An abandoned bundle

by Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali

The morning mist and chimney smoke of White City Jabavu flowed thick yellow as pus oozing from a gigantic sore. It smothered our little houses like fish caught in a net. Scavenging dogs draped in red bandanas of blood fought fiercely for a squirming bundle. I threw a brick; they bared fangs flicked velvet tongues of scarlet and scurried away, leaving a mutilated corpse an infant dumped on a rubbish heap Oh! Baby in the Manger sleep well on human dung. Its mother had melted into the rays of the rising sun, her face glittering with innocence her heart as pure as untrampled dew.

Summary: The poem is one of sharp contrasts which deliberately set out to shock and outrage the reader. The horrific events narrated in the poem take place in a dehumanising and diseased environment. Scavenging dogs attack a living abandoned baby and tear it to pieces. The narrator then addresses the dead baby as if it were addressing the Christ child. The final stanza focuses on the mother who abandoned the baby to its gruesome death. Using lyric imagery she is described as pure and innocent. the reader is left to decide whether this is an example of the most scathing irony or whether the mother can indeed be excused from all blame as she herself is a victim of an oppressive and dehumanising system. Interpretation: Key: Green important connotation Yellow alliteration Blue dehumanising Purple contrast Line: 1. Morning has the connotation of revitalisation or freshness whilst mist is a product of nature. 2. In contrast stands chimney smoke. Smoke has connotations of suffocation, destruction and poison whilst chimneys are man-made structures and the fires that create the smoke are artificially created. 3. White is suggestive of purity and cleanliness, however the irony of this description is seen in the following lines. 4. The mist and smoke mingles to form a yellow substance that contaminates the air. Yellow is suggestive of something septic. 5. This air pollution is compared to pus which again suggests a festering environment. Oozing suggests a continual sluggish flow whilst the enjambment of this line suggests a complete envelopment in this pus. 6. The city is described as a sore which suggests the poor and diseased living conditions. The presence of pus shows us that the sore is old as they have turned septic. This reveals to us that the diseased nature of the city has been a long standing problem.

7. In contrast to the gigantic sore stands the little houses. This emphasises the smothering capabilities of the pus. The houses are also representational of the people who live in the city. This is dehumanising. That the houses are little also suggests poverty. 8. The people are again dehumanised by being compared to fish. The net is representational of the citys filth. The line is also a reference to the fishing industry which involves the exploitation of the sea. This suggests the exploitation of the people. 9. Scavenging dogs indicate the poverty. 10. Bandanas are symbolic of a predatory nature and suggest gangsterism in the city as well as the violent nature of the dogs. Blood also suggests violence and that it may be necessary for survival in the city. It also shows that the dogs have spilled the blood of what they are attacking. 11. Alliteration emphasises savagery. 12. Squirming is another reference to fish (see line 8) which again points to dehumanising conditions. By referring to the baby as a bundle there is further suggestion of dehumanisation. 13. That the man responds to violence by using more violence (throwing a brick) suggests an institutionalised violence in the city. 14. This line and the next portray the dogs as snake-like. 15. Velvet is an expensive and luxurious material which stands in contrast with the vile circumstances. Scarlet reveals to us the dogs bloody mouths. 16. The dogs retreat, being compared with rodents (scurried), this shows cowardice which contrasts with their vicious threat display in the previous two lines. 17. The baby is referred to as a corpse which dehumanises it and suggests the lack of importance its life has in the city. 18. The corpse is now identified as an infant. This is the revelation of the poem and perhaps the most important information in it and yet it is contrastingly presented as side information by being put in parenthesis. This also emphasises the lack of respect for life and innocence in the city. The babys lack of importance is also suggested with the harsh word dumped and that the infant was discarded like trash; on a rubbish heap. 19. A parallel is drawn between the Christ child and the dead infant. Both suffered untimely, brutal deaths and both died innocent. The speaker is addressing the dead infant but it may also be a cry or prayer to God, asking how such things could be allowed to happen. 20. This line and the next are addressed to the dead infant and are full of bitterness. This line is a wish of peaceful eternal rest.

21. Here is a contrast to the seemingly soft tone of the previous line. Dung refers to animal faeces. That it is used to refer to human faeces dehumanises the people of the city. This time however it is done in bitterness with the purpose of labelling them as perpetrators rather than victims. 22. The baby is again dehumanised by referring to the mother as its mother. 23. The mother has disappeared to start a new phase in her life- unhindered by the baby. This is suggested with the rising sun. In this line and the next two lines there is water imagery in the words melted, glittering and dew. This suggests the mothers purity and the refreshment of her new life without her baby. 24. The mothers face is wet with tears which shows that she suffered some emotional trauma when abandoning her child. Whether this excuses her from blame is for you to decide. 25. A statement as to the blamelessness of the mother is made. Whether this is scathing irony or really true is up to you.

Compiled by B. S Seegers