"Facing It," written by Yusef Komunyakaa, is a powerful poem that addresses the experience of visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The speaker in the poem is a veteran who is returning to the memorial, which is inscribed with the names of all the soldiers who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.
As the speaker approaches the memorial, he is confronted with the enormity of the loss and the weight of the sacrifices made by his fellow soldiers. He describes the wall as "a long black scar" that "carries the names of the dead." The speaker is overwhelmed by the sheer number of names etched into the wall and the realization that each one represents a life lost.
Despite the sadness and grief that the speaker feels as he stands before the wall, he also finds a sense of solace in the act of remembering and honoring his fallen comrades. He writes, "I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find/my own in letters like smoke." The speaker's willingness to confront the pain of his past and pay tribute to his fallen friends demonstrates his bravery and strength.
The speaker also reflects on the complex emotions that arise when he visits the memorial. He writes, "I rub the lettering of the names, hoping it will be/as if I had done it for all of them." The speaker's actions show his desire to somehow make up for the loss of life and to honor the memory of his fellow soldiers.
Throughout the poem, the speaker grapples with the feelings of guilt, grief, and loss that are brought to the surface as he stands before the wall. However, he ultimately finds a sense of peace in facing these emotions and paying tribute to his fallen comrades.
In "Facing It," Komunyakaa masterfully captures the complex and deeply personal experience of visiting a war memorial. The poem serves as a poignant reminder of the sacrifices made by soldiers and the importance of remembering and honoring their memory.
Facing It “Facing It” Summary and Analysis
This indicates that the names cannot be removed from the wall, and the lives lost, including that of his friends, cannot be brought back. As the speaker scans the 58,022 names of the dead engraved in the wall, he admits that he half-expects to find his own name among them. He specifically remembered a booby trap that went off like a flash-bang grenade. She needed to forget in order to move on with her life. He reflects on warplanes flying in the sky during war. A plane in the sky.
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Unavoidable no matter where he turns the speaker feels as though he is inside the war again. It is in these lines that he reader finally comes to understand, if one did not have the knowledge previously, that the speaker is at a specific and well-known location. When veterans of the war came to visit, the names enabled them to remember specific aspects of the war. A plane in the sky. The war, and the glory one might have thought would come with it, have taken something incredibly physical from the white soldier.
Analysis of "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa Essay example
He finds a familiar name on the memorial wall, and is reminded of how the person, Andrew Johnson, had died. The memorial wall …show more content… The speaker is now facing his fears at the memorial that appears to become strange. GradeSaver, 26 April 2021 Web. These points indicate that not only is it this one man who feels the negative effects of the Vietnam War, but likely that all soldiers who had risked their lives in the war do. The first interpretation is that the author was horrified when he thought that the woman tried to erase the names of his comrade-in-arms. Whether through their support, protest, service, or the simple fact that they are living in the world. Instead of discovering his own name on the wall, he finds the name of a friend, Andrew Johnson.
Analyzing Theme in “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakka Analysis Essay Example
He is also a winner of many prestigious awards, that include the Pulitzer Prize for poetry, Ruth Lily Poetry Prize, and Louisiana Writer Award. Get your paper price 124 experts online This is a good indication that this man feels that due to his racial identity and also the ambiguous reasons for the war in general, his purpose in the war was insignificant and likely he feels cheated by it. Prescribed with the same coloring page to fill in, and use their methods and colors to bring the image to life. As this man is looking into the wall he sees the reflection of a white man; a fellow soldier who is also looking at the wall. Komunyakaa was especially influenced by jazz and the time that he served in the Vietnam War. It is impossible to truly understand the emotional toll that something as devastating as a war can have on a person. The speaker observes that when she walks away the names remain on the wall, his faint surprise revealing the persuasiveness of these false reflections.
A Summary and Analysis of Yusef Komunyakaa's 'Facing It'
This detail suggests that he could be in his place. And in the figure of the boy, who belongs to the next generation too young to have experienced the war, the poem at its close gestures to the future. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. For example, the dead young man was described as he looked, slim and almost dainty. He knows himself too well to fully commit to the notion that he is without emotions. There is a conflict and internal struggle depicted that the speaker has to face due to the resurfacing of past experiences. He expresses his strong emotions towards the Vietnam War because he was a veteran.
