ITWeek: Children in the Darkness

This is the response for Term 2 IT Home Learning for "Children in the Darkness" war poem.

Children in the Darkness
There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Henry M Bechtold

Task 1: Introduction to the Poem
Henry M Bechtold was in Vietnam in 1967-68 and again in 1969, going back often because his soul lives in Vietnam and he goes back to visit it from time to time. Written in 2010, this poem was inspired by a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle in the background of a news programme on TV in his hotel room in Saigon just before Christmas 2009. He was trying to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them as he was angry with the way the men treated them.

Task 2: Poem Analysis
This poem was written in the point of view of an adult. This is evident from how he refers his main characters as "children". This might be a first-person account because the poet often visits Vietnam and he might have written this in reference to the pitiful kids he see in Vietnam. The poet is trying to convey the message that children are innocent and have the right to receive education that other children have instead of fighting in war. It is morally wrong to let children be exposed to the harsh reality at such a young age, for once a child experiences the cruel world, he would be scarred emotionally and physically for life and would not be able to escape from the horrors of war, which is unfair. Through this poem, the poet also tries to raise awareness of the injustice the children suffer.

Throughout the poem, "darkness" and "light" are repeated several times. This is to draw a great contrast between darkness and light. Light symbolises freedom in this context and darkness represents limitation, or slavery. This is again reflected in the "girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them" which led to the writing of this poem. In the first stanza, "there are children in the darkness" reiterates the title, implying that out there, there are some children who are restricted, "who have not seen the light". They do not have freedom and are limited and controlled by other people. Children "Who someone will teach to fight" shows the intentions of other people in bringing the children to war.

In the second stanza, "chalk and blackboards will not be" show the contrast between teaching methods. The children do not receive their education and learn how to read and write from chalk and blackboards, but instead only how to fight. They are not able to pursue what they wish to do, in this instance, study. The next three lines show that the children are forced to go to war and cannot escape from this terrible life and would have to accept their fate. Metaphor is present when the poet compares the situation to a door, and "to this door there is no key", showing that it is a locked door and there would not be any way to escape.

The third stanza consists of four rhetorical questions, all starting with "could we". Candle is used as a metaphor of providing them with light, where "simply light a candle" imply giving them a chance for freedom. The poet questioned if we could "teach them how to read" and "how to dance", instead of fighting all the time. However, we know that this is not possible and the children are deprived of even "half a chance". This is the cruelty of life.

The fourth stanza paints a gruesome picture of war and personifies it as a monster, who will "consume them", "their body and their soul", draining them from the energy their young and energetic bodies once had. "Their life and blood be poured down some endless thirsty hole", implying that the children would be worn out and tired after the war.

The last stanza summarises the poem and confirms the point that there is no way to escape - "no flight" - and there is no way to freedom - "shines no light" and they would have to accept the way it is, those "children in the darkness".