanda Coleman’s “Wanda Why Aren’t You Dead” documents the mental battle forced upon African American women because of society’s mandates. The poem is about a woman with children who is introspecting and yelling at herself, most likely in her head. She is reproving herself because she is unable to keep up what every aspect of the world wants. Through repetition, speaker, and structure, Coleman is able to place us in the mental battle that Wanda is undergoing.
In the poem, most lines start with the name “Wanda” and it is repeated in the poem sixteen times. The repetition of this name makes it seem like Wanda is at fault for everything. The statements are direct shots to her as she is the main culprit for all her problems. Also there is a precarious line which reads “if I were you were you were you.” This repetition of “were you” makes it seem that there is so much another person could do if he or she was in Wanda’s position, making her unfortunate situation all the more fault. There is another similar repetition when the line reads “I didn’t remember that that that that that that was so important to you.” The “that’s” are things which Wanda cares for, and with the repetition of the word, it seems like the reader takes Wanda for granted in many ways. This makes Wanda seem like a weaker character because no one seems to care for what she wants or sees important.
The speaker in this poem is never specified, but because of the lack of capitalization of proper nouns and responses, I believe the speaker is Wanda herself. She is speaking to herself, representing an emotional and mental fight. The lack of responses makes it seems like whatever Wanda has to say is insignificant, further degrading her. Her hatred of herself overpowers her love of herself and this distress was nourished by society’s mandates. “why don’t you lose weight” signifies how social acceptance is Wanda’s primary weapon to injure herself.
The structure of this poem further shows Wanda’s self disrespect. The whole poem is lowercase, including the name “Wanda.” Because she does not choose to give proper punctuation to her own name, we can assume she has very little self respect. Moreover, the lack of proper punctuation shows that Wanda is from a lower class, further demonstrated as she “can’t […] afford to move out of this hell hole.” The use of contraction furthers this idea.
Through the use of repetition, speaker, and structure, Coleman portrays Wanda’s poor quality of life. More importantly, it is used to show Wanda’s inability to be happy with her situation. Because she is not as perfect as she feels she could be, or as perfect as society mandates, she beats herself up in a mental battle in which her pessimistic side will always win. This poem represents a problem that we all face. We need to stop getting angry if we do not meet expectations. Be happy.
Comment by Akash:
ReplyDeleteCuz you are beautiful,
1. According to yourintroduction, it seems as though you believe the poem is about anAfrican-American mother that is undergoing a crisis of personality. You mentionthat this becomes evident in the poem due to Wanda’s use of repetition,speaker, and structure.
2. I think your structure is effective and works-out well with whatyou are trying to say. Your introduction clearly portrays what you are going tosay and its followed by three paragraphs explaining each of the things you arefocusing on.
3. I believe that you rely a little too many on quotations in orderto make your point. Your arguments make sense, but you don’t expand on themenough and therefore don’t fully convince the reader of your thoughts.Furthermore, I didn’t like how one of you paragraphs are huge and the other twoare fairly small. It seems as though you knew one thing that you wanted tofocus on, but chose the other two just for the hell of it. You should expand onthe other two points; that way you show the audience that you fully understand thepoem.
4. Other than then the problem of expanding on your ideas, you’relanguage was well utilized and precise. Well done on that aspect. No wonder ofcourse since you spend your life memorizing definitions of SAT words.
Bye Aseem.
Your friend only,
Akash
Comment by Javiera:
ReplyDeleteHola Asim! Your commentary on Coleman’s poem is very clear, with insightful comments and interpretations. In your introduction, it is clear to me what you are going to discuss and the elements you are going to focus on: repetition, speaker and structure. Personally, I like how you describe the theme of the poem in the introduction, and I share your opinion on it.
The structure is simple, (introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion) and makes it easier to follow your thoughts and interpretations. It is very effective how each body paragraph explains one of the elements you are discussing because there is a focus on that specific interpretation, which you come back to in the following paragraphs.
Your interpretation is very well supported by the examples from the text. Nevertheless, I think that the first paragraph is somewhat repetitive, and could be more concise, and your use of language is somewhat confusing. The second and third body paragraphs are very strong and clear. Throughout the commentary I can see the development of your interpretation, and I think your conclusion sums everything up effectively. In the conclusion you also give a personal response that adds to your interpretation and is a nice way to close the commentary.
Javiera
Hey Akash, how do you think I could have furthered my analysis because I personally thought it was pretty good. Moreover, the reason that one of the paragraphs is bigger than the other is because I forgot to indent once. However, even if that was indented, my paragraph about speaker and structure are shorter. Any idea how I can make this larger?
ReplyDeleteI agree to some extent that the poem shows wanda as weak, but thats not entirely true, the poem itself is a way to assert power. the narrator of the poem seems to be other members of society interogating and judging wanda, our understanding of wanda is created through their judgements. this may make her seem weak, as though her identity is controlled by her society but its not. in this poem she has an identity, its very clear to us what she feels. however we know and care very little about the people criticising her, they are there only for her to make a point.by writing this poem wanda takes the idea of her socitey using and defining her identity and inverts it to her using her society to reveal her identity, so she may be portrayed as weak but by writing this poem she creates her own power and strength.
ReplyDeleteBut if people are criticizing her and she is unable to voice a response, how can this be interpreted as strength? Further, I do not think that it is clear what Wanda feels. She seems to be a bit bipolar as sometimes the speaker (who ever it is) shows generosity, but then s/he also shows anger. I can see how Coleman might have written this with an intent of irony but I do not fully understand how you say that she inverts this to show her strength. Can you please elaborate.
ReplyDeletewhat i meant to say is that you can see that in her life people judge wanda and her society attempts to control who she is with these judgements. the criticisers of this poem have no identity, who they are doesnt matter in this poem, they're props to convey wandas message. the poem describes a life where she has to listen to other people telling her what to do, she has to serve her role in society. but in the act of writing the poem, she was able to get society to serve her, by conveying her message. i agree with you it is ironic. i dont necesaryily mean that the poem it self shows her strength, but the act of writing the poem is her way of getting back.
ReplyDeleteOh okay I understand now. That does make sense. Obviously Coleman is trying to show that people rebuking herself is bad, but I did not understand your idea about how it makes her stronger. By making it clear the problem of society she is sort of get her voice heard?
ReplyDeleteOh that explains it (the indent).
ReplyDeleteSo, one of the ways you can improve your paragraphs is by using more evidence. For example, when you talk about the speaker of the poem, i find your analysis very interesting but i feel as though it ends to early. Perhaps if you used more evidence from the poem your opinions would be even more convincing than they are now. Tell the reader about her tone and explain how she yells at herself, and the effect that has on knowing the fact that Wanda is speaking to herself in the poem.
I understand that you can only write 500 words, but i do believe that if you gave a little bit more analysis, it would go a LONG way.
Other than that, you are right, your essay is good!
Really hope this helps you.
Akash
Hey Asim, nice relevant points and solid interpretation. I agree with Akash on your language, however use another alternative for “mandates” which is utilized three times. You said quite rightly that we need to stop being angry if we do not meet expectations, but are these societies expectations or our own? Surely, life can deal you a hand of cards that are so raw that it is impossible to see your glass as half full. Do you think Wanda is not as unfortunate as she makes herself out to be …is she wallowing in unnecessary self pity or is she justified? After all, can’t she improve her lot in life by, for example getting therapy or getting a better paid job. Do you think she repeats her name many times as she keeps hearing that name when others continually voice their derogatory opinions of her, and it has become like an old record player with the needle stuck in her head?
ReplyDeleteBy the way I love your witty and innovative title. Congrats on the 500 words :)
Bye, Sabrina