Both poems have slimilys and metaphors ‘In my name' has a lot of metaphors explaining the slave woman's unborn child. She uses such words like, "sea grape, little blooding and bastard fruit". The slave woman's belly is described as an arc which is a slimily. "Ala" uses metophors such like "the sun blind” her with his fury" and "the pocket of my womb"
Both poems Both poems are orientated around a slave woman and their child. In 'In my name' the slave woman is expecting a newborn and in 'Ala' the slave woman is being punished for killing her new born. The poems support the idea of when one life ends another begins. The two women in both poems truly care for their child although in 'Ala' you have to read the poem carefully to understand how much Uzo the slave woman really loved her child.
There is a possibility of rape towards the two black slave women in both poems. The newborn child in ‘In my name' is defined to be half-caste because in the eighteen verses the mother of the child calls her unborn baby "my strange mulatto" which proves the baby is half-caste. I can only assume that the slave women were raped because it was highly unlikely that a white man and black women would have a loving relationship. 'In my name' is about a woman ready to give birth to her child, comforting it and telling the world to except her child. The slave woman is very protected over her unborn child; she wants the child to be hers and nobody else's. The slave women repeats the word "my" a lot which indicates to me that the slave women is trying to enthuses that she wants her baby to be hers and only hers.
I feel that in 'Ala' the slave woman truly cores for her child and did not want the misfortunes that occurred in her life to take affect in her child's life. The poem reads "back to Africa-free" this shows that the love that the slave woman had for her child was the force that made her kill it. She believed that her child's soul would go back to its original home, which is Africa. She believed that if she killed her child it would be blessed and it would not suffer because of its colour like she did.
Although in 'Ala’ Uzo killed her child and in ‘In my name' the slave woman was going to let her child live this does not mean that Uzo loved her child any less that the woman in ‘In my name'. It just shows they have a different perspective on life, and they deal with situations differently.
In both poems there is a strong love being shown towards the children.
Both poems refer to Africa, which shows that Africa is a very important part of the slave women's life. "In my name" mentions "the River Niger" which is a river in Africa whereas the slave woman in 'Ala' mentions Africa itself. There is a lot of, mention about nature and natural this sure as the sun, moon and animals like snakes and ants. In the Caribbean nature is an important part of their party.
As 'Ala' is based on the death of Uzo and her child Graze Nicholes uses really strong, harrowing words like "painful", "picking" and "pitiless". These words are all powerful and sharp. ‘In my names' are a lot less harsh and softer and calming. Words like "cleansed" and "perfect" are used. I feel that this is to gain a peaceful atmosphere and show the love between a mother and her child.
I feel both poems have an extremely lonely tone to them. It is very clear that the slave women in both poems are extremely lonely and feel isolated. In ‘In my name' the slave women is loving towards her child but is because of the way the world is treating her; the thirteenth and fourteenth line supports this. She says her child is "tainted" and "perfect". The love for her child made it perfect but the issues that have happened in her life has made the child tainted. This is also an oxymoron because if something is perfect then it cannot be tainted, it is a contradiction. I feel that 'Ala' has a very angry and disturbing tone as it describes two very unpleasant deaths.
Both poems end in a kind of prayer. The last lines of the two poems are opposite. 'Ala’ is about after life and ‘In my name' is about the begging of life.
I enjoyed reading both of the poems. I thought they were both powerful and meaningful and related very well to real life issues back then. I did prefer ‘In my name' because I found 'Ala' extremely disturbing because of the way Grace Nicholes describes the death of Uzo. I found it harsh and strong and it gave me a feeling of sadness. Despite this I found both poems very prevailing and effective. They made me take into the consideration the horrific conditions of black slaves and how they were treated in the Caribbean.
