At the end of the poem, my impressions of Heidi have changed to one that is more sympathetic. In stanza three, the poet portrayed a chaotic scene in the kitchen after Heidi was sent home from school, with “tears in the kitchen”. The effect of this stanza evokes sympathy from the reader. The poet also mentions the “death” of Heidi’s “mother” in stanza five, saying that it “shimmered behind the arguments”. These show that Heidi’s life is not that straightforward as she has experienced the pain of losing her mother. This might have affected Heidi deeply and without the love and guidance of her mother, there is a high possibility that Heidi’s wayward and rebellious ways of doing things are an expression of her unfortunate background. Therefore, after knowing the situation better, I can understand that her rebellious act of dyeing her hair ultramarine with jet-black spikes on top could have been a result of her losing her mother. Hence, my impressions change from being critical initially to being more sympathetic at the end of the poem as I am better able to empathize with Heidi on her unfortunate circumstances.
ii) What is the poet’s attitude towards the school system and how has she shown this?
The poet is critical of the school system and mocks it for being ineffectual. She shows this in stanza two, which is written rather vaguely and shows that the school could not find a rule that forbade dyed hair. The poet merely wrote that “although dyed hair was not specifically forbidden”, it was “apart from anything else, not done in school colours”. By using this reason to forbid Heidi from dyeing her hair ultramarine, it shows the headmistress’s decision to be arbitrary and that she had a tough time finding a reason to forbid Heidi from dyeing her hair ultramarine. Therefore the poet has portrayed the school system to be ineffectual and ridiculous, and clearly shows that she is on Heidi’s side and finds the school system ridiculous and lacks the ability to cope disciplining a student.
The poet also mocks the school system for being ineffectual through her use of language. She states that the death of Heidi’s mother “shimmered” behind the arguments, showing that although it was not mentioned, it was very apparent during the course of the arguments between the school and Heidi. However, the school chooses not to look at the possibility of Heidi being affected by her mother’s death, thus showing their ineffectuality in handling matters. Also, the poet uses the word “twittered” which is normally used to describe birds to describe the teachers, giving the impression that the teachers’ words are ridiculous and show helplessness. This also shows her criticism towards the school system’s ineffectuality.
Other than mocking the school system, the poet also disapproves it for being rigid and bent on making people conform. She uses sarcasm to ridicule the school system. In stanza three, the poet stated in brackets that Heidi “wiped” her “eyes”, “also not in a school colour”. This is in response to the reason given by the headmistress for sending Heidi home from school because her hair was “not done in the school colours”. We sense sarcasm in the poet’s words in stanza three, showing that she supports Heidi in her act to break out of conformity, and also her disapproval of the school system that insists on people conforming. The poet also includes in the last stanza of the poem how Heidi’s black friend dyed her hair in “grey, white and flaxen yellow – the school colours precisely” as a witty tease. The headmistress had given the reason that Heidi’s hair “was not done in the school colours”, which probably meant colours that are approved of by the school, but Heidi’s friend cleverly misinterpreted school colours as colours that represent the school to tease the teachers. Hence, by including this, the poet shows her support towards not conforming and her disapproving attitude towards the school system for the inflexibility in allowing difference.
The poet also criticises the school system for making students conform. She does this by showing her support for Heidi’s actions through writing about Heidi’s friend dyeing her hair in support of her. Besides, the poet chooses Heidi’s friend to be a black. This contrasts greatly with the school colours – grey, white and yellow, much alike Heidi’s ultramarine dyed hair. Therefore, this witty tease won the “battle” to break out of conformity, which demonstrates the poet’s support of Heidi not conforming to the norm while criticising the school system for insisting on conformity.
