FREEDOM SONG
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye (Kenya)
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Atieno washes dishes, |
Atieno huosha masufuria |
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Atieno plucks the chicken, |
Atieno hunyonyoa kuku |
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Atieno gets up early, |
Atieno huamuka mapema, |
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Beds her sucks down in the kitchen, |
Hulundika virago vyake chini jikoni, |
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Atieno eight years old |
Atieno anaumri wa miaka nane |
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Atieno yo. |
Atieno yo. |
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Since she’s my sister’s child |
Sababu yeye ni mtoto wa dada yangu |
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Atieno needs no pay |
Atieno haitaji malipo |
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While she works my wife can sit |
Anapofanya kazi mke wangu anaweza kukaa |
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Sewing each sunny day, |
Hushona kila mchana |
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With her earning I support |
Kwa kipato chake ninakubali |
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Atieno yo. |
Atieno yo |
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Atieno’s sly and jealous |
Atieno mchoyo na anawivu |
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Bad example to the kids |
Mfano mbaya kwa watoto |
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Since she minds them, like a school girl |
Sababy huwajali wao, kama watoto wa shule |
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Wants their dresses, shoes and beads. |
Hutaka magauni yao, viatu na shanga. |
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Atieno ten years old, |
Atieno anaumri wa miaka kumi, |
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Atieno yo. |
Atieno yo. |
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Now my wife has gone to study |
Sasa mke wangu ameenda kusoma |
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Atieno’s less free, |
Atieno hayuko huru, |
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Don’t I feed her, school my own ones, |
Simsomeshi, wangu mwenyewe, |
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Pay the party, union fee |
Kulipa chama, ada ya ushirika |
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All for progress? Aren’t you grateful, |
Yote kwa maendeleo? Haushukuru, |
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Atieno yo? |
Atieno yo? |
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Visitors need much attention, |
Wageni huitaji huangalizi wakutosha, |
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Specially when I work nights. |
Hasahasa ninapofanya kazi husiku. |
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That girl stays too long at market |
Msichana huyu hutumia mda mwingi sikoni |
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Who will teach her what is right? |
Nani atamfundisha kilicho haki? |
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Atieno rising fourteen, |
Atieno anafikisha miaka kumi na nne, |
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Atieno yo. |
Atieno yo |
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Atieno’s had a baby |
Atieno anamtoto |
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So we know that she is bad |
Hivyo tunajua kua yeye ni mbaya |
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Fifty-fifty it may live |
Nusu-bin-nusu anawezakuishi |
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To repeat the life she had, |
akarejea maisha aliyopitia |
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Ending in post partum bleeding |
Ameishia kwa ugonjwa wa kuvuja damu |
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Atieno yo. |
Atieno yo |
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Atieno’s soon replaced |
Atieno punde alirejesha |
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Meat and sugar more than all |
Nyama na sukari kuliko kawaida |
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She ate in such a narrow life |
Ameishi kwa maisha hayo mafupi |
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Were lavished in her funeral |
Tilibarikiwa katika mazishi yake |
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Atieno’s gone to glory |
Atieno amekwenda kwa utukufu |
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Atieno yo. |
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INTRODUCTION
Marjorie Oludhe Macgoye was born in Britain in 1928 and travelled to
Kenya to work as a missionary in 1954. She met and married Macgoye an MD in
1960. This poem was written out of her experience in living among the Luo – a
tribe of her husband. She criticises negligence of nurturing children among
African societies. The young Atieno suffers from poor upbringing, poor parental
care, and child labour at a tender age. Without proper guidance, the young girl
Atieno becomes pregnant which leads to her death.
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
1.
CHILD LABOUR
Atieno in the poem was working as a house girl at the age of 8 and
strangely enough without pay. At this age she should have been in STD 2. Yet
she is employed in her uncle’s home. The poetess says; “Atieno washes
dishes,
Atieno plucks the
chicken,
Atieno gets up
early,
Beds her sacks down
in the kitchen,
Atieno eight years
old”
2.
EXPLOITATION AND
OPPRESSION
The young girl in the poem is not only exploited but also oppressed by
her own uncle. Although she works and does all the domestic chores she is not
paid nor given any good care. The poetess suggests that she even desires to
have the dresses, shoes and beads of her cousins since she is not given one.
Here says the poetess. “Atieno’s sly and
jealousy
Bad example to the
kids
Since she minds them
like a school girl
Wants their dresses,
shoes and dresses.”
Again in the second stanza she shows how Atieno’s efforts are wasted
without gain. This is exploitation since the reason given why Atieno is not
paid is just a lame excuse.
“Since she is my sister’s child
Atieno needs no pay”
3.
EARLY PREGNANCY
At the age of fourteen Atieno becomes pregnant. This is partly due to
poor parental care. As the poetess says that her aunt has gone to study and her
uncle is busy with the work while poor Atieno has no one to teach her what is
right. Atieno gets pregnancy and since she is still young to handle the
delivery complications she dies of excessive post partum bleeding.
“Atieno’s had a
baby
So we know that she
is bad
Fifty-fifty it may
live
To repeat the life
she had,
Ending in post
partum bleeding”
4.
HYPOCRISY
The tone of Atieno’s uncle shows some points of sympathy, but the
question is; who is mistreating the young Atieno? It’s her uncle. This is
hypocrisy. On the funeral, we are told that meat and sugar more than all that
Atieno had eaten in such a narrow life were lavished in her funeral. That
translates into something like, “I loved the child”, what a
hypocrite!
5.
POOR PARENTAL CARE.
Atieno goes to work in her uncle’s home at the age of eight, and her
parents are not making follow-ups. Most parents have left the responsibility of
taking care of their children to the communities like schools, churches or
relatives. Because the parents are busy, they have no time to make regular
follow-ups to check the kind of upbringing their children go through. Atieno’s uncle is
also portrayed as a bad parent since he mistreats his own niece. He makes her
work all day long while his wife is just sitting. As the poet say;“Since
she’s my sister’s child
Atieno needs no pay
While she works my
wife can sit
Sewing each sunny
day,”
GUIDING QUESTIONS
a)
What is the poem
about?
The poem is about a
young girl called Atieno who is mistreated by her own maternal uncle. She works
without pay, she is not sent to school, she lacks parental guidance
thus she gets early pregnancy as a result she ends in death due to post partum
bleeding.
b)
What is the kind of
the poem?
It is a narrative
poem since it is telling a story, but also it is a special kind of narrative
poem called “a ballad”
c)
How many stanzas
are there?
Stanza is a group
of verses that looks like a paragraph in a poem. This poem has seven stanzas,
each with six verses (lines) of unequal length and a refrain “Atieno yo”
d)
What is the tone
and mood of the poem?
Tone is the quality of a person's voice and mood is the state of
feeling. The tone is sympathetic to the child and the mood is also sorrowful
because poor Atieno died, as the poet say;
“Atieno’s soon replaced
Meat and sugar more than all
She ate in such a narrow life
Were lavished in her funeral
Atieno’s gone to glory
Atieno yo.”
e)
Comment on the rhyming
pattern.
Rhyme is the
repetition of the same sound at the end of consecutive verses. Largely the scheme
is irregular but every second and forth lines in each stanza end with rhyme,
where by in the; first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh stanza we find; “Chicken/kitchen”, “Pay/day”, “Kids/beads”, “Free/fee”, “Night/
right”, ”Bad/had” and “All/funeral” consecutively.
f)
Who is the persona?
How do you know?
The persona is the
one who is speaking the poem. In this poem the persona is Atieno’s uncle. This
is revealed in the second stanza where he comments;
“since she’s my sister’s child
Atieno needs no pay.”
g)
How does Atieno
change over the years?
Atieno changes in
behaviour in respect to her age. While she is eight she is just working at
home, as she reaches ten she discovers that she is poorly dressed compared to
her cousins. So she desires to dress like them wanting their shoes, dresses,
and beads but as she grows fourteen, after puberty hits she stays long at the
market perhaps with boys. This eventually leads her to get impregnated.
h)
Comment on the
literary and poetic devices
i.
Refrain; it is the repeated
verse at the end of each stanza in a poem. in this poem every stanza ends with
a refrain line, that is “Atieno yo”
ii.
Alliteration; this is the Use of
the same consonant at the beginning of consecutive words in a verse.
Alliteration used in this poem where persona say; “Pay party
union fee”, “Atieno needs no pay” and “Fifty-fifty
it may live.”
iii.
Rhetorical question;
this is a statement that is formulated as a question but is not
supposed to be answered. In this poem rhetorical question used twice when the
persona say; “Who will teach her what is right?” and “Aren’t you grateful/Atieno
yo?”
iv.
Poetic licence; This is the freedom
of the poet to break or violate certain grammatical rules to achieve a poetic effect.
In this poem the poet violated grammatical rules when he said; “Specially
when I work night” instead of saying ‘especially when I work
at night’.
v.
Simile; it’s a comparison
between two dissimilar things by using conjunction. In this poem persona tried
to compare Atieno with school girl where he said; “She minds them like a
school girl”
vi.
Reiteration; it’s the act of
repeating over and again. From the poem, persom reiterate the word Fifty
when he said; “Fifty-fifty it may live.”
RELEVANCE
a)
As we have seen child labour,
hypocrisy, exploitation, oppression, poor parental care and early pregnancies
are all common phenomena in our country today.
b)
We see many children in the streets
selling things like plastic bags, washing cars; helping the military rebels
etc. many girls drop their studies due to early pregnancies.
c)
Every day we hear of violation and
abuse of children rights and parents are very busy today to the point that they
cannot spare time to be with their children and listen to their problems.
MESSAGES
a) Parents should be careful with the upbringing of their own children.
Atieno is mistreated by her uncle since she is not his biological child.
b) Child labour should be discouraged at all costs.
c) All children should be given the right to education.
d) It is not good to exploit those who work for us even when they are
relatives. They deserve the payment for their efforts.
e) Children should be given proper reproductive health education to avoid
early pregnancies which may result to death as did Atieno.
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