Hanging Fire Essay

self-involved Teen or Thought-invoking Speaker suspension Fire by Audre Lorde The loud verbalizer in Audre Lords poesy dangling Fire is extremely self-centered. Does this get the poetrys ability to say anything of usual value? A simple subscribe to of Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde mightiness lead one to conclude that thither is no real value in this self-centered poem. However, upon critical analysis, one roll in the hay obtain valuable insights from the poem. The 14-year-old talker unit plenitudes with major(ip) rationalizes that plague the teenage generation such(prenominal) as peer word meaning, race and sexual activity inequality, sexual activity, decease and communication with p atomic number 18nts. In the quest paragraphs, I leave behind demonstrate the talkers feelings on apiece of these matters. unrivalled issue that the vocaliser addresses is the insisting to beseem in with her peers. The poem deals with such topics as dancing and upcoming parties (I yield to learn to dance/ In cartridge clip for the next party), the importance of form (I have nonhing to pay tomorrow) and physical appearance (why do I have to be/ The one/ Wearing braces). These are typical topics that cause teenagers to fear affliction in terms of societal acceptance. The pressure of not fitting into societal norms plenty oppress these young individuals, both emotionally and socially and the speaker is quite realise in the poem that she is hited with these issues.Secondly, the issue of racial and gender inequality is perspicuous in the poem. The speaker appears to be an African American young woman. The poem begins with I am fourteen/ And my skin has betrayed me. This line could be interpreted in two focussings. First, it could betoken that the speaker is dealing with pimples and blemishes, an another(prenominal) character of a teenagers concern active physical appearance. On the other hand, a more interesting exposition is that the speaker is i ndicating that she is black. This reference to race indicates the speakers awareness that racism has caused and will cause her many frustrations in flavour. other line in the poem states that I should have been on the mathematics team up/ My marks were better than his. The use of this sequent is very creative because it deals with two issues racial inequality and gender inequality.The speaker feels the manginess of discrimination because she be trickeryves the spot on the math team should have been for her but, instead, was rewarded to the boy collectible to her gender and thecolor of her skin. This line provides the proof referee with an example of the oppression and delicateships the speaker is slimy as a black girl in school. The speaker later states in the poem, There is nothing I indispensability to do/ And too much/ That has to be done. She recognizes that it will be hard to step forward and join the argue to have guild accept equality. In fact, at times the speak er feels the chore is too hard and that she does not pauperism to try at all. Her adolescent appetite to be accepted in society without ridicule further impedes her efforts to overcome the oppression.The one-third issue in the poem is sexuality. In the third line, the speaker states The boy I cannot live without /Still sucks his thumb / In secret. It is here that she tells the reader that she is not comfortable expressing her different views about her sexuality. The boy I cannot live without refers to the boy at heart her and the reader sees that the speaker is aware that her feelings, emotions, and gustatory sensation to the female sex must die hard a secret for fear of exam and non-acceptance. The secret thumb-sucking may refer to her insecurities of being gay. The speaker feels compelled to live a lie to avoid further shunning by her peers and society. The statement in the poem state I die before first/ They will sing sad melodies/ but finally/ Tell the truth about me describes the unveiling of the truth of the speakers secret life upon her death and so reinforces the fact that she is not ready to in public acknowledge her sexuality.Another topic in the poem is the communication problem mingled with the speaker and her stick. Each of three stanzas ends with the kindred two lines And mommas in the bedroom/ With the door closed. It is obvious that the speaker feels that her generate is unapproachable. The door between the suffer and speaker represents the lack of communication satiny between parent and chela. The speaker, as a teenager, wishes to exercise her independence but remedy requires guidance in order to deal with adolescent issues such as social acceptance, racism, gender, sexuality and death. However, the conflict between the teenagers growing pains and the mothers reluctance to acknowledge her childs independence has caused their communication to bring about obstructed. The speaker feels alone in the manhood and believes that she has nowhere to turn.Lastly, the speaker describes her adolescent fascination with death. The speaker refers to death in each of the three stanzas. As a teenager, the speaker is not only feeling overwhelmed by adolescent problems, but is also comme il faut aware of the future obstacles in life. The speaker sees death as a way of escaping these troubles. Death would allow her communication problems with her mother to disappear, cause her secret about her sexuality to be uncovered and save her from having to skin against societal oppression to accomplish the acceptance of equality. The speaker is seen to contemplate the common, yet unfortunate, adolescent idea of whether death and suicide is a real way to avoid the pressures of life and growing up.Therefore, if the reader of Audre Lordes poem Hanging Fire is able to give the sack past the adolescents self-pity and into the sum of money of the poem, the reader is likely to gain an intelligence of the serious topics being contemp lated by a 14-year-old black girl. In this poem the speaker considers issues such as peer acceptance, racism, gender, sexuality, death and the importance of parental communication. Even the title, in association with the poem, provides value as it communicates to the reader that the speaker wishes to hang fire or delay dealing with the many pressures and obstacles in her life. Thus, even though the speaker in this poem is extremely self-centered, it does not limit the poems ability to say something of general value.