1. This poem occurs during a war and seems to imply that the Americans can face death better due to them leaving their genes behind so they will somehow be reborn. In addition the Iraqis fear that about the Americans as their army and their people will continue to grow even when the soldiers are overseas or are dying. The dead soldier talks about the sperm and about how the Americans left their legacy behind them.
2. The Iraqis were fighting a losing battle against a far superior opponent not just in terms of numbers but in training and technology. The Iraqis were constantly losing much more troops than the Americans and due to the large number of birth defects, their numbers were not growing anywhere near necessary to keep pace. The Americans on the other hand had a cheap easy way to increase their manpower that was almost completely safe. This led to a severe jealousy by the Iraqis.
3. A journalist works very hard to show the truth. His entire job is to let the facts be known. For a poet, their job is to embelish. They're supposed to cover the truth up for the soldiers and make the war seem much more glorious than it truly is.
6 comments:
I liked your idea of how the sperm banking was relevant, not just to save the soldier's legacy, but because it shows how inferior the Iraqi society is to American society. You mentioned the Iraqis being jealous, which I noted in reading this poem as well.
I agree somewhat with your interpretation of leaving behind sperm. I don't feel that it was an act of leaving behind a legacy, instead it was an act of desperation. I don't know if the Iraqi people even knew about the American soldiers saving their sperm. For all we know, they could have been doing the same thing. I did not feel the same way about why a poet was chosen. However, your interpretation works well because many poems are written as a type of recruitment for the military. If the war seems glorious, more people will want to be a part of it.
I like your idea of the poem being "implying that Americans can face death better due to them leaving their genes behind so they will be reborn." I didn't quite catch all that from reading the story at first but I see where you are coming from.
What got my attention was when you stated, "...The Americans can face death better due to them leaving their genes behind so they will somehow be reborn". I thought that was very interesting how you put that. I also thought that by leaving their genes behind also means leaving your emotions at the door.
I like the way you organize your thoughts in the blog. It makes it easy to read.
I like your comments about the journalist and the poets but i think that in this case the poet is making the war look a lot more grim than glorious.
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