Fhazel Johnnesse †A Young Man’s Thoughts Before June 16th Essay

abbreviationThe poem communicates the thoughts and feelings of one of the assimilators in 1976 who would lose his smell during the protests of June 16thThis was the protest of bantu education by thousands of black schoolchildren, many of whom were shot and killed by the police. The poem concentrates on the human aspects rather than political convictions. The student has no feelings of bitterness toward anyone and expresses an acceptation of his impending fate.TonenostalgiamelancholylongingacceptanceEnjambmentReflects subjective speech patterns and adds to the conversational mood of the poem.StructureLack of punctuation and free verseReflects flow of thoughts.Breaks from conventionalism format protest for change (see synopsis).Suggests inferior education.A lack of control over the situation.Interpretation recogniseGreen authorized connotationYellow alliteration parameter 1The student looks to tomorrow the daytime of the protest. i suggests the students insignificance in the perspective of improving education for all non-white school goers and his acceptance of the sacrifice he will make to achieve this. That the student will travel on a road suggests the well-known metaphor of livelihood being a journey. distribution channel 2The students journey in life is full of difficulty, as suggested by winds and hill. It also suggests the students determination as persistence is needed to navigate a winding, uphill road. The students life is aimed at achieving a specific goal or summative achievement, in this case the improvement of non-white education. greenback 3 4The student takes only his memories on the winding road for comfort. The memories are clearly important to the speaker which emphasises the importance of the human aspects of the protest rather than the political (see synopsis).Line 5The student realises the brokenheartedness and grief his death will bring to his mother.Line 6The student longs for a time when his life was simpler, and for the soc ial presence of his friends. This shows the student to possess strong interpersonal bonds.Line 7The student recollects a simple instance with friends. This further emphasises that the student is merely a normal young man.Line 8In remembrance the student asks only that he be mourned with a song. This may suggest that he wishes his friends and family not to grieve for long over his passing.Line 9The women who is to sing for him (assumedly his mother) has downturned eyes. This could either be seen as a way to hide her grief or as a sign of submission to the oppressor (the apartheid government).Line 10The student would also have an old man (assumedly his father) to grieve by means of the song.Line 11The man has a broken brow. This may suggest physical scarring but may also suggest that it is furrowed from emotion. This may be from the grief of the students death or from the years of oppression suffered under apartheid.Line 12The student asks others to sing for him which may suggest tha t he is already dead, as he cannot sing for himself.Line 13The student describes the end of his life ( sundown) as red. Red has connotations of anger, passion, blood and furiousness, all of which detail the occurrences during the protest. Drenched suggests his complete hopelessness of escape from the violence and bloodshed. It also adds to the image of blood and suggests a large number of death.AlliterationB (line 7)- Links with burping onomatopoeia.S (line 8-9, 12)- Creates mood- hushed, mellow, sorrowful.